So... I took a couple months off. No big deal. We're back. I'm not going to make excuses on why I was gone for so long. The reason why was simply that I needed time. Blogging daily is frightfully hard to do. Which is why we have a change in format for "a lay of the land". Starting next week, I'm going to do only weekly updates. One post per week, that is unless I find myself with way more time, however unlikely.
Each week, I'm either going to focus on one item (for example, next week is going to be a solid review of Richard Ford's Women With Men), or a whole bunch of small to medium things, like little reviews. I want to get back into reviewing things. I forgot how much I liked doing that.
What this blog is probably not going to do is try and find filler posts, or have low content mode where I post funny pictures or some shit I find in the hazy atmospheres of the internet.
I can't promise that every week will have a post, but Sunday night or Monday night should have a post. I'm going to do that, and hopefully when I have more time in the summer, I will post more frequently.
Okay, thanks for reading, as always. I'll see you next week.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Unicron Versus The Death Star
What's a more important debate in our times than figuring out which planet-destroying satellite is cooler?
Unicron is able to transform into a another form. Point for Unicron. However, his method of destruction is mastication, which is slow and tedious. Point for Death Star.
The Death Star isn't sentient. Point for Unicron. Also, Orson Welles didn't voice the Death Star. Another point for Unicron.
The Death Star's method of destruction is a simple laser beam. So point for Death Star.
Both of them are destroyed eventually by lame methods. For The Death Star, single photon torpedo takes it out. For Unicron, the Autobot Matrix of Leadership is opened within his chest, thus blowing him apart. So no points for either.Both of their demises, however, are f*%&ing awesome explosions, so points for both. But, Unicron's head remains a smoking empty shell, floating as Cybertron's new moon, which is awesome and haunting. Another point for Unicron.
The total? 5 points for Unicron and 3 for The Death Star. Our clear winner?
Unicron!
Congrats! Now please go destroy Arrakis and get rid of all those annoying Bene Gesserits.Next week? Conan versus He-Man! Stay tuned!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Happy One Year Anniversary!
Well. It's been an entire year that I've been working on this blog. Isn't that amazing? In this post, we're going to look at my Top Twelve Favourite Posts of All Time, one from every month of the year. This is different than my 200 post spectacular because I'm going to go chronologically and show how I've grown as a writer on this blog, how I've developed the voice that you've all come to love.
JANUARY
Playing with Jacques Tati
In this post, I started what was my critical voice, where I analyzed something, a work of art, a movie, a comic, and I "reviewed" it, that is, I judged it based on its merits and foibles. In this case, Playtime, a French film from the Sixties, was judged as being awesome. I also started doing some jokes that were over the top, and weren't really that funny. It makes the review easier to read, especially considering that I delve into politics and sociology for a paragraph. I love this post because it started the wheels turning in my brain on how to see something in closer detail. This blog helps my brain keep functioning, especially since I'm not in school anymore.
FEBRUARY
My Summer Vacation
It's going to have to be that. For five full months, this blog concentrated on my own personal growth using a summer vacation. Sure, I read some comics and watched some movies, but in my life, my real life, there were three things that propelled me through: my job, my new girlfriend, and the summer vacation. In March, I was promoted and started dating the girl that I love with all my heart, and in March, I figured out what I was going to do with my summer vacation, but all of that was triggered by an intense desire to do something more with my life, as outlined in this post. I also really like this post because I said I would do things, and I did them. I also said I would revisit the post, which I did. I committed to something and followed through. I haven't done a lot of that in life, and this blog helped me do that.
MARCH
Doomsday is the worst movie of 2008
And I stand by that statement. March was a tough call. This was when I was at the peak of my blogging frequency. This was also when I started really reviewing things, and a lot of them. There were very few "filler" or "low-content" posts in this month. I struggled to go with either my Into The Wild review, which I mean, was awesome, but not terribly critical, or with my "review" of Doomsday. I think that the Doomsday review is funnier, more entertaining, and I have a couple clever turns of phrase. I was getting more confident in how to review a movie and how to explain my thoughts.
APRIL
DC One Million
I didn't review this nor read it for the first time, but this is the post I had the most fun writing, and it comes off that way. This encapsulates my love of comic books. Only in this medium would have all the fun and zaniness, the surrealism and the confusion of superheroes and time travel. I also love this post because I had never before tried to convince somebody of my love for Morrison's future-epic. I love this post, and that's saying a lot in a month where I had hit my stride.
MAY
I'm doing research
This was a tough one. May was the month of 35 posts, a lot of reviews, a lot of comics, and a lot of books. I was really trying to read as much as I possibly could and I was getting really excited about California. There were two major posts about Cali in this month, the first one being California Dreamin', in which I dreamed about my possible route and where we wanted to go. I like that post, but I much prefer the second major trip post, I'm doing research, in which I posted pictures from Google Earth about the places I was going to and lo, I did. A close runner-up is my review for Tom Perrotta's The Abstinence Teacher, a novel I loved and really examined with a critical eye.
JUNE
I'm still alive!
Ah, the vacation month. For a good portion of June, I was gone. This post, simply a picture of me near the famed Hollywood Sign, was actually posted in a hotel in San Pedro. That itself is the reason why this post is my favourite from June.
JULY
The Echo Maker
This was a really really tough one. In July, I posted about San Diego, I reviewed both Donna Tartt novels, a Stephen King, Revolutionary Road, and The Dark Knight. Wow. But, as a personal triumph, I finished Richard Powers' The Echo Maker, a difficult novel filled with science and very complex. I really like my review of it because I actually peer beneath the text and make a conclusion from it that wasn't handed to me by either the author or another review. I finally achieved a sense of balance when it came to reviews.
AUGUST
Final Crisis: Superman Beyond
This was an easy one. Possibly one of my favourite posts ever, this started out as a review for Morrison's 3D tie-in to his own miniseries, but the post ends up being a critical examination of how "event" comics unfold and how it's similar to "hyperlink" cinema, a theme that I had already touched on when I spoke of Ellis' The Informers. And, just so you know, it's now January, and the second issue has yet to be published.
SEPTEMBER
Speed Racer
This one was a little tough to decide. I wanted to go with Why I Don't Give Stars, almost because it's meta, but I decided that a much stronger post, one with good content and good prose, is my review of Speed Racer. This is a good sample of my style of reviewing, and I'm proud of the conclusions that I make. Ebert once said that it's the average films that are the hardest reviews to write, and considering that, I'm glad I accomplished this.
OCTOBER
Secret Invasion 7
This was the low-content month. I was so busy with work and with my beloved g/f that I had nary the time nor inclination to post. I also moved out of my parents' house that very same month. I chose to go with my review of Secret Invasion 7 because I'm fairly proud of the quality of prose in this post. I made some good jokes and made some good comments about the quality of the story and art. It's a solid review, nothing spectacular, but solid.
NOVEMBER
The Politics of Barack Obama
Yes, We Can. I was saying that a lot around November, and I felt that I could have been accused of hero-worship. So I sat myself down and took a long hard look at Obama to figure out if I could even support him. I like this post because I don't come up with easy answers. There's things that Obama and I disagree on. Nothing's monochromatic in life, and I'm glad I took the time and the effort to research and determine where he and I sat.
DECEMBER
Friday at the Comic Book Store
I like this post because it's funny and because I talk a little about the incongruous and self-defeating business style of some comic book shops and I support the one that does it right. It's a simple post and I like it.
THE FUTURE:
Where do I want to go with my blog, you ask? Well... nowhere different, really. I think after a year, I'm happy with the style I've created and I've been slowly building a small reading audience. If I had to choose one thing that I'd like to do differently or better, it's have more posts about books. I want to read more this year, and I want to blog more about books. That's really about it.
JANUARY
Playing with Jacques Tati
In this post, I started what was my critical voice, where I analyzed something, a work of art, a movie, a comic, and I "reviewed" it, that is, I judged it based on its merits and foibles. In this case, Playtime, a French film from the Sixties, was judged as being awesome. I also started doing some jokes that were over the top, and weren't really that funny. It makes the review easier to read, especially considering that I delve into politics and sociology for a paragraph. I love this post because it started the wheels turning in my brain on how to see something in closer detail. This blog helps my brain keep functioning, especially since I'm not in school anymore.
FEBRUARY
My Summer Vacation
It's going to have to be that. For five full months, this blog concentrated on my own personal growth using a summer vacation. Sure, I read some comics and watched some movies, but in my life, my real life, there were three things that propelled me through: my job, my new girlfriend, and the summer vacation. In March, I was promoted and started dating the girl that I love with all my heart, and in March, I figured out what I was going to do with my summer vacation, but all of that was triggered by an intense desire to do something more with my life, as outlined in this post. I also really like this post because I said I would do things, and I did them. I also said I would revisit the post, which I did. I committed to something and followed through. I haven't done a lot of that in life, and this blog helped me do that.
MARCH
Doomsday is the worst movie of 2008
And I stand by that statement. March was a tough call. This was when I was at the peak of my blogging frequency. This was also when I started really reviewing things, and a lot of them. There were very few "filler" or "low-content" posts in this month. I struggled to go with either my Into The Wild review, which I mean, was awesome, but not terribly critical, or with my "review" of Doomsday. I think that the Doomsday review is funnier, more entertaining, and I have a couple clever turns of phrase. I was getting more confident in how to review a movie and how to explain my thoughts.
APRIL
DC One Million
I didn't review this nor read it for the first time, but this is the post I had the most fun writing, and it comes off that way. This encapsulates my love of comic books. Only in this medium would have all the fun and zaniness, the surrealism and the confusion of superheroes and time travel. I also love this post because I had never before tried to convince somebody of my love for Morrison's future-epic. I love this post, and that's saying a lot in a month where I had hit my stride.
MAY
I'm doing research
This was a tough one. May was the month of 35 posts, a lot of reviews, a lot of comics, and a lot of books. I was really trying to read as much as I possibly could and I was getting really excited about California. There were two major posts about Cali in this month, the first one being California Dreamin', in which I dreamed about my possible route and where we wanted to go. I like that post, but I much prefer the second major trip post, I'm doing research, in which I posted pictures from Google Earth about the places I was going to and lo, I did. A close runner-up is my review for Tom Perrotta's The Abstinence Teacher, a novel I loved and really examined with a critical eye.
JUNE
I'm still alive!
Ah, the vacation month. For a good portion of June, I was gone. This post, simply a picture of me near the famed Hollywood Sign, was actually posted in a hotel in San Pedro. That itself is the reason why this post is my favourite from June.
JULY
The Echo Maker
This was a really really tough one. In July, I posted about San Diego, I reviewed both Donna Tartt novels, a Stephen King, Revolutionary Road, and The Dark Knight. Wow. But, as a personal triumph, I finished Richard Powers' The Echo Maker, a difficult novel filled with science and very complex. I really like my review of it because I actually peer beneath the text and make a conclusion from it that wasn't handed to me by either the author or another review. I finally achieved a sense of balance when it came to reviews.
AUGUST
Final Crisis: Superman Beyond
This was an easy one. Possibly one of my favourite posts ever, this started out as a review for Morrison's 3D tie-in to his own miniseries, but the post ends up being a critical examination of how "event" comics unfold and how it's similar to "hyperlink" cinema, a theme that I had already touched on when I spoke of Ellis' The Informers. And, just so you know, it's now January, and the second issue has yet to be published.
SEPTEMBER
Speed Racer
This one was a little tough to decide. I wanted to go with Why I Don't Give Stars, almost because it's meta, but I decided that a much stronger post, one with good content and good prose, is my review of Speed Racer. This is a good sample of my style of reviewing, and I'm proud of the conclusions that I make. Ebert once said that it's the average films that are the hardest reviews to write, and considering that, I'm glad I accomplished this.
OCTOBER
Secret Invasion 7
This was the low-content month. I was so busy with work and with my beloved g/f that I had nary the time nor inclination to post. I also moved out of my parents' house that very same month. I chose to go with my review of Secret Invasion 7 because I'm fairly proud of the quality of prose in this post. I made some good jokes and made some good comments about the quality of the story and art. It's a solid review, nothing spectacular, but solid.
NOVEMBER
The Politics of Barack Obama
Yes, We Can. I was saying that a lot around November, and I felt that I could have been accused of hero-worship. So I sat myself down and took a long hard look at Obama to figure out if I could even support him. I like this post because I don't come up with easy answers. There's things that Obama and I disagree on. Nothing's monochromatic in life, and I'm glad I took the time and the effort to research and determine where he and I sat.
DECEMBER
Friday at the Comic Book Store
I like this post because it's funny and because I talk a little about the incongruous and self-defeating business style of some comic book shops and I support the one that does it right. It's a simple post and I like it.
THE FUTURE:
Where do I want to go with my blog, you ask? Well... nowhere different, really. I think after a year, I'm happy with the style I've created and I've been slowly building a small reading audience. If I had to choose one thing that I'd like to do differently or better, it's have more posts about books. I want to read more this year, and I want to blog more about books. That's really about it.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The Oscars are Irrelevant
I suppose everybody and their grandma with a blog has already made their opinions known about the recent Oscar nominations. I guess the main complaint is, of course, The Dark Knight being ignored for Best Picture and Best Director. The frontrunner? The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The unknown underdog? Slumdog Millionaire.
But where the hell is Wall-E for Best Picture? It's easily one of the best films of the year, but since it's animation, for kids, and a comedy, it's being edged out for more "serious" fare as Milk, or The Reader.
The Academy has a famous history of ignoring comedies and focusing on works that are "serious" and deal with VERY IMPORTANT ISSUES, such as the Holocaust, or racism, or gay cowboys. ISSUES are what the Academy likes, and it's always what they reward.
Here are the Best Picture nominees...
This is the worst showing of Best Pictures in a long time. Last year was great. Michael Clayton, Atonement, No Country for Good Men, There Will Be Blood? These are some serious contenders. If Atonement had been in this bunch, it would surely win.
Okay, moving on, let's take a look at Best Director.
Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry – The Reader
David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant – Milk
Ron Howard... really? Is he that good of a director? Better than Christopher Nolan? Better than Batman? I think not. Who should win? Fincher. It's deserved. After the Academy ignored the brilliant and beautiful Zodiac, I think we should give him whatever he wants.
In terms of acting, I don't really care. I know Heath Ledger will win, deservedly, and that's all there really is to talk about. So let's move on with our lives, shall we?
I don't know. Every year the Oscars come, and the Best Picture winners become smaller and smaller, as studios invest more money into big dumb spectacles while smaller imprints, such as Focus Features, puts out the prestige films. This means the "better" movies get less exposure, so I don't get to see them until much later. Milk has yet to be released where I am. That's terrible. I haven't even seen any advertisements for it.
Every year I say I'm not going to care, and every year I end up caring. I'm going to try and watch the five Best Picture nominees, like I do every year, but other than that... do the Oscars matter anymore?
Ratings are going down, like usual, and the self-congratulatory montages make the bloated running time of the ceremony even longer.
It's frustrating. The entire world put their money in The Dark Knight. That's the movie everybody went to see. Everybody. I saw it two times in the theater, including once on the Imax. If everybody saw this movie, and the Academy is shunning it, then it just goes to show that they're out of touch and irrelevant.
The Dark Knight should win Best Picture because it's a fantastic movie, and it's the one that everybody wants to win.
But where the hell is Wall-E for Best Picture? It's easily one of the best films of the year, but since it's animation, for kids, and a comedy, it's being edged out for more "serious" fare as Milk, or The Reader.
The Academy has a famous history of ignoring comedies and focusing on works that are "serious" and deal with VERY IMPORTANT ISSUES, such as the Holocaust, or racism, or gay cowboys. ISSUES are what the Academy likes, and it's always what they reward.
Here are the Best Picture nominees...
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Frost/Nixon
- Milk
- The Reader
- Slumdog Millionaire
This is the worst showing of Best Pictures in a long time. Last year was great. Michael Clayton, Atonement, No Country for Good Men, There Will Be Blood? These are some serious contenders. If Atonement had been in this bunch, it would surely win.
Okay, moving on, let's take a look at Best Director.
Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry – The Reader
David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant – Milk
Ron Howard... really? Is he that good of a director? Better than Christopher Nolan? Better than Batman? I think not. Who should win? Fincher. It's deserved. After the Academy ignored the brilliant and beautiful Zodiac, I think we should give him whatever he wants.
In terms of acting, I don't really care. I know Heath Ledger will win, deservedly, and that's all there really is to talk about. So let's move on with our lives, shall we?
I don't know. Every year the Oscars come, and the Best Picture winners become smaller and smaller, as studios invest more money into big dumb spectacles while smaller imprints, such as Focus Features, puts out the prestige films. This means the "better" movies get less exposure, so I don't get to see them until much later. Milk has yet to be released where I am. That's terrible. I haven't even seen any advertisements for it.
Every year I say I'm not going to care, and every year I end up caring. I'm going to try and watch the five Best Picture nominees, like I do every year, but other than that... do the Oscars matter anymore?
Ratings are going down, like usual, and the self-congratulatory montages make the bloated running time of the ceremony even longer.
It's frustrating. The entire world put their money in The Dark Knight. That's the movie everybody went to see. Everybody. I saw it two times in the theater, including once on the Imax. If everybody saw this movie, and the Academy is shunning it, then it just goes to show that they're out of touch and irrelevant.
The Dark Knight should win Best Picture because it's a fantastic movie, and it's the one that everybody wants to win.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Final Crisis: Superman Beyond 2
Wow. I'm sure everybody knows by now that Final Crisis has been plagued by delays. Lots of delays. It's almost cliche to mention it now. With that out of the way, let's have a look at the second issue of Final Crisis: Superman Beyond, possibly one of the best tie-ins, ever. Here's the review for the first issue, which includes a bonus essay on hyperlink-writing. Okay, let's get started.
Ultraman has read the infinite book and realizes that the Dark Monitor, Mandrakk, is coming to destroy everything, I think. The denizens of Limbo raise arms and Superman has a good talk with Captain Adam (or Doc Manhattan, if you will) who then understands "quantum super-position as used defensively" which means he duplicates himself and smashes Ultraman and Superman together, causing the end of everything. Superman awakes as a composite in the land that's "more profound". Supes is a thought-robot, an ultimate weapon, a body of pure thought. Then, Superman fights Mandrakk, and realizes that he's always going to win, because he is written to win. It's not destiny, it's fiction. Mandrakk is killed/forgotten, and Superman inscribes his own tombstone. Once back in his own world, Superman gives Lois the Bleed that he kept in his mouth, and she awakens. What did he write on his tombstone, the last page asks? To Be Continued.
Morrison and metafiction, eh? Those two go hand in hand, always. This series hearkens back to his run on Animal Man, for sure. In that run, everything was a story, and everything in the Multiverse was a product of a writer, forgotten or memorialized. In Superman Beyond, the writer is taken out of the equation. Only the story remains supreme.
I absolutely adored this comic except for the 3D bits which gave me a headache, no word of a lie. I hated the 3D effects. They were distracting and added nothing to the story.
I tend to think of stories about stories as existing in a vacuum, even though those stories try to encompass everything story there is. I imagine that the story about a story is the final word, but I forget, and thanks to Tim Callahan, I remember, that I'm reading this story. The act of me, an individual, reading this story places it in a physical world, grounds it in reality, taking away from the universe-spanning scope. I forget that.
This says to me that the writer is doing a fantastic job of taking me to a whole new world. The writer has done his duty in helping me escape reality if only for fifteen minutes.
It also helps that Mahnke's pencils are tremendous. It takes a good artist to be able to keep up with Morrison, and Mahnke manages with flair. This is a well-drawn issue that's clear on the action, while still being detailed and pleasing to the eye.
Final Crisis: Superman Beyond 2 is a spectacular conclusion to a spectacular mini-series and I would recommend it to anybody, even if they're not following the main storyline.
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