SDAL

Aardman vs. DC

2012-01-24T15:49:00.002+10:00

A Taste Of "Nothing To Say"

2012-01-18T00:46:00.000+10:00

Today was a good day.
Apart from work.
But after that, Gav came over and laid down a track. I'd left him him the words and a tune, and he comes back and elevates my feeble attempt at a song to some thing sublime. It's beautiful. The song's not ready, but I couldn't wait, so I'm just going to give you a sneak listen, just a taste, to whet your appetite.
Aw yeah, "Nothing To Say" (Instrumental edit).

Naka Retrospective Bootleg: The Roots Of Scarecrow

2012-01-16T22:12:00.000+10:00

Scarecrow is probably my favourite song we did in Naka. This is where it began.
The Bach Riff.

Video Blog For Comics Released 27/12/11

2012-01-01T13:26:00.001+10:00

Try stay awake for this, if you want to know about the comics I read this week.

Panel Of The Week: Kamandi: The Last Boy On Earth

2011-12-28T22:57:00.000+10:00

Story and Art by Jack Kirby.

Saturday Morning Still Life In Blue

2011-12-24T17:49:00.002+10:00

Received In Mail Today

2011-12-23T16:06:00.002+10:00

"Iron Rose" by Uncle Walt & The Rocketmen

2011-12-22T16:19:00.000+10:00

Click to play.
I don't know what else to do with it, I think it's done.

Expendables 2 Poster

2011-12-18T22:26:00.000+10:00

Bring on Winter.

New Poster: The Dark Knight Rises

2011-12-11T12:56:00.001+10:00

Ron Howard With A Gun

2011-12-10T21:09:00.000+10:00

Panels Of The Week

2011-12-04T21:37:00.001+10:00

I read a bunch of comics today, a few weeks worth. This is just a few of the highlights.

This is why I like Planet of the Apes.

Panels taken from Boom Comics new series, issue 7, drawn by Carlos Mungo. That's awesome comics, right there. Ape with a machine-gun.

This one is from Orchid #2, the new comic from Tom Morello, drawn by Scott Hepburn. I like this one because of all the beasties in it. That place looks dangerous. Looks like the future isn't a nice place to be. Also it's pretty nice lighting. And I like the way the foreground elements come in from outside the panel, gives it a nice sense of depth.

Best Cover: Archie Meets Kiss #1

2011-12-03T10:36:00.000+10:00

By Francesco Francavilla, this is an alternate cover for a new 4 part story starting this week. I've asked my comic shop if they can track it down for me, but I think I'll have to be pretty lucky.

Trailer For "The Raid" (Let's See If This Works)

2011-11-30T15:56:00.001+10:00

So "The Raid" (the new film from Indonesian martial arts star Iko Uwais and filmmaker Gareth Evans, the guys behind Merantau) is going to get some kind of theatrical release. Hopefully that includes Australia. Anyway, it's a good excuse to try embed another trailer from Twitch. If it doesn't work, I'll just post the link again.

<object width="650" height="366"><param name="movie" value="http://ictv-tf-ec.indieclicktv.com/player/embed/97b1fda2ca43d6c29eaf63ed1ec347c6/4e6a8ad556495/31/0/defaultPlayer^player.swf"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://ictv-tf-ec.indieclicktv.com/player/embed/97b1fda2ca43d6c29eaf63ed1ec347c6/4e6a8ad556495/31/0/defaultPlayer^player.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="650" height="366"></embed></object>

Nope, not working. I guess just try this then.

Trailer For "The Kick"

2011-11-30T15:44:00.004+10:00

Panel Of The Week: Tintin-Explorers On The Moon

2011-11-26T12:12:00.001+10:00

It was difficult to choose a panel from this book. There were quite a few very impressive panels of the rocket on the moon. Large panels that took up two thirds of the page, which is unusual, but striking in their size. There's also a sequence in some caves which I was tempted to use, because I liked the lighting in them.

But I chose this one, I think mainly because I liked the composition. The lines of the cliffs seem to focus our attention on the tank, which is quite small in the panel, giving us a sense of scale. Something about the colours. It all works nicely to create a small piece of art in the middle of the story.

First Poster Expendables 2?

2011-11-19T10:27:00.000+10:00

So over at Bleeding Cool, they ran a poster from JoBlo, an exclusive for them, so I guess it would nice if you visited their website to take a look.

That works for me, even though the guy at Bleeding Cool doesn't like it. I'm sure he has a point, but when the selling point of your film is those names and faces, of course you're going to put them up there, and it's working on me. It makes me kind of giddy to see all those people on the same poster, and know it's a reality, not just some action movie fan's photoshop wet dream.

Cover to Northlanders #46

2011-11-19T00:47:00.000+10:00

I should be going to bed, but I couldn't resist posting this image. The first one is a detail from the cover by Massimo Carnevale, the second image is the whole picture. Enjoy.

Panel Of The Week: Tintin-Flight 714

2011-11-18T17:35:00.002+10:00

This is one of my favourite Tintin comics, I probably read this one the most in my youth, and it's easy to see why. A mysterious island, giant lizards, aliens abductions, and Tintin with a machine gun. It's kind of surprising considering today's standards for appropriate content for kids, but Tintin seems to get a gun in nearly every adventure he gets involved with. I'm starting to see where some of my influences started.
It was hard to settle on a panel from this comic, but I think this sums up a lot of the appeal Tintin has for me.

More Eating At The Carolina Kitchen And Espresso

2011-11-18T11:53:00.001+10:00

I went back to Carolina Kitchen, this time with Gav, and this time I wanted to get the large ribs to see how big the serve was. Well we saw someone else's serve of larger ribs, and I started thinking that might be too much, so we decided to split a large serve of ribs and get some chicken wings as well. I've already spoken about the ribs, so won't say much, but can basically sum it up by saying I prefer my sauce, but the ribs are cooked pretty nicely, with the meat falling of the bone. So it's ok if you haven't got the time to do it yourself, or if you're too lazy.

So onto the chicken wings. You can order 6, 12 or 24, in a mild, medium or hot with a yoghourt blue cheese dipping sauce. We ordered the 12 with a medium heat. As a meal for two guys, it was pretty good serving sizes, large ribs and 12 wings. The wings were delicious, spicy without overpowering taste. They're coated in a nice kind of breadcrumb mixture, but I'm sure it's not, maybe some kind of dry rub kind of thing, I'm not sure. I wasn't expecting to like the dipping sauce, because I'm not a fan of blue cheese, but I forgot what it was made of so just tried it, and it complimented the wings quite nicely. It was fairly subtle, not strong like a blue cheese can be, though once I was reminded what was in it, you can definitely taste it there. Quite enjoyable.
I finished of the night with a Snickers attempt at Reeses Peanut Butter Cup. I found it disappointing and wished I'd chosen the Reeses product they had on sale.

Anyway, a nice night out, good meal with a buddy. I think I'll try a burger next time I go, maybe with some fries and a small serve of wings.

BIFF Overview

2011-11-18T10:45:00.001+10:00

OK, so I saw about 10 film this festival, and they were mostly pretty solid, but nothing that really jumped up and screamed "Love Me!", by which I mean I gave mostly 4 star reviews, a couple of 3 stars and no 5 stars on the festival ballots. I had planned on seeing more, but cheapness won out. So anyway, here's what I saw and what I thought of what I saw.

A new film from Chow Yun-Fat is going to get me excited, but a Chinese comedy s going to make me wary. I liked it though. The basic plot is a robber steals the identity of a governor coming to a new town to rule and make money the easy way, but things get complicated when the the "boss" of the town doesn't want to give up his control. Stuff happens, there's gunplay and explosions and fighting, and it was all pretty well shot. Chow gets to play his double, and reprise his role as Chocolate from "God of Gamblers", not literally, but they're basically the same kind of dim-witted character is what I'm saying. The comedy wasn't too broad, the characters likeable and the actors I thought did a good job, so it wasn't as painful as it could've been. I can't remember if it was lacking something or if there was something bad which stopped me from giving it 5 stars, but from memory I gave it 4.

Next was a Mystery Movie, and now I can't remember what the name of it was. Ok, I looked it up, it was called "The Boxer's Omen". It was a HK film about a guy who gets on the wrong side of a black magic practicing Thai guy, had an appearance by Bolo Leung as a Thai boxer, had a lot to do with Budhist monks. That's a rather simplified version of the film. It's not a strong recommend from me, though I did enjoy it, but it's too much of that spiritual kung-fu to be truly engrossing. Plenty of weird stuff in it, but didn't thrall me enough.

Next up was Trailerpalooza + 50 Best Kills, two compilation films made up of trailers for exploitation movies and one mans opinion of roughly 50 of the best kills in cinema. Both were entertaining, but if I had to do it over again, I'm not sure I would. There definitely some films from the trailer one I thought would be interesting to see, but I felt like I'd seen a lot of the best kills ones before. It was maybe less than 50% in the end, but I'm not sure now. Anyway, it was a bit of fun, but not really fulfilling.

Next up was "Revenge: A Love Story", which I thought was a Japanese film, but I quickly realised it was Chinese. This was maybe the best film I saw at the festival, and the only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because it's just so grim. It's beautifully shot, really strong performances, but just downbeat. I want to be entertained, and there's just no way I'm leaving the cinema feeling good after watching this. The story is about a couple of simplistic young people who fall in love, and due to some unfortunate circumstances, end up being raped by the cops and one of them going to jail for something he didn't do. When he gets out, he gets revenge. But there's no happy endings for anyone in this film, which is I guess one way to do it, and maybe more realistic, but it's pretty depressing. But like I said, a really good film.

Then I saw "Cronos", an early film by Guillermo Del Torro. It was ok, but didn't wow me. I can see why it would've made a splash when it came out, but seeing it now, I liked it, but didn't love it. An old due finds a clockwork mechanism which gives immortality to the owner, but makes them need blood to live, so basically a new take on the vampire story. I should've written notes down sooner, because I can't recall why this didn't connect with me so much now. I just think that "Blade 2" is his best work, I guess.

"Letters From The Big Man" is a bigfoot or sasquatch film. It's told in this new low budget, magic realism aesthetic that seems to be a trend now with genre material. I mean, it's a bigfoot movie with a CIA conspiracy subplot, but it's not shot like you'd expect a bigfoot/CIA conspiracy movie to be shot. I liked it, and was happy to go along with the ride, but mainly because I just get so much pleasure from seeing a guy in a big old sasquatch costume on screen. The cast and script and stuff were fine, but really, for me, the appeal is the creatures, and even if it slow paced, environmental hippie message film, I still liked it.

"Guilty of Romance" is the Japanese film I got confused with earlier. This tells the story of a woman who marries an uptight novelsist, who runs a strict household and obviously withholds his marital duties from his wife (I'm talking about sex, in case it wasn't obvious). She gets spotted by a model recruiter one day for a photoshoot, and thus begins her downward spiral, but in the end it seems like it was all planned, or at least partially planned, by some prostitute who feels slighted by the lady's husband. I think it stretched things a bit far there, and it's not really the kind of story I prefer to spend my time on, but there was stuff I liked, so it wasn't a waste of time, but not a strong recommend for this one either, mainly for adult content, I guess.

And then these last 3 I saw in one day.
First up, I don't know the title for this one, and I'm not going to look it up, but it was basically a light doco about San Diego Comic-Con. Not much of interest here unless you're part of that crowd already, I suspect. Otherwise, I find it kind of insulting, a little bit, "Ooh, look at these weird people". Well, that's the vibe I got from the audience I saw it with. I enjoyed it, and got caught up in the people's stories, but it was still kind of a shallow experience I think.

"Troll Hunter" was pretty good. Maybe my favourite of the festival, but only because "Revenge..." was so depressing. This is a fake doco film, popularised by "Blair With Project". We follow a college film crew tracking down a suspected poacher, but discovering far more than they expected. If the title doesn't give it away, I suspect you can't read, so pointing it out in this sentence will be a waste of time, but it's trolls. The effects were good, the cast was solid, with the main troll hunter guy being a real standout. It kind of falls into that faux doco trap of having faux drama amongst the film crew, though it's not over the top, but it does feel like a cliche, but apart from that, I can't really think of any other issues I had with the film. I think endings are hard to do with this kind of film, but it wasn't too bad. Overall, I really liked it. Not sure if I'll bother buying it, but it is coming out on Video, so check it out.

And lastly, "The Yellow Sea", a Korean film. My main problem with this film was it was way too long. They could've easily lost half an hour from this, and it still would've been alright. Basic story is a Chinese or North Korean (I'm not really sure) guy gets smuggled into South Korea to perform a hit, and while he's there, try find his wife who smuggled in earlier to make money and has stopped communicating with him. And then there's the other Korean gang which complicates things, and the guy who sent him trying to cover his tracks and tie up loose ends, and the cops as well, so everybody is ganging for him and each other and it all becomes a long drawn out mess. I don't want to say the film is a mess, but the situation f=definitely gets messy, as in bloody. Very bloody. BUt the film does get drawn out. I couldn't believe my watch when I finally got out of the cinema nearly two and half hours later. So it was good, but would've been great if it wasn't so damned long.

Panel Of The Week: Tintin-The Black Island

2011-11-11T17:25:00.000+10:00

I think this speaks for itself.

Panel Of The Week: Tintin-The Calculus Affair

2011-11-05T14:40:00.001+10:00

With all this Tintin talk in the air, I thought I'd revisit the beauty of Herge's work in his Tintin comics. Just having a quick flick through a couple, there's a lot that changed in modern comics, but the beauty of his work still shines through. There's a lot of talking heads and large word balloons in the work, but when he does give himself the space, his work really shines through, such a beautiful line and use of flat colour. Well worth a look.

Return Of The Jedi: Panel Of The Week

2011-10-21T15:31:00.000+10:00

Well this is the final panel in this series, I hope you've enjoyed it. It's kind of appropriate considering the day and the background colour (i.e. pink=breast cancer awareness)

Ribs At The Carolina Cafe

2011-10-20T20:25:00.003+10:00

In my ever-continuing search for Ribs perfection, I decided to check out the competition. Dave had told me about an American style cafe around the corner from him. It sounded pretty good to me, so we went there for some dinner tonight. Naturally I ordered the ribs, which come with their potato salad. I ordered the regular size, but I think I'll need to upgrade to the large, I don't have that sickly bloated feeling after this meal that I associate with ribs.

But apart from that, they were pretty good. I think I prefer mine still, but I don't know if I could point out the differences. Theirs was suitably sweet, that delicious meat confectionary that BBQ Ribs are. The meat fell quite easily off the bone, though Dave's didn't seem to as easily as mine, but like I said, mine did. One thing though, their's was "drowned" in the sauce, whereas I don't pour the remainder of my sauce over it. Due to their cooking production, I don't think it has the same amount of basting and grilling as when I make it myself, so they need to pour the sauce over theirs to give it the flavour, but it makes for a much messier eating experience. You're a bit loathe to pick up the ribs with your hands since they're swimming in the sauce. Perhaps I over exaggerate, but I'm just saying there is more sauce on theirs than mine.

Anyway, I was pretty happy with them, and I recommend it as a quick fix if you've got the ribs craving and not the 3-4 hours up your sleeve to make your own, or I haven't invited you round for mine.

Untitled Work In Progress

2011-10-19T16:55:00.003+10:00

So I painted Jared, but it looks like that time when his head swelled up, so that obviously needs a lot of work. I'm thinking of using a stencil to give me the basic shape, and then just colour it in. I'm wondering if the picture of him needs to be bigger, take up all that space on that side of the canvas. I realised his jumper and jeans were blue, so thought I'd have trouble separating them from the background I'd already chosen around the Angel's head, so decided to use yellow, as I had a lot on my palette and didn't want it to got to waste. Same with the red. I think it turned out pretty well. The problem with this painting is that it has no focus.

I didn't do any work on "B I R D K I L L E R", so here's a bonus picture of a chicken.

Birdkiller And Untitled Work In Progress

2011-10-18T20:14:00.001+10:00

So I haven't done too much on this, but I added the white square which I'll paint the bird skull in, and I've painted the two birds hanging from a rope at his waist, which i don't think is obvious from looking at it, but you'll know because I just told you. Also, I slightly ruined the hand, but I'm not too worried, I can fix that up easily enough.

Not much happening in this one, just added more blue to define the limits of the Angel, painted over my face some, and that's about it. I don't think I'll be sticking with that face, as I'm not sure what picture I was using, and it looks kind of stupid. I'll either find another photo to reference, or maybe do like a 3/4 body shot, some kind of dramatic pose. The plan is still to paint the photo of Jared playing guitar, so something that seems to match that, though doesn't have any direct link, is what I'm thinking.

Man Rips Out Eyes

2011-10-16T20:07:00.004+10:00

Return Of The Jedi: Panel Of The Week

2011-10-14T16:27:00.003+10:00

Orchid #1

2011-10-13T21:02:00.002+10:00

It’s been a while since I wrote up any comic reviews, mainly because I was swamped with comics, but I thought I should put something up about this one, mainly because it’s written by Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave fame. That might be of interest.

So the first thing you notice is the quite striking cover, who one might assume is the titular character, Orchid. You would be right in that assumption, though she actually doesn’t appear till the last quarter of the book, and by then I’d kind of forgotten I was reading a comic about a girl called Orchid.

The book is set in a world where the oceans have risen, society has fallen, and genetic monsters roam the wild eating those too poor to live on higher ground. All that is essentially told to us on the opening/credit page. But then it tells us again as we actually start reading the comic, spread out over the next few pages, the exact same wording. Which would have been fine if I hadn’t just read it on the previous page. I guess it’s a kind of set-up piece that could be at the start of every comic, but if it’s going to be at the start of this first issue actually within text boxes in the comic, then I think that was a mistake to have it as a paragraph on your credit page. Anyway, that’s really my only real complaint. As the text within the comic, it seemed a bit clunky, and I was a bit worried about Tom Morello’s chops at writing a comic, but once we get past that, it’s all ok.

So instead of meeting Orchid at the start, we meet up with a bunch of rebels, who have stolen a mask of a famous rebel leader, which is supposed to have some kind of power, but at the very least is a rallying point for the revolution, and has symbolic power. These rebels are being chased, but one of them named Simon gets away with the mask, and it is through this verbose young man that we eventually get to meet up with Orchid, a prostitute with an attitude of looking out for number one, but also looks out for her family.

So the world building that’s going on here is pretty solid. Tom has set-up the world pretty well, though there’s nothing strikingly original in the ideas. I don’t mean that as a diss, I’m just saying a kind of post-apocalyptic world is familiar, it’d be hard to come up with something no one has ever seen before. Anyway, they’re doing a good job. Scott Hepburn is doing the drawing, and he’s doing a nice job visually. His characters are clear, and the genetic beasties he’s drawing are freakish. The world they live in is well realised, appropriately overgrown and decaying civilisation. So far I’m enjoying it.

I read in the editorial piece at the back that there’s a free download of an original song that Tom Morello has recorded to enhance the reading experience of the comic. The first one I think anyone can download, but the next ones you’ll need the code from the comic. I wish they had mentioned that at the start of the comic, rather than at the end, so I could have had it playing in the background as I read it. Anyway, it’s not what I was thinking, though it’s a pretty solid song, and I’m looking forward to hearing the rest.

So that was Orchid #1. You can buy it digitally if you want, it only costs a buck, though I assume next issue will be more in line with standard comic prices. I liked it, and I look forward to the next 11 issues.

Comictwart Punisher Love

2011-10-12T16:48:00.002+10:00

Yeah, another post about comictwart.
This picture is by Francesco Francavilla, one of my favourite comic twarters. I think the picture resonated as much as it did was because I had Italian crime movies on my brain, as I thought I got one in the mail. Turned out I didn't, but this helps ease the pain.

Lora8: Depressed Heroes Art

2011-10-10T16:06:00.001+10:00

So I just saw this, thanks to Bleeding Cool, and thought I might share. She has a couple others on her deviantart site, so go have a look.

Return Of The Jedi: Panel Of The Week

2011-10-07T15:48:00.001+10:00

YouTube Clip Of The Day: John Daker Sings

2011-09-27T15:41:00.001+10:00

I wish there was a shot of him looking straight down the camera at the end, but it's still gold.

Comictwart DC Love

2011-09-26T23:11:00.004+10:00

I know I've mentioned these guys before, but I just had to share a couple of this weeks pics, because they are so sweet. With the whole DC relaunch hype in the air, the guys decide to do their own DC tributes.
This first one is by Declan Shelvy, see original post here.

The next one is by Tom Fowler, one of my favourite artists on the blog. Check his original post here.

It's a site worth checking out, so do yourself a favour and head over to ComicTwart.

Hungerstrike-Temple Of The Dog

2011-09-25T22:36:00.002+10:00

I knew this song from some early Pearl Jam bootlegs, but didn't know where it was from. On the live track you could hear Eddie say, "We played that for Chris, he'll be real proud." Obviously that's Chris Cornell, but I didn't know that at the time. I never got into Soundgarden, so never paid much attention. I knew Temple of the Dog was the precursor to Pearl Jam, but never realised that Eddie Vedder actually sang on the track until I saw the Pearl Jam Twenty film and they featured this film clip in it. I since bought the album, and am quite enjoying it. I never really heard too much Soundgarden that interested me, except for Black Hole Sun, but I'm starting to wonder if maybe I should give them more of a listen. Anyway, I like this song.

Batman/Darth Vader Mash-Up

2011-09-24T10:28:00.001+10:00

Original Source:http://residentsoftherabbithole.tumblr.com/post/10461192139

Superman In A Photobooth

2011-09-24T10:27:00.000+10:00

Original Source Unknown

"BIRDKILLER" Work In Progress 5

2011-09-23T16:35:00.005+10:00

Not too much has changed. I put the white borders in, but my eye was off so now it's at angle. Also, it seems some paint got lifted up or something in the process, so there's a speckling of white in my green now in certain places. I don't want to use tape for that very reason, but it seemed to happen anyway.
One more thing to fix.

I worked mostly on the figure, and I'm pretty happy with it. The shirt in particular. The face is an ongoing battle, trying to work at that size with paint on this surface is a challenge, but I think I'll get what I'm after, though I may have to ask Richard to pose again, but just focus on his face. The next challenge is to paint a couple of birds hanging around his wait, as if strung up to his belt.
Then I need to remember to put the panel with bird skull in it back in. So a little way to go still.

Thanks for the comment Brad, wasn't sure if anyone was paying attention.

Return Of The Jedi: Panel Of The Week

2011-09-23T16:32:00.003+10:00

"BIRDKILLER" Work In Progress 4

2011-09-22T17:19:00.004+10:00

So I did what I had to do, and abandoned representation in the background, and I'm much more happy with it now.
I felt I needed something more in the lower section of the painting though, so have gone for the dribble effect, bleeding out from the rocks. The plan is still to have a clearly defined white line separating them and bordering the whole painting, so that brown has probably gone too far down on the left there, but I plan to bring in some blue dribble as well, so I'm hoping to mask that somewhat when I do that.
I would have taken a better photo, but the camera battery ran out so I had to settle for the lighting in this one, and I wanted to try rescue the figure from the background, so didn't want to wait any longer.
Thanks for all your feedback and comments, it's been................................................

"BIRDKILLER" Work In Progress 3

2011-09-19T16:17:00.004+10:00

I find the process of painting is a constant process of rescue and restoration. I have something I like, that I'm happy with, but then as the rest of the painting is dragged kicking and screaming to a place I want it to be, the parts i'm happy with invariably get "damaged", they're the collateral damage of the rest of the painting. The central figure is the victim as I struggle with the background, he is covered in paint as I try to get consistency or clarity around him, and he bears the brunt of my frustrations and scorched earth policy in applying paint to the background. But this seems to be my method, I get my figure where I want them, then rescue them from the background as it overtakes them.

I'm happy with my hand, and I'm happy with my figure and composition, the idea of what I'm trying to accomplish. It's just I picked the wrong idea to explore the painting method I want to explore with this painting, so I struggle with the background. I think I may get a larger paintbrish. The clouds seem more like mountain tops, and I think I need to abandon representation.
But it's been fun.
What have you been doing?

"BIRDKILLER" Work In Progress 2

2011-09-18T19:07:00.003+10:00

Return Of The Jedi: Panel Of The Week

2011-09-18T19:05:00.002+10:00

"BIRDKILLER" Work In Progress

2011-09-17T19:42:00.005+10:00

Inspired by a post Richard made concerning the saying "killing 2 birds with 1 stone", I bring you the latest in my line of unfinished works.

"BIRDKILLER" (W.I.P.)

"BIRDKILLER" (Detail)

Return Of The Jedi: Panel Of The Week

2011-09-09T22:17:00.002+10:00

Comic Review For Release Date 31/9/11: The New DC-Justice League #1

2011-09-03T22:15:00.011+10:00

So I’m a bit behind on my regular schedule of comic book reviews, but I’m going to skip roughly the last months worth of comics I haven’t read yet, because I want to concentrate on something new, something that came out this week, and I feel is pretty important. This week, DC Comics only put out two comics, Flashpoint #5, the end of their event, and in effect, then end of the old DC Universe; and Justice League #1, the start of the new DC Universe. I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, but DC Comics is re-launching 52 new titles, starting at #1s for all of them. And this week was the end of one and the start of something new. So for this week, I’m just going to look at Justice League #1.

This book has heavy hitters on it, creatively speaking. Geoff Johns is probably DC biggest writer, and is important enough that he’s been promoted to Chief Creative Officers or something like that. Jim Lee is a legend, and one of the best pencillers in the business. and personally speaking, he represents an evolutionary step in my comic reading, when I discovered his work on X-Men in the early nineties, and brought me into reading Marvel comics. So expectations are high. And Justice League is DC’s big hitters, characters wise. I mean look who’s on the cover, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman are probably three of the most recognizable comic characters in the western world. And if you’re a bit more familiar with comics then you’d probably recognize Green Lantern, Flash and Aquaman. I find it a bit odd that Cyborg is in the mix, but whatever. Anyway, what I’m saying is, this team, both creatively and the actual team, bring big expectations, and it’s a new number one, launching a whole new chapter in DC’s publishing history, so that’s an awful lot of expectation for one little comic to bear. So what did I think?
Well, I really liked it. I’ve already read it a couple of times, and I imagine I might read it again. And the thing that’s got me coming back is the characters. We get to meet four of the seven from the cover in this issue, but we mainly spend most of the comic with Batman and Green Lantern. And this is their first time they’ve met. They’ve heard of each other, but this is the first time they’ve actually met, and the interactions between them is pretty enjoyable. You’ve got Batman being Batman, confident, slightly cocky, very aware of what he’s doing and experienced, and then you’ve got Green Lantern, who seems younger, more cocky and self-assured, but not necessarily with the experience to back it up. Which leads to some nice interactions between them. These are a couple of my favourites.

So this is very early on in everybody’s respective careers, they are not a known quantity yet, the band hasn’t gotten together. So this first series is going to be getting the band together, obviously having to deal with the threat that is being set up in this issue. And it works. We get to know the characters as they get to know each other. And I can’t wait to get to know them more. It was pretty smart not to start this series with Batman meeting Superman, it makes us hungry for next issue, It was also smart to start with Batman, who I think it could be argued is the most popular and recognizable character in DC history.
Anyway, I’ve talked enough about the story, kind of, what about the art? As I said earlier, Jim Lee’s art had a big impact on my comic reading life. His art sucked me in and is still some of my favourite stuff I’ve read. But, as time progressed and he moved over to Image Comics, I feel like it lost a little something along the way, and it was never as good as in the golden time I discovered him in X-Men. Except for his Deathblow work, that I really liked. So I was curious to see how I would react to this Jim Lee, since it’s kind of rare to get actual page content out of him these days. Well, I wasn’t disappointed. Certain panels leap out at me, some images are have a certain iconicness to them. Take this panel for example.

It’s a great shot of Batman, but it’s not as ostentatious as another shot of him just about 10 cm to the left. He’s not as large in the panel, there’s not as much detail, but I really like it. I think it shows him in motion, that kind of use of speed-lines in the background and in the lower half of his body. Also, being zipped through the flames adds a nice dynamic touch to it, and adds a bit of colour to it.
Anyway, let me just show you a couple more of my favourite panels, which I think are good examples of Jim’s art and Geoff’s characterisations of them.

Return Of The Jedi Panel Of The Week

2011-09-02T17:55:00.001+10:00

How I Spent My Saturday Afternoon, Between 4pm And 5pm

2011-08-29T09:51:00.003+10:00

Just a little something I threw together with Clay on the weekend. This is just a work in progress, hopefully Clay will use it and put FX in there, like muzzle flashes and blood and impact hits on the walls etc., but in case he doesn't use it, at least we got to see it here. But when he does, I'm sure we'll post it on youtube for all to see.

Youtube Clip Of The Day: APE Trailer

2011-08-27T14:25:00.000+10:00

Ah, if only I could make a movie that good.

Return Of The Jedi Panel Of The Week

2011-08-26T18:36:00.002+10:00

Comic Review For Comics Released 3/8/11

2011-08-26T18:35:00.012+10:00

Batman Retroactive 1980’s – So I picked up the next one after last weeks 1970’s Retroactive, I think mainly because I enjoyed the last one, and because it looked like it might be fun, and I was curious about the Alan Davis art in the second story, from the 80’s. And it’s got thought balloons. Jason Todd is still Robin in this timeframe, and Batman still hates crime and calls Robin “chum”, which seems a little odd, like a leftover from the Adam West TV show. The story was pretty cool, the return of a masked avenger who hates crime as much as Batman, but takes it a little bit further, killing the criminals rather than just roughing them up. Also , the narrator asked us if we could solve the mystery. But anyway, what I really want to show you are these panels form the original 80’s story. I like this Batman.

Caligula #3 – This issue wasn’t as depraved as the last few issues, but got a little more into the supposed God-like qualities of Caligula. I’m not sure if I’ll keep buying this, but I probably will. I think I find it more interesting than entertaining, but I’m not sure how interested I really am. We’ll see.

Hero Comics 2011 - Apart from the obvious appeal of the Adam Hughes cover, I picked this anthology comic up because it had a few stories from a few series I follow, namely Chew and Elephantmen. Other stories of note were a Neil Gaiman story and a Sam Keith story chronicling the journey of the Neil Gaiman piece. Sam Keith and Mike Dringenberg collaborated on the art for the Neil Gaiman, which is significant because they all worked on the original Sandman issue. It’s a nice painted kind of art, neither strictly one or the other. The Chew story was just a nice little filler, without any real place in the larger story, it could happen anytime. The Elephantmen story was a nice little piece, with a bit of a comment about public health access and the treatment of returned veterans. Sam Keith’s story and art was pretty and somewhat informative.

World of Flashpoint #3 – So this wraps up this short little Flashpoint mini, and it’s pretty much just a Father and Daughter arguing about destroying the world or saving it. We don’t really get to zip around the world and meet different characters like we had in the previous issues, but I guess I didn’t mind, I must’ve gotten invested in the story, because I wanted to know how it turned out. I’ll let you in in on a little secret, it turned out ok.

Flashpoint Batman Knight of Vengeance #3 – The conclusion to this story was pretty good, with Eduardo Risso’s art being the main attraction. Which is not to say Azzarello’s story isn’t good, because it is. It had some great moments, I think my favourite was when Thomas Wayne/Batman is explaining to Martha Wayne/Joker how there’s an alternate reality where Bruce lived. Martha asked him what Bruce did after they died, and Thomas says he follows in his Father’s footsteps. Martha asks if he means doctor, and he says no. Martha realises what he means, and freaks out. It’s like she doesn’t want to wish that on anyone. Anyway, it was pretty good. I suppose I could just show you what I was talking about, instead of telling you.
So here you go.

Flashpoint #4 – This was ok, but I guess the problem I’m having with it is I don’t care about the Flash character and how he wants to put things back the way he knows them, and that’s pretty much the core of the story. But for being the core of the story, they also seem to spend a lot of time not dealing with that. In this issue, we spend a lot of time with a bunch of kids who make Shazam. I thought in the regular DCU it was just one kid who turned into Shazam, but in this one it seems to be about 5 kids. And everybody’s trying to decide if they help with the war between Atlantis and the Amazons, and there is much hand-wringing and back and forth, and it tends to drag the story down somewhat. I’m sounding like I didn’t enjoy, but I did, it’s just I don’t really remember anything about it, and apart from the moment I’m reading it, I don’t really care.

Moon Knight #4 - I think 4 issues is enough of a chance for a book to make an impression on me, and for all I’ve liked it so far, I don’t think I need to keep reading this. Maleev’s art is good, but it doesn’t wow me anymore. But maybe that’s the fault of Bendis, who’s far more interested in character than story. I think it’s the first few pages that did it for me. Echo calls the Avengers to check what the deal is with Moon knight, is he ok or just crazy, and that’s fair enough, it makes sense, but it turns into this whole big thing, who are you? Would you date him? Blah blah blah. And that’s fine, some people want that, but I don’t need it, so I’m just going to walk away from you Moon Knight.

The Punisher #1 – I was a little confused with how this comic opened. If you’re starting a new series, and you’re introducing us to new characters, you might want to give some indication if these panels are happening at the same time or who is who or even where, just something so that I’m not just scratching my head till halfway through the comic. I got it the second time round though. Ok, so a new Punisher series, written by Greg Rucka, whose work on G.C.P.D. I’ve enjoyed, and illustrated by Marco Checchetto, who I’m not so familiar with, but maybe I read some of his Daredevil stuff. Anyway, he’s got a nice style for this kind of book.
So there’s a wedding happening, and some guys with guns bust in and shoot it all to hell, and some cops start to investigate, but one of them seems to be in contact with the Punisher, who’s taken an interest in the case, and he goes shoots a bunch of guys in a bar, but leaves one alive. Pretty basic story, not much happening, and I was kind of wondering, is that it? But no, it wasn’t. There’s a second story, set-up like a police report done via interview, but really showing us the reader the way the events really went down, and it gives us a bit of back story to the younger cop from the main story, and gives a lot more insight into his motivations. It kind of made the whole thing better, and I went back and reread the first story, and it made a lot more sense, because I knew who was who now, but also because there was more depth to the cop. Anyway, I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.

Severed #1 – A new horror comic, co-written by Scott Snyder, who we know and like, and Scot Tuft, who no one’s ever heard of. Set mainly in 1916, it starts in the late 50’s with an old man watching Elvis on TV, who receives a mysterious letter, which kicks off our flashback to when he was a young boy and decides to ride the rails in search of adventure. It’s a bit of slow burn, but I’m looking forward to it. There seems to be some kind of vampireish or serial killer element, but we don’t really know what’s going on just yet.

Snarked #0 - I guess this was an introductory issue, but it felt just like an issue 1 to me. Taking Lewis Carrol’s poems and characters as the start, Roger Langridge is setting up a world and story. Lots of ancillary material in the back, like the original poems and activities for kids. It was fun, but a bit too General Audience for me, so I don’t think I’ll pick this title up in future.

Return Of The Jedi Panel Of The Week

2011-08-19T23:24:00.002+10:00

Comic Review For Comics Released A Month Ago

2011-08-19T23:12:00.012+10:00

Ok, continuing the theme of lateness from my last entry on comic goodness, I think this is about a month late? Something like that, because the comics I’m writing about here, I just bought the next issues of today. Ok, anyway, lets get on with getting on.

So first up is Batman Retroactive 1970’s, one of the one-shots that DC is putting out trying to cash in on the nostalgia dollars. I wasn’t planning on buying this, but I flicked through it in the shop, and I saw thought balloons, so that made up my mind for me. The current trend in comics is not to do thought balloons, but I grew up on Batman having thought balloons. Well, grew up on is a sleight exaggeration, as I didn’t have regular buying habits, but the ones I did have access to early in my comic reading history had Batman thinking, so this tickled that itch for just fine. Look at this page, the whole page is just thought balloons! Awesome.

The story has a lot more Bruce Wayne than I feel current comics do, and a more personal interaction with other people. And the gizmos Batman has are more crazy than you’ll find in today’s more ‘realistic’ take on the character. For example, Batman drives his Bat-Sub into a boat to prevent some crime, but to stop it from sinking, his Bat-Sub is equipped with some foaming agent to block the hole. And then he tells Commissioner Gordon that he’ll pick it up later. Kind of silly, but good fun. There’s also a back-up story from the 70’s in the back, and it’s got one of my favourite panels of the week in it (see below). So all in all, I was pretty happy with this buy.

Next up we have the re-starting of Daredevil, with Daredevil #1. Just so you know how this is different, allow me to explain. You might remember I told you about Shadowland, and how after that mini-series Matt Murdoch left his regular title, Daredevil The Man Without Fear for a mini-series, and Black Panther stepped into that title, so we now have Black Panther The Man Without Fear. But at the end of the mini-series, Matt Murdoch made it pretty clear he was coming back to pick up the peices of his life, but what comic was he going to go to if Black Panther had his title, and it was selling, so it wasn’t going anywhere? Well that’s why we have the new plain old title of just Daredevil. Matt Murdoch is back, and he’s doing what he said he would, picking up the pieces of his life and getting on with getting on, even though everybody thinks he’s Daredevil. The story is good solid stuff, I like where it’s going and what it’s trying to do. It’s not just ignoring everything that’s gone before, that’s the reality Matt has to live in, but he’s not letting that stop him, he’s just going to have to try harder. You might hear things like it’s a return to the lighter, earlier Daredevil, and I guess it could be seen that way, but I just like to see it as the continuation of the character. Life deals him a giant big pile of crap, and he has to walk through it, but eventually you get to the other side, and clean yourself up, and get on with living. That’s the strength of the character.
Let’s talk about the art by Paolo Rivera. It’s beautiful. It reminded me of a couple former Daredevil artists, John Romita Jr. and Cary Nord. JRJR when he’s using his powers, that thick blocky kind of line, and Cary Nord when it’s the rest, that lighter breezy kind of line. And look at some of these panels, it’s kind of creepy how this guy looks when looked at from Daredevil’s perspective.

And this also kind of creepy, but cool, with Daredevil’s billy clubs sticking out of him like that.

But lets not forget that we’re all here to have fun as well, so we get this moment, which in actual fact was a strategic move to sucker the Spot out, but it’s a fun way of doing it.

The other part of the story focuses more on the Matt Murdoch aspects of his life, particularly the issue of how do you practice law when everyone thinks you’re a costumed vigilante/superhero? There was smaller story included, which gave us a nice insight into Matt’s frame of mind at the moment, but was really just a showcase for Marcos Martin to dazzle us with his excellent art. It’s gives us a great visual insight into the way Matt views the world.

I think this issue was definitely pick of the week for me, and I’m really looking forward to this next chapter in DD’s life.

Ok, now for the surprise hit of last month, or whenever week it came out. Marvel Universe Vs. Wolverine. I didn’t think this was a strong an issue, mainly because it seemed to be fiddling about trying to find a cure, and it seemed kind of sidetracked with a Punisher story, but it was till full of cool panels and story beats, and it left me wanting more, so it succeeded in bring me back, which is kind of what serialised fiction is meant to do. I don’t know if this as true a rule as Batman On A Horse, but Wolverine riding a motorbike was pretty cool.

As was our introduction to Frank Castle, which is typically cool Frank pose. I tend to like anyone holding two pistols.

And like I said, it does have cool beats and moments in it, like this one.

City Of Blinding Lights II

2011-08-18T23:47:00.003+10:00

Return Of The Jedi Panel Of The Week

2011-08-12T15:19:00.002+10:00

Posters For Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

2011-08-11T21:57:00.004+10:00

Maybe you're sick of me talking about this film already, but I can't help myself, and I thought these were pretty funny.

YouTube Clip Of The Day: Chimp With An AK-47

2011-08-07T15:07:00.002+10:00

I was looking for a Rise of the Planet of the Apes poster that I swore I had seen earlier, when I came across this. Apparently there's an 11 minute video that puts this in context, but who cares about that? A chimp with a gun!

2 Gifs

2011-08-06T10:38:00.004+10:00

I tried posting a GIF, but it wouldn't animate, so instead just follow the links to coolness, of varying degrees, but I really recommend the first one.

The First One

The Second One

Return Of The Jedi Panel Of The Week

2011-08-05T21:44:00.002+10:00

Comic Reviews For Release Date 13/7/11

2011-08-04T10:00:00.019+10:00

Wow, what is this, 3 weeks late? Closer to 4? Anyway, a few weeks ago I bought a bunch of comics, and put off reading them, but now I have, and this what I thought of them.

American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #2 of 5 – While I can’t remember exactly who the lead female character is in this story, I’m finding that doesn’t really matter. She wants to kill vampires, and she along with Cash are going behind Nazi lines to find a scientist who might have the cure, which Cash wants for his son, and maybe Dolly wants for herself. But things do not go well, they’re shot down, and it seems the Nazi’s don’t really trust them, and oh yeah, a whole battalion of Nazi vampires turn up at the end. Good times. Scott Snyder continues to expand the world he’s created with this mini-series, and just like the original series, it’s all good. Art chores are done by Sean Murphy, who has a really nice style. It’s like a mixture of cartoony and something else. There’s a slight cartoonish element to the faces of his characters, but the rest of his work seems more realistic, though obviously not going for a photo-realism. Whatever he’s doing, it’s pretty nice, and his storytelling and panel layout and stuff is pretty good too.

Batgirl #23 – So this series is drawing towards a conclusion, with DC’s new relaunch a month or so away, so this is the penultimate issue. That’s right, isn’t it? Penultimate is next to last? I’ll have to check that later. Anyway, this story continues, and the main appeal is the character to of Batgirl herself, she’s just a really likeable character. The story was fun, with a bunch of young super-heroines showing up to lend a hand, and the revelation that this has all been leading to someone else. The art isn’t by Dustin Ngyuen, but Pere Perez, and it’s pretty solid, with the cast of super-heroines looking pretty good. It’s been a fun series, and I hope the relaunch can keep the same fun tone.

Batman The Dark Knight #3 – Right, David Finch’s vanity project. How long has I been since last issue? Beats me, but it feels like ages. Anyway, it’s pretty good, still, and if it actually had the momentum of a monthly comic, it’d actually be quite enjoyable, I think. But as it is, I feel like I’m playing catch-up with my memory, and none of it really seems to matter. But there’s much to like in his art, and the story’s ok, so hopefully the next one won’t be so long in coming.

Flashpoint- Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown #2 – While I don’t really know any of these characters, as I’ve never read anything with them in before, I’m finding that doesn’t really matter, as this part of the whole new different Flashpoint alternative reality, and the characters are basic horror archetypes, so it’s all pretty easy to follow. In this issue they are trying to track down the lab of the Professor who is the father of the fish-girl, and someone is sent after them to stop them. Pretty straightforward, but I guess my question is, why? I don’t remember what they’re hoping to find, or why someone else wants to stop them. Anyway, only another issue or two till Flashpoint is over, so I’ll keep getting it, I’m enjoying it.

Black Panther: Man Without Fear- 3521 (Fear Itself tie-in) – I thought Black Panther got some new threads from the cover, but that’s not Black Panther, that’s American Panther, who we don’t know who it is yet. This issue is set in the larger event of Fear Itself at Marvel, and frankly, I think it suffers for it. It felt shoe-horned, having all these people keep talking about how they’re afraid, or someone is always mentioning fear. Ok, I get it. Anyway, I still like what’s happening story-wise, it just feels like it’s trying to hard to matter in Fear Itself. Francesco Francavilla’s art continues to impress.

Hellraiser #3 - I think this was the surprise of the week, for me. I kind of had the licensed property doubts, and I’m not sure issue 1 blew me away, but I thought this was pretty solid. Visually, it was excellent, with Stephen Thompson, who I don’t know, doing an excellent job. In fact, even though I don’t usually do this, I’m giving this comic my Panel of the Week.

In case you can’t tell, that’s a crucifix crushing a cenobite, or some other kind of hell spawn. The story is good, no doubt in part due to the involvement of Clive Barker, who wrote the original story and film. I like how involved it is, covering many peoples lives and spanning decades. I’ll have to try remember next time that I’m actually enjoying this series.

Lady Mechanica Collected Edition – This collects the first issue, which I bought, and the zero issue, which I missed; which is why I bought this one. This steampunk tale tells the tale of Lady Mechanica, a bit of an adventurer who happens to have mechanical body parts, and no memory of how she got them or where she comes from. Joe Benitez writes and draws, and it sure is pretty. I like the world he’s creating, I like the character of Lady Mechanica and I like the villains he’s introducing. I also like the moments of violence sprinkled throughout like a well flavoured spice. It was helpful to get this, as I now know who the figure in the first issue is now, and why he has a grudge against Lady Mechanica. Something about her kicking him in the head, and basically ripping of his lower jaw. Ah, there’s that spice I was talking about. Yummy.

Lady Mechanica #2 – How convenient that this was released on the same day as the collected edition. And what a pretty cover, If I had to pick, I’d say this was my Cover of the Week. I’m thinking of blowing it up and sticking it up on my wall. Joe Benitez sure has a pretty line. Anyway, I really quite enjoyed this issue, with an appearance from the flame-haired villainess from last issue, and Lady Mechanica visiting a circus with midget clowns and a monkey and a dude who throws knives. And more of that spice I talked about with the Collected Edition. Lady Mechanica shoots someone’s fingers off. Yeah boy, that’s what I’m talking about. Spicy.

The Red Wing #1 – So this is the first issue of a 4 part mini-series, which no doubt has plans to be an ongoing, written by Jonathon Hickman and illustrated by Nick Pitarra. Hickman I know from his work on S.H.I.E.L.D. and his reputation, but Pitarra I don’t know. He seems to come from a similar school as Frank Quietly, or Chris Burnham, a nice clean line, reasonable level of detail, and let the colourist do the shading. It’s decent enough, though not in Frank Quietly’s level yet. The story seems to be going down two paths. In the first path, there are two pilots who fly their planes in a war that seems to take place throughout time. Their planes are actually equipped to travel through time, so the war seems to be fought anywhere as they slip in and out of different times. Though it does not end well for them, and they are shot down. The second path seems to be following their sons as they sign up for the war, and are beginning their training to follow in their fathers’ footsteps, though one of them is obsessed with the idea that his father is alive. I think I’ll enjoy this series, though so far I have no idea who we’re fighting or what the war is about. The flipping between times is done nicely, as the plane crosses the panel borders from one time to another, a nice use of the medium. Hickman is known for his design sense, and there’s some really nice design going on here, with panel layouts and good use of white blank pages, except for some small, illustrated detail. Didn’t blow me away, but I’m looking forward to the series as a whole, as I think Hickman is someone who tends to build to something, not just try blow your socks off with each issue.

My New Toy (Well, Not Really A Toy)

2011-08-03T21:58:00.004+10:00

DC have a line of statues they produce, called Batman Black & White, which has its roots in a comic called the same thing, an anthology comic where out of continuity stories could be told using the medium of black and white comics. They were good, and you should check out my volumes sometime. I have a few of the statues, you might've seen them, if you were ever in my room. This is the latest, based on Lee Bermejo art from the graphic novel by Lee and written by Brian Azzarello. It's good too. But this statue is better than good, it's fantastic.It's so good, I just had to share.

Return Of The Jedi Panel Of The Week

2011-07-29T17:20:00.001+10:00

Sam The Captain America Eagle

2011-07-23T16:02:00.003+10:00

This is pretty cool, except it kind of really annoys me as well. It would be cool if it was just a parody poster put out to promote the upcoming Muppet movie, but unfortunately, it smacks of marketing to me. Maybe if Disney didn't own both the Muppets and Marvel Entertainment group, whose Marvel Studios are putting out Captain America in the next week or so, it wouldn't seem like a such a cynical cross-promotional tool, but they do, and so it does. Sorry if I ruined it for you, it is still pretty cool.

Return Of The Jedi Panel Of The Week

2011-07-22T16:46:00.001+10:00

Work In Progress

2011-07-21T15:10:00.004+10:00

It could possibly be close to a year since I did any work on this painting. And I didn't do much now.

So it makes sense to start a new one.

Maybe I'll have them finished by the end of the world next year.

DVD (And Other Video Movies) Review For Week 12/7/11-18/7/11

2011-07-19T22:20:00.008+10:00

After last weeks excellent foray into the Sci-Fi section of Video Ezy, I thought I'd actually go through all the movies in that section in a systematic viewing schedule, but when I turned up last Tuesday and perused the shelves, I just couldn't do it. There seemed to be nothing of interest to me there, so that put paid to that idea. Maybe I'll try again next week. So instead I got this out.

I saw this at the cinema, and from what I remember, I enjoyed it, but wasn't sure if it was a keeper. So I got it out to try formulate a definitive answer on it. I'm not sure I'm there yet, but it's growing on me. I quite like the movie, but there one or two things which make me hesitate. The first is the editing. I think the film is quite stylishly shot, but the editing doesn't allow any shot t linger, for you as the audience to appreciate it. I understand why you do that at the beginning, it is called Faster for a reason, I guess. But the action flows better when we can see it for more than a few seconds. And the cuts seems to be in really awkward spots, it just didn't seem very well edited to me. The second thing I don't particularly like is the Killer character. And it's not so much a problem I have with the character, but more the actor portraying him.
He could've been better. And Maggie Grace, she's real pretty, but she doesn't really convince in her role either, but I don't mind so much, because like I said, she's pretty. Don't judge me.
But having said that, there is stuff I love about the movie. The Rock's character, Driver, has a really interesting arc, and the Cop, played by Billy Bob Thornton, is another really interesting character. I love his interactions with this son. I love his complexity as a addict cop and how he's just trying to get to retirement. Like I said, there's lots of stylish shots, and I really love this shot from early on...

But the thing I love the most is the final guy he goes to kill, the guy who became a christian in prison and now has a revival tent ministry. I just love how this film deals with vengeance and forgiveness. It seems something new to the revenge film, though I;m sure it's been explored before, but I wonder if it's been this explicit. So right now, I'm thinking of buying it, because I really do love that stuff I mentioned, and I guess maybe I'll learn to put up with the stuff I don't.

And that's about all I watched. I had Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 on in the background while I was doing stuff, but I'm going to give that a proper viewing this coming week, so I'll talk about that alter. And I also watched 2 Weeks Notice which I taped of TV. What can I say? I got a real soft spot for Sandra Bullock, so I like it, even though it's pretty standard, and quite middle-of-the-road romantic comedy. I also taped Under Siege, but the timer cut out too early, so I didn't get to see Steve kill Tommy. Might have to get that and the sequel out sometime soon as well then.

Comic Reviews For Release Date 6/7/11

2011-07-18T16:44:00.011+10:00

This is a little late, because the shipment got held up at customs, so didn't actually come into till about a week later. That was a hard week for me. But anyway, shall we see what I read this week?

One of the problems with reading serialised fiction, like a monthly comic, is that you have to remember what happened in the previous issue. I knew that this had something to do with Jason Todd as the Rd Hood teaming up with Dick Grayson Batman and Damian Wayne Robin, but I couldn’t remember why. Well I picked it up as I went along, something about a girl being kidnapped or something, but he problem was, by the end of the issue, I didn’t care. Red Hood got away, and felt really nonplussed. I quite like the cover, and the interior art was pretty nice. I’m not quite sure how to describe it, so it’s lucky I can post a picture of it instead.

I like how the Red Hood has red pistols, a nice little stylistic touch. And the rendition of Damien looks age appropriate, so I liked that as well. (Side note, I’m mainly referring to Greg Tochini, who was the penciller for the majority of the issue, though the last few pages were done by Andy Smith, and I don’t think were quite as good). But in the end, the story let me down, or rather my lack of interest in a wider Batman continuity let me down. Oh well, it’s all ending soon anyway, so why worry too much about it?

I wasn’t going to buy any of the Fear Itself event books, but I heard this was a good issue, and I’d been buying and enjoying Uncanny X-Force, so thought I’d give it a go. And it was pretty good, I think. Simone Bianchi was on art chores, and I like his stuff, it’s just I wonder if he’s really suited to American comics. His art is beautiful, I just think I prefer his covers to his storytelling. It’s almost like his work is too busy for a fluid reading, or he needs the pages to be wider, or something. Anyway, the story was good, with the team trying to track down the usual bad guys who don’t like mutants, and it had a nice scene with Deadpool being interviewed by a couple of stuffed toys, and a pretty harsh cliff-hanger ending, so all in all, despite what I said about Bianchi’s art, I enjoyed it.

Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso are just one of those creative teams who are worth buying, because they always deliver. Continuing the alternate reality storyline of this Flashpoint event, we have Thomas Wayne Batman trying to track down a couple of kidnapped kids, with opportunities to see some familiar faces in some not so familiar roles. One of them should have been more obvious to me, I mean it was practically handed to me on a plate, but still I didn’t see it coming. And I thought the reveal at the end was going to be Bruce, which would have been really clever, if obvious, and make no sense at all since he was clearly shot, but I was wrong, but it was still a cool reveal, even if I think I may have read about it beforehand, And that nasty triack she plays on Jim Gordon when he arrives at the house, that was a good moment. You’ll have to read it for yourself if you want to know what happens, I’m not going to spoil it.

This event makes me wonder, what right does someone have to try alter an alternate timeline back to a supposed original timeline? That’s what Flash is trying to do, and he’s recruiting Flashpoint Batman to help him. But this whole world, it’s the world as these people know it, so what right does this Flash have to say no, you can’t exist in this way, I have to put you back to this other way, the way I know? Anyway, it’s probably for the best, since the whole world is being kid of going down the tubes with the war between the Amazons and the Atlanteans. So in this issue, the fellows try to get the team back together, so go to bust out Superman from where he’s been hidden for the last 30 years or so. Which is pretty cool, since he’s been hidden from the sun, the source of his power, and locked up in a government facility, he’s nothing like the Superman we know, skinny and scared, he bolts for the sky at the first sign of trouble after they bust him out. Also, Grifter makes his first appearance post-Wildstorm appearance. I’m hearing a lot of online murmurings about how people are enjoying the tie-ins more than this actual title, which I think I agree with. It’s not really the strongest story, it’s ok, just not great. But it’s fun to see all the different alternate characters, which leads us to…

I don’t know who this magic teen girl character is who’s the protagonist of this series, so I don’t know how different she is from normal DCU continuity, but she’s travelling around this Flashpoint world a lot trying to rally people to join her in stopping her father from launching nuclear weapons at the Amazons or Atlantis or both, I can’t really remember, but anyway, we get to see a lot of different characters because of that. And that’s the fun of this series and event, so even though I don’t know who she is or maybe half the people she’s visiting, I’m still enjoying it. Things of note, or things I especially liked, Beast Boy making his appearance and answering the question of what happens when someone rapidly changes size from a bee to a chimpanzee inside someone else’s head. Answer, it’s bloody. Also, nice cliffhanger ending reveal.

I’m enjoying this, which is a pleasant surprise, since the last few projects that Bendis and Maleev have worked on have left me cold. But this is ticking along nicely. I don’t love it wholeheartedly, but there’s definitely enough to keep me happy. I like the crazy aspect of his character, and I think Bendis is doing a good job with that. And Maleev’s art doesn’t seem so dependent on his reference material as it has recently, more a return to his Daredevil style, but still better somewhat, maybe. Just not as bad as it has been, so we’ll keep going with this one, but hope it gets better, it could go either way.

"Journey" by The Koreans

2011-07-17T13:54:00.001+10:00

Return Of The Jedi: Panel Of The Week

2011-07-15T15:15:00.003+10:00

DVD Review For Week 5/7/11-11/7/11

2011-07-12T22:40:00.007+10:00

Man, I thought this was a really good week for videos (or to be more accurate, DVDs, but you know what I mean). I decided to hit up the Sci-Fi section of Video Ezy, and got out 4 movies to watch, a couple of repeats and a couple new ones for me, and each one was worth a watch. So why don’t you sit back and I’ll tell you all about it?

Dragon Wars - So when this was first released, I was pretty excited to see it, but was also wary, and wariness won out, so it’s taken me a couple years to actually get round to seeing it. But I thought it was pretty good, not great but good. I knew this was a Korean made film, but when I saw it had an American cast, I was a bit worried, as that rarely seems to work, but it wasn’t too bad this time. The biggest problem I had with the film was the actual story. The dragon war it self was pretty cool, and I really quite enjoyed most of the action, it’s just the framing for it, left a little to be desired. The story is about some kind of giant snake type creature of Korean legend that every 500 years has the opportunity to become a dragon and be a force for good or evil in the universe, but to achieve this, some 20 year old girl must sacrifice herself to it for some reason. Except 500 years ago she and her protector fell in love and ended up dying in each other’s arms, plummeting of a cliff, thus preventing the evil snake imoogi from ascending to dragonhood, as well as the good immogi. So now in the present day it’s happening all over again, and it’s really kind of pointless. I think there are plenty of other ways they could have had a dragon war without being too dull. Anyway, I didn’t want to spend too much time on it, so let me sum up the good and the bad. The good, fun story when it was involving dragons. Good use of practical and real locations. Minimal use of CGI, mainly for dragons themselves, most everything else seemed practical. It was pretty cool to see this dragon army marching down the streets of L.A., and having a huge aerial battle with dragons and helicopters in the middle of all these skyscrapers.
The bad, the story stuff I already mentioned. The lack of geography making sense, scenes just happen at one place with no sense of how long it takes to get there or where they are in relation to other scenes. And the end scene, at some alter type place in a barren landscape with huge castle and monuments, I’ve no idea where that is, is it meant to be in L.A. or Korea?
I liked it, but it’s not a strong recommendation from me, unless you’re into dragons. It’s kind of like Heat meets Star Wars prequels.

Jonny Mnemonic – A repeat viewing, but this film is worth it. Have you seen it? It’s awesome. It just keeps on delivering, there’s always something new around the corner. It’s got Keanu Reeves, Dolph Lundgren, Ice-T and Henry Rollins in it, to name a few. That’s got to be worth seeing just for a cast list like that. And I love Dolph’s role in this, he plays this killer priest type character, all dressed up like a hermit with a big bushy beard. It’s got Yakuza, body enhancements, a dolphin hacker, everything a growing boy needs. A strong recommendation.

Class of 1999 – Yeah, boy. I thought this was possibly going to suck, but it might’ve been my favourite of the week. It’s an obvious terminator rip-off, but when you read what the back cover blurb says, you’ll definitely want to watch it. Unfortunately, I forgot to write it down, so I’ll just try summarise for you. So the youth gangs have become such a problem that the cops won’t go into some areas, so in a high school some robot teachers are brought in to try discipline the kids. But they’re former army robots, and they start reverting to their more extreme programming. So the gangs have to come together to try destroy the robot teachers. The video said it better, but I hope you can sense how awesome it could be. It was made in 1990, so it’s still full of practical effects, though there may have been one computer effect, but realistically, they wouldn’t have the budget for it. But I think the effects they had hold up really well, and there are some great kill shots in here. When the teachers really let loose at the end, and start transforming a bit into the weapons they were I the war, it’s obviously fake, but it still looks cool. Also, it has Ed from Northern Exposure as a drugged up gang member. I think there’s something in this movie for everyone, but I could be wrong. And you have to be over 18 to watch it. But it’s worth it.

Mimic – I mainly got this one out because I have a theory that Blade II is Guillmero De Toro’s best film, and I wanted to prove it by comparing all his movies. Well, I might be wrong, because this is a pretty good film. I think I knew that, and I think I’ll always prefer Blade II, but this is a really strong contender. It was in the sci-fi section, but it could just as easily be in the horror section. I admit it, I felt a little nervous during some scenes. Basically the story of mutated bugs, it’s well worth a look. I hope to revisit this later when I’m ready to do my op piece of Del Toro’s oeuvre, so I won’t say much more, except to say, I might have to buy this one as well. If I can find it cheap. Actually, I’d be inclined to buy 3 of the 4 films I watched this week, so I’m pretty happy with that.

Omni Consumer Products: Product Recall

2011-07-11T22:05:00.000+10:00

(Original Source Unknown)

Frank Cho's "Guns & Dinos"

2011-07-10T22:18:00.002+10:00

Ooh, this is pretty. If you don't know, Frank Cho is a cartoonist who I follow for his work on his own published comic strip, Liberty Meadows. He can really draw, and he loves beautiful women, apes and dinosaurs. You can see why he would appeal. But now he's announced a new comic to come out hopefully at the end of the year, though just between you and me, I expect it to come out next year. Anyway, it looks pretty obvious what it's about, but you can read up on it at his official site here and here.
Meanwhile, here's a pretty picture.

Unofficial Pixar Cars Makeover Of Other Movie Cars

2011-07-09T12:29:00.003+10:00

I thought Cars was an entertaining but insignificant film, so don't really care too much about it, but this amused me, over at nextmovie.com. They re-imagined famous cars from movies as Pixar Cars. I like the land-speeder one as well.

Return Of The Jedi: Panel Of The Week

2011-07-08T06:35:00.001+10:00

The Koreans Tour South Park

2011-07-07T01:01:00.002+10:00

Since Jared recently put up a photo of our band on Facebook, I thought I'd put this up here, since why not? I think Jared created this using some character developer module or something on the net, anyway, it turned out pretty good, I think. Hope you like it too.

Comic Review For Release Date 29/6/11

2011-07-06T23:48:00.010+10:00

After last weeks disappointing batch of comics, I was beginning to question how much longer I’d continue to buy the monthly floppies, and then this weeks batch was really strong, so I guess I got sucked in again. This is what I read this week, in alphabetical order.

American Vampire #16- Consistently one of the best comics on the “racks”, or shelves, if you prefer. Rafael Albuquerque continues to impress with his expressionist art, and Scott Snyder is giving us a great story. I think what I appreciate more about this run on the series rather than the earlier one is that this story is more linear, not so much jumping around with back story. We’re pretty much with Henry and the squad looking for Vampires, and Rose as she tries to come to Henry’s rescue. And it’s unfolding nicely with twists and turns, just what you want to keep you coming back for more month after month.

Batman Detective Comics #878- Another great Scott Snyder written comic, but this time with great Jock art. So we’ve got Dick Grayson as Batman, trying to solve the mystery of the girl in the killer whale inside the bank, and it opens with Batman about to be eaten by a killer whale. It’s good comics. And the story with James Gordon makes obvious that which was only suggested before, and it’s about as bad as we feared and hoped for (assuming you’re reading this as well, I guess).

Batman Incorporated #7- Written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Chris Burnham, this continues to explore the expanded Batman franchise, this time on a native Indian reservation, with a Father/Son team at odds about their mission. A fairly straightforward story this time round from Grant Morrison, with more obvious references to the big bad which seems to be a global threat. Which means all this international Batman franchise stuff is going to pay off big, I suspect. Anyway, while Chris Burnham is no Frank Quietly, he’s doing a great job, and he’ll only get better, I suspect, so looking forward to following along with him on this title.
Also, this issue has one the laws of comics that holds true, that Batman riding a horse = awesome.

Drums #2 – This is shaping up to be a nifty little read, a good palette cleanser from all the superhero stuff. This comic continues to follow the investigation of an apparent massacre or perhaps ritual suicide, having something to do with voodoo. It’s got some pretty creepy things going on with zombies and dreams and that whole black magic thing, so another good read for the week.

Green Arrow Industries One Shot (Flashpoint tie-in) – While I quite enjoyed this, and almost would have bought it just for the cover, I think I would have got more out of it if I was more familiar with the characters from the regular DC continuity, so I could see how they’re different, and enjoy it at that level. But as it is, I know a little bit about Green Arrow, and nothing much about anyone else, and I’m not really sure where this fits into the Flashpoint continuity/storyline, but I enjoyed it anyway. It was an interesting story with pretty decent art, telling basically a bit of a cat and mouse story set on a jungle island. It was good fun, without really tying into anything else.

Marvel Universe vs. Wolverine #1 – I think this might be my pick of the week, or at least surprise of the week. You don’t really expect too much with a title like Marvel Universe Vs. Wolverine, but this delivered. Seemingly to take a leaf from Garth Ennis’ Crossed series, there seems to be some virus going around turning people into super-carnivores, human feasting death machines, and no one seems to be safe. So you can see where this is going. In this first issue, Wolverine runs into the first signs that something’s not right, and by the end has had to kill a lot of his friends. So it’s got two things happening that I wasn’t really expecting. It’s got a cool story with a bit of heart to it, and it’s well told, both narratively, and the art is pretty good too. Also, the level of the violence is fairly high, with limbs being hacked off and babies being eaten, stuff like that, all with the emotional punch of this happening to people Wolvie knows and cares for, it’s a pretty good read. Looking forward to the rest of the series now. I better mention the names of the guys who wrote and drew it I suppose since I’ve just praised them, but I don’t really know much about them. Jonathon Maberry wrote it, and I think I read online that he wrote the Punisher Kills The Marvel Universe story, which if memory serves, was also pretty good. The artist is Laurence Campbell, who I don’t recognise, but seems to come from that Michael Lark/ Alex Maleev school of art. It’s good stuff.

Project Superman #1 – Ok, not quite what I was expecting, but a good story none the less. I was expecting more like on the cover, where Superman’s lifepod crash lands in Metropolis rather than a Kansas cornfield, but that doesn’t happen till the end. What does happen is another one of those government trying to create their own superman type stories. What’s interesting is the story is told from the subjects viewpoint, so we get to see how he kind of proves the old adage true, that power corrupts. As he gets stronger, his grip on his humanity begins to loosen, and it seems to me to be setting things up nicely for a clash of supermen.
And I just realised, this is my third Scott Snyder comic for the week. The guy's a machine.

Ultimate X #5 – I was kind of over this already, without having read it, just because it’s taken so long for this series to finish up. As I flicked through it, it wasn’t really appealing to me, but when I actually got round to reading it, it reminded me that this actually has been a really strong series, well told (by Jeph Loeb) and beautifully drawn by Art Adams. It’s setting up the new status quo for mutants in the Ultimate Universe, and setting up the divide between two groups, and the mission statement which should drive the new series forward. It’s got me interested to catch up with the Ultimate Universe again, so it’s doing a good job.

DVD Review For Week 28/6/11- 4/7/11

2011-07-05T22:20:00.005+10:00

So another light week this week, though I did have a couple films on in the background, but stopped watching them because I wanted to pay more attention to them that I was, so maybe next week I’ll tell you about them, but these are the ones I’m discussing this week.

Extract-This is the new film by Mike Judge, probably best known as the creator of Beavis & Buthead or preferably, writer/director of Office Space, as well as doing Idiotcracy and probably other stuff I can’t remember of the top of my head. Starring Jason Bateman, who is most famous for Teen Wolf Too, being Justine Bateman’s brother, and Arrested Development, the film follows him as he struggles with getting some from his wife, trying to sell his extract business and having to deal with an employee involved in an accident at work trying to sue the company under the influence of a con-woman. Hope I didn’t give it all way then, but none of that is really a surprise, I’m pretty sure I knew most of that going in. Anyway, I guess the real question is, was it funny? And yeah, I thought it was pretty good. Maybe not such an instant classic as Office Space seemed to be, but still pretty good. I’d give it a watch, if I was you.

The Visioneers-The appeal here is Zach Galifinakis, but it’s not your typical Zach Galifinakis role, so I guess I should tell you a bit more about it. The film seems to be some future world where some kind of mega-corporation seems to be pretty much running America, selling happiness, I guess. Except people seem to be exploding, for no apparent reason, and Zach’s character is some mid-level paper-pusher who has seems to be more intimate with the voice on the other end of the phone on another level than he is with his wife, and I guess is going through an existential crisis. It seems to be of that kind of film similar to stuff by Kaufman. And I don’t have anything against it, but I just kind of wonder, did they really think what they were saying was anything new? Do we really think that happiness can be achieved through buying the right things and following some corporations instructions? I’d like to think most of us aren’t that shallow, and if we are, we’re off watching Transformers, not hiring out some unheard of movie. It was cool, but didn’t really leave me with much of a sense of anything.

A Serious Man-I got this out because I’m trying to figure out if I think this is the Coen Brothers best film or not, since I enjoyed True Grit so much recently. And as it started I was thinking maybe I had overvalued it, but as the film continues, I think it becomes a really strong contender for best film. I’m not sure I can answer that question, which is appropriate for this film, since it deals with unanswerable questions so much. But one question that was answered, in regards to the opening story, does it have significance for the rest of the film?, and the answer is apparently no. Which make me feel better. In the bonus features, there’s an interview with the Coen Brothers, and they discuss how they just felt it was the right way to open the movie, and it doesn’t really have anything to do with the film. So that’s good, because I struggled to make any connections, but it is a great way to open the movie, and does set a tone for he film.
I think this film is really visually strong. I think Roger Deakins is who they worked with as cinematographer on True Grit too, and this guy’s stuff looks beautiful. Plus you’ve got ths really particular niche script, with truly great performances, especially form the lead guy, and it really is a great all round package. I’d say it falls into my personal top five Coen Brothers films, but I need time to ponder a bit more whether I think it is their best film, which is what I’ve previously stated, and probably still think.

Batman/Joker "Knock Knock"

2011-07-04T23:19:00.003+10:00

The Dark Knight was on tele tonight, which is as good as reason as any to post this joke.
It makes me smile.

(Original Source Unknown)

Old Green Lantern

2011-07-03T00:39:00.005+10:00

I can't remember where I stumbled across this old photo of a kid dressed up as Green Lantern, but I like it. I think it's a comic writer or artist, but I can't be sure. But it's Green Lantern, Old School.

Update: (source: http://photos.nola.com/tpphotos/2011/06/green-lantern-mardi-gras-1946j.html)

Return Of The Jedi: Panel Of The Week

2011-07-02T16:53:00.003+10:00

Marinated Feta On Biscuit

2011-06-29T20:10:00.013+10:00

This is one of my favourite snacks at the moment, and it's so delicious and easy to make, you'll probably run out before you know it. Just follow these easy instructions.
1. Get some marinated cheese.
We used to make our own, but you can just as easily buy it. I used the left over oil from the last batch and put n some old feta we had hanging around the house.
2. Cut it into small pieces that fit onto the biscuit.When cutting up your cheese outdoors, make sure a chicken doesn't come along and steal a piece of it.
3.Put feta onto biscuit. I used Chicken in a Biscuit this time round, but you also get great results with Potato in a Biscuit.

DVD Review For The Week 21/6/11-27/6/11

2011-06-28T17:28:00.003+10:00

I didn’t watch many movies this week, but these are the ones I did.

True Grit- This might become my favourite Coen Brothers film. It’s really strong, especially the first 40 mins or so, before they hit he trail, but it’s all good. I was wondering if this young girl in the main role is really that good, or if she’s just something like that in real life, but I guess after watching it again, and checking out the special features, she’s just that good. Definitely someone to keep an eye on. The special features were of the kind that are really interesting, but not that in-depth, and far too short. The Coen Brothers don’t make any appearances in them or offer a commentary, which I guess is their choice, but I’d sure like to hear them talk about their work.

Fighting Mad- This is one of the films from my Mill Creek 50 Martial Arts Movies pack that I bought a while ago. Just a disc I picked at random, I didn’t know anything about it, but while watching it, I realised I’d heard about it somewhere, maybe from the Machete Maidens documentary, or some other doco about blaxsploitation. The story is a nice revenge tale, about a guy who is betrayed by a couple of his army buddies on their way back from the Vietnam War, so they don’t have to split their illegal booty three ways, and one of the other guys has the hots for his wife. Anyway, he washes up on the shore of an island, which has two Japanese soldiers on it, still there from WWII. So they nurse him back to health, and train him in the ways of the samurai. Lucky he washed up on that island, or he’d have no hope of getting revenge. Anyway, the two other guys, are busy becoming a big noise back in America, killing a lot of people and generally not being very good, until this dude comes back and brings all their plans falling down around them.
So considering the quality of this print, and where and when it was from, I thought it was pretty good. I enjoyed it, though I did have to wonder at his lack of ability to deliver a killing blow a couple of times to the main 2 bad guys. They got heir just deserts in the end, but that must’ve been really annoying for our hero to be so close and to miss them, a couple of times.

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes-I wasn’t really paying attention to this too much, really just had it on while I was working on other things, but I felt like revisiting the series a bit with the upcoming PotA film. I like it, even though it’s in not in any way remotely feasible for monkeys to be so mass trained in roles of servitude. But it’s cool, you got a bunch of chimps and gorillas overthrowing their human masters, it’s good fun. There’s a few lines of dialogue from a newscaster in the movie I really want to sample as well, just for the sheer craziness of what he’s saying. Good fun.

Flossing

2011-06-27T00:14:00.008+10:00

It's kind of gross when you floss after not having done it for a while. You never know what you'll find buried in your back teeth. I think I found a bit of brontosaurus flesh back in there just now. And the gums tend to bleed a bit as well.
I've heard from a couple of different people lately that there's no evidence to back up the idea that flossing does any good. Which just seems ridiculous, and I think just an excuse for people to justify their laziness in not flossing. It just makes sense, there's spaces between the teeth where food lodges and brushes can't reach, but flossing can. How is that not obvious? A dentist who shall remain unnamed told me that 80% of cavities can be avoided by flossing once a day. I'll take Jin's word over yours, I guess is what I'm saying.

Update:

Thank You, U.S.A.

2011-06-26T03:13:00.002+10:00

I don't need to say anymore, do I?

Batman In My Cupboard

2011-06-25T02:34:00.002+10:00

Mr. Miyagi + Yoda=This

2011-06-24T22:44:00.002+10:00

(Artist: Fernando DeGrossi, Original Source Unknown)

DVD Review For The Week 14/6/11-20/6/11

2011-06-22T22:42:00.009+10:00

So I watched a bunch of films this week, and here’s a quick overview.

The Crazies- Based on an early film by George Romero, I quite enjoyed this. Starring Timothy Olyphant and Rahda Mitchell, I’m a little surprised this didn’t get a theatrical release here. They obviously spent money on it, it had good production values and it was made professionally, but I guess they didn’t think they had a market. Too bad, I would’ve liked to have see Timothy’s duck walk striding across the big screen. He fits the role quite well, fitting into that familiar role of a lawman. I enjoyed this a lot more than the original, I thought there was plenty of tension and some good scares and blood gags. I liked it.

Hot Tub Time Machine-I missed this at the cinema, because it looked kind of stupid, but it’s not too bad. If you don’t see it, you’re not really missing out on that much, but I don’t think you need to go out of your way to avoid it. I do wonder though, and it’s not something I usually do, but I did this time, about the “voice” of the film. It just seemed to be aimed at a male audience, I wondered if a woman would appreciate it as much, then I thought well she probably has had to deal with that all her life, and she’s probably just used to it, and I thought that’s a pity.

The Tournament-Another straight to video release, so maybe expectations are low, but then you’ve got a pretty good cast, like Robert Carlyle and Ving Rhames, so it’s got that going for it. So I have a couple problems with this movie, but nothing that actually got in the way of my enjoyment. The movie tells the story of a high stakes game where every 7 years, assassins from around the globe gather in one town for last man standing competition. This is where I have the first problem, that it’s such a stupid idea. If you’re going to have a competition that wipes out most of the talent in that field, to me that seems pretty stupid. But once you get past that, you end up with a situation where lots of people are trying to kill each other, so there’s action a plenty, and there’s an innocent man stuck in the middle, so you’ve got enough of a story to keep it moving along, so it worked pretty well for me. The other problem was, that supposedly the organisers have hacked into the CCTV systems to keep watch on the game, and yet it seems to me that there are cameras available to them which seems to me cameras wouldn’t be available. And then later in the movie, there’s a church which no cameras are in, yet earlier there was church with cameras in. C’mon, really? Anyway. Blood flies, cars blow up, all that kind of stuff, and it was pretty well done, so I quite enjoyed it. I think it was better than I was expecting.

So I Married An Axe Murderer-The return of a classic with some friends, and their first time. Early work from Mike Myers, but still funny. The treat was to see Alan Arkin again, as the Police Captain. I love Alan Arkin, he just seems to have that dryness to all his roles, that understated quiet manner, it’s gold. Also, “That boy’s got a head as big as sputnik”.

Mama Mia-There was really only a very limited chance I would ever watch this, and this weekend seemed to be the optimum confluence of events to do so. I kind of wanted to see it, because it looks like Meryl Streep is having a such a good time in it, but I didn’t want to because, well, look at it. But it was kind of ok, mainly because of the cast. Pierce Bronsan is an incredibly good looking man, though he really can’t sing. I started to imagine Stellan Skarsgard’s character was the same character from Ronin, and was waiting for him to pull out a gun and shoot people. And at the end when a crack appeared in the ground, I was actually excited because I thought the cliff might actually fall off, causing half the cast to fall into the ocean. Unfortunately that didn’t happen, but it was the most excited I got. Abba is fun, but this actually isn’t Abba. Maybe if I had more to drink, and we played it with the sing-a-long pop-ups, it might’ve been more fun, but I’d rather watch High School Musical again.

Bulgarian Street Art

2011-06-22T21:16:00.005+10:00

You've probably already seen this, as it's been seeming to pop up all over the place, but I was planning to post it before the weekend, but didn't have time, so Brad scooped me, but I'm doing it anyway.

Source: The Australian

I found some photos on another site, worth checking out here.
I really like seeing Superman with a gun, looking like a communist version of the American superhero. It's a great dichotomy and really strong image, I think.

Robot Top Hat

2011-06-22T21:04:00.003+10:00

It's kind of weird what you see on the internet, sometimes.

The Most Annoying Job In The World

2011-06-22T15:22:00.002+10:00

While this topic is certainly open for discussion, and it is unlikely we'll ever arrive at a final answer, I think I have discovered something which is certainly part of the conversation.
Today at work, they were testing the fire alarm system. So what this involved was a pair of guys going around to each and every individual smoke alarm and detector on sight, and sticking something over them which obviously mimicked smoke, and set of every single alarm on the facility. And since they're all tied into each other, whenever one alarm goes off, everybody hears it, no matter what wing you're in. For about 5+ hours, an alarm would go off, then switched off, then the next, repeat ad nauseum. Those guys must love their job.

Comic Twart: The Princess Bride

2011-06-13T13:47:00.003+10:00

I'm sure I've mentioned Comic Twart before, a website where a bunch of comic artists pick a weekly theme and each contributes a sketch to the blog based on that. This week's theme is The Princess Bride, so thought some of you might be interested in that. Below is the sketch from Andy Kuhn, but follow the link to see the others.

Star Wars Post: Uncle Owen Action Figure

2011-06-11T17:26:00.001+10:00

I Have No Explanation...

2011-06-10T21:44:00.005+10:00

...and yet, I'm strangely fascinated.

(Original source: unknown, Source: FunnyorDie.com, 7 Photos of Prom Dates Inexplicably Holding Gums.)

Favourite Interpretations of TMNT 3

2011-06-09T10:52:00.004+10:00

I had mentioned previously the work of Michael Zulli, but the example I gave wasn't the one I originally thought of, but one I discovered more recently. If you remember, it was much closer to the original design of the turtles. But if you look below, to the first work of Zulli's that I saw on the TMNT, you'll see a much different interpretation, one that keeps a more realistic (as realistic as you can be with a concept like mutant ninja turtles). It was great 2 issue series, definitely playing with the concepts of the title of the comic as more than window dressing, with much japanese ninja black magic kind of stuff going on. It was good.

DC Women Rock

2011-06-08T15:55:00.003+10:00

From artist Cliff Chaing's blog.
I'm not really familiar with this guys work, but I hear his name around the place, and I liked this picture, especially as I had just see Runaways the night previously, so it resonated.

Exciting News From DC Comics

2011-06-07T21:56:00.000+10:00

So I chose the above picture for a couple of reasons. One, I like it. And two, because I want to tell you about some exciting news that has come out from DC Comics over the last week or so. Now I don’t particularly care about Green Lantern, but that may be about to change, and not because of the movie. Comics have had a problem lately, numbers are dwindling, readership is down. Now there a lot of reasons why this is happening, mostly stemming from the way the comic book market works, this thing we call the direct market. Comics aren’t finding a new audience. It used to be that there was a 5 year cycle where old readers would be replaced with new readers, but somewhere along the way, that changed. The old readers stuck around, and the market changed to reflect that. Comics became insular and you ended up having to go to specialty stores to buy them, because they were no longer available on the racks of the newsagent or grocer. Things are a bit different here in Australia, you can still find comics at a newsagency, but the market in U.S. still affects what the content is and that effects what comics are produced.
So for years now we’ve been seeing this continually shrinking market, and we all seem to know what the problem is, but no one has had the balls to fix it. Well now DC does. Or at least they’re going to give it a go. So if we break down the problem, it’s that new readers find it difficult to access comics at the moment because they are no easily accessible physically and not accessible content wise, being mired down in 50+ year continuity. So DC is have a line wide re-launch. In the last week of August, they will print one comic, the final comic in a company crossover event, which will set the stage for the future. In September then, they are releasing 52 new number 1 issues, re-launching their entire universe with idea to make it more accessible t o those who are not currently reading comics. The characters will mostly be the same, but they’ll be new, slightly re-jigged or majorly re-jigged, to update them for a new modern audience.
Well, that’s all well and good, you may say, but that still doesn’t solve the problem of getting these comics into peoples hands. And you’re right, but this is where I think the most exciting part of the story comes in. DC Comics have also announced that they will now releasing all their comics digitally on the same day they release the print comic. This is big news. No one has done anything this bold yet. Yes, there has been the occasional digital day and date release, but that has just been a single issue, kind of a toe in the water. DC Comics are going all in in this. They see the writing on the wall, and they know that digital is the future. So now, if their marketing department can do their job, everybody with access to a phone or a computer connected to the net should be able to get a DC Comic if they want one. The problem they’re going to face is the price point of those digital downloads, and also the “ownership” of them, but that can be a discussion for another time. I will say this about the pricing though, at the moment, the model they’ve set up is that the digital comics will cost the same as the print comics when they’re first released, then will go down to a lower price point after a month, so $2.99 for a regular issue on the day of release, then down to $1.99 a month later. Many people seem to think the price point needs to drop down to .99 range for it to truly be successful, based on experience from song downloads and the psychology of a buck, and I tend to agree, but this is a first exciting step, and I wonder how long it will be before I crack and get some kind of tablet to read my digital comics on.

I Like Comics When They're Cheap

2011-06-06T09:58:00.001+10:00

I got all these for $4 each. Yeah, boy!

Dr. Who Animae (Amateur, But Real Good)

2011-06-05T10:16:00.002+10:00

BIg thanks to Matty C. for pointing this one out to me. It's just some guy who pretty much did it himself, so some of it looks a bit off, but overall, it's really good. Enjoy.

My favourite moment is when the Cybermen first appear. I really liked the design of them, really captured that manga/animae feel. The whole thing is so well done in terms of referencing animae, it feels pretty genuine. I was constantly smiling through it as I'd recognise familiar elements, like the over the top female companion, how she reacted, what she wore; the guy obviously knew what he was doing.

Jesus Riding A Dinosaur = Awesome

2011-06-04T13:44:00.003+10:00

I wish I knew where this was from.

Original Source Unknown

SDAL

Aardman vs. DC

A Taste Of "Nothing To Say"

Naka Retrospective Bootleg: The Roots Of Scarecrow

Video Blog For Comics Released 27/12/11

Panel Of The Week: Kamandi: The Last Boy On Earth

Saturday Morning Still Life In Blue

Received In Mail Today

"Iron Rose" by Uncle Walt & The Rocketmen

Expendables 2 Poster

New Poster: The Dark Knight Rises

Ron Howard With A Gun

Panels Of The Week

Best Cover: Archie Meets Kiss #1

Trailer For "The Raid" (Let's See If This Works)

Trailer For "The Kick"

Panel Of The Week: Tintin-Explorers On The Moon

First Poster Expendables 2?

Cover to Northlanders #46

Panel Of The Week: Tintin-Flight 714

More Eating At The Carolina Kitchen And Espresso

BIFF Overview

Panel Of The Week: Tintin-The Black Island

Panel Of The Week: Tintin-The Calculus Affair

Return Of The Jedi: Panel Of The Week

Ribs At The Carolina Cafe

Untitled Work In Progress

Birdkiller And Untitled Work In Progress

Man Rips Out Eyes

Return Of The Jedi: Panel Of The Week

Orchid #1

Comictwart Punisher Love

Lora8: Depressed Heroes Art

Return Of The Jedi: Panel Of The Week

YouTube Clip Of The Day: John Daker Sings

Comictwart DC Love

Hungerstrike-Temple Of The Dog

Batman/Darth Vader Mash-Up

Superman In A Photobooth

"BIRDKILLER" Work In Progress 5

Return Of The Jedi: Panel Of The Week

"BIRDKILLER" Work In Progress 4

"BIRDKILLER" Work In Progress 3

"BIRDKILLER" Work In Progress 2

Return Of The Jedi: Panel Of The Week

"BIRDKILLER" Work In Progress

Return Of The Jedi: Panel Of The Week

Comic Review For Release Date 31/9/11: The New DC-Justice League #1

Return Of The Jedi Panel Of The Week

How I Spent My Saturday Afternoon, Between 4pm And 5pm

Youtube Clip Of The Day: A*P*E Trailer

Return Of The Jedi Panel Of The Week

Comic Review For Comics Released 3/8/11

Return Of The Jedi Panel Of The Week

Comic Review For Comics Released A Month Ago

City Of Blinding Lights II

Return Of The Jedi Panel Of The Week

Posters For Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

YouTube Clip Of The Day: Chimp With An AK-47

2 Gifs

Return Of The Jedi Panel Of The Week

Comic Reviews For Release Date 13/7/11

My New Toy (Well, Not Really A Toy)

Return Of The Jedi Panel Of The Week

Sam The Captain America Eagle

Return Of The Jedi Panel Of The Week

Work In Progress

DVD (And Other Video Movies) Review For Week 12/7/11-18/7/11

Comic Reviews For Release Date 6/7/11

"Journey" by The Koreans

Return Of The Jedi: Panel Of The Week

DVD Review For Week 5/7/11-11/7/11

Omni Consumer Products: Product Recall

Frank Cho's "Guns & Dinos"

Unofficial Pixar Cars Makeover Of Other Movie Cars

Return Of The Jedi: Panel Of The Week

The Koreans Tour South Park

Comic Review For Release Date 29/6/11

DVD Review For Week 28/6/11- 4/7/11

Batman/Joker "Knock Knock"

Youtube Clip Of The Day: APE Trailer