All Along the Watchtower

There have been a lot of people hating on BSG this season, saying that it's lost its way (no pun intended). I don't think so. I still consider it one of, if not the best show on television. I've loved every twist, turn, and development. That being said, when it comes to the season 3 finale which just aired, all I have to say is this:

There better be a frakin' good explanation for what just happened.

I know there is. There has to be. I have theories of my own. And come 2008 when we find out what it is, fanboys and fangirls around the world will all yell:

"Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuude!"

Did he say "Chalk of Fate"?

I'm pretty sure he did. I guess there's no interest in the Toothbrush of Destiny and the Tire Iron of Eternal Life anymore.

If you're wondering what I'm talking about, it's the new trailer for Day Watch (via CHUD), the sequel to the Russian film Night Watch (naturally) from director Timur Bekmambetov. Looks good, although I was more excited about the first film's trailer than this one. Day Watch seems like it could be really repetitive of Night Watch.

I love the shot of the guy diving into the sign. You'll know when you see it. On the flip side, I hate that whole car thing at the end. This is Day Watch, not Matrix Revolutions.

On a related note, Night Watch is a good, but not great movie. Most of my issues with the movie stem from the lack of conclusions to the storyline, but I guess that'll all change when I see Day Watch. It's exceptionally well made and the special FX are no joke. The best thing about the movie though was it's unique use of subtitles. Instead of using the usual yellow subtitles, the color and style (even their dissolves in and out) became part of the movie-watching experience, part of the mood and feel of the film itself. For example, when vampires were talking (or whatever), the subtitles would be in blood red, float lightly on screen and then dissolve out as if they'd been washed away, all done to convey VAMPIRE. In retrospect, it's pretty simple but highly effective.

But as I'm told, although I have not verified it, on the DVD of Night Watch the subtitles are just the normal, boring old subtitles. That's lame and totally sucks for anyone who didn't see this in the theaters.

"28 Weeks Later" poster

I saw this for the first time on Saturday at the Fox Atomic booth at WWLA and immediately wanted one to hang on my office door. Sadly, they weren't handing them out so I guess I'll have to keep that "V for Vendetta" poster up for another day:

How freakin' cool is that?! I especially like the fake creases in the poster to make it look like it was folded up. Anyone know where I can get one? (via CHUD)

I'm an idiot (Captain America #25)

I'm not all that into comic collecting anymore, just reading. I keep the ones that really impress me and sell off the rest when I'm done with them. Another possibility is that I like a particular run of a series and then sell the single issues hoping to make enough money to by the trade because they're easier to store and re-read.

Don't get me wrong... I still try to get top $ out of selling my comics based on the current demand. I had a copy of "She-Hulk" vol. 2 #8 which I sold for $15 having bought it for cover price $3. Great story and worth reading, but I didn't feel the need to keep it.

Same goes for "Marvel Zombies" #1 which I may be getting rid of soon. It's just not the greatest of stories and the mini has an ending that I can't stand, but it's new and clever at the same time.

To the matter at hand and the reason for this post: I got a 3-day pass to WWLA and with it comes 3 exclusive comic book variants, one of which is a John Cassaday variant cover edition of the now legendary "Captain America" #25. Very exciting, especially since the regular editions of Cap #25 have sold-out everywhere, but it'd be more exciting if I didn't actually already have one of those sold-out copies.

So, I decided I was going to keep the version I already had and sell the WWLA variant. I passed one of the retailers set up at the show and he had a sign up saying something to effect of "We're buying WWLA Captain America #25 variants. $20 cash or $25 in trade." Good deal in my eyes, so I went up to the guy who naturally examined the copy (he said it was the best quality copy he'd seen yet) and said he'd take it. I took the $20 cash and left, having felt good about my transaction. The $20 then paid for a couple of nice trades that I found: "Batman: The Long Halloween" (one of the best Batman stories ever! A true detective story) and "Jinx" by Bendis which I have yet to read but I hear it's awesome (and being developed into a movie with Charlize Theron). I got some other trades too, but I digress.

I just went on eBay to see how much the Cap #25 WWLA variant was selling for. I checked the "Completed Listings" for a better idea on selling price rather than what auctions were currently at. After a casual glance at the most recent auctions, it turns out that the issue is selling for an average of $50. Some even went for around $70. And that's without shipping!

I'm an idiot and should've sold the issue on eBay instead of getting the $20 at the show.

But hey, $20 is better than nothing, and eBay's such a hassle sometimes anyway. I'm just trying to make myself feel better.

(UPDATED with image)

"Sunshine" trailer music

I previously posted the trailer for Sunshine, the new film from Danny Boyle. This trailer was being played every 10 minutes at the Fox Atomic booth at WWLA so I heard it a lot yesterday. The music is unbelievable and has been stuck in my head ever since WWLA, so I went on a hunt for the song.

Turns out the orignal version of this tune was in Requiem for a Dream (a movie I hated. Yeah, that's right. Get over it). Then it weas apparently remixed/re-recorded for the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers trailer. Well, after all that, I found it in the iTunes Store. Specifically, it's "Movement 4" from "Requiem for a Tower" (obviously).

Link to the track on iTunes.

Sightings at WWLA

I went to Wizard World LA today. It was mostly boring... not a lot going on. Seemed smaller than last year. Oh well.

Here's a list of famous (?) folks I saw there today, broken out by industry. These are only the names of people I recognized without looking at their nametags/signs:

Comics: Peter David, Ed Brubaker, Marv Wolfman, Jeph Loeb, Tim Sale, Michael Turner. I've always wanted to get a sketch from Tim Sale. He's probably the only artist that I'd pay for a sketch from. That's not true... Jim Lee too. But Sale's at the top of the list. The line for Tim Sale's table in Artist's Alley was ridiculously long though and I am short on patience.

TV/Film: Kristen Bell (just as cute in person), David Arquette (taller than I thought), Paul Reubens (just like I thought), Steve Austin (massively tall), Vinnie Jones (looks meaner in person), Lou Gossett Jr. (he had no place else to go), and yes, Lou Ferrigno (same as always).

Music: Paul Stanley (freakishly tall) and Gene Simmons (also freakishly tall). It cracks me up that people didn't used to be able to recognize Paul Stanley without his KISS makeup. He looks pretty much the same without it.

Not the most eventful of days.

Buffy Season 8 and Angel Season 6?

In honor of the eagerly anticipated "Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season 8" #1 comic book from Dark Horse Comics that was released this week written by the man himself, Joss Whedon, I thought I'd share with you my favorite and least favorite episodes from the two Buffyverse series:

Favorite Buffy episode: while the musical Season 6 episode "Once More With Feeling" ranks very highly in my book, I'd have to go with the Season 3 2-part finale "Graduation Day" instead. Buffy, the whole gang, the best villain the show ever had, and Faith! It doesn't get much better than this. Honorable mention goes to the Season 4 episode entitled "Hush." Could be the scariest of all the Buffy episodes, and was mentioned on some blog as the go to episode if you could only show 1 episode to a newbie to get them hooked.

Least favorite Buffy episode: the Season 6 premiere. I don't want to ruin it for the one's who haven't seen it, but let's just say I would've eventually been ok with ending the show at the end of Season 5.

Favorite Angel episode: "A Hole in the World" from Season 5. Again, no spoilers, but it was so sad and well done. Honorable mention goes to the series finale "Not Fade Away." Bad ass! And yet, I felt so bad for Lorne.

Least favorite Angel Episode: any and all of them with Jasmine (I believe those were in Season 4). Just terrible.

The Season 8 comic is good and worth picking up but only if you've watched the show. You may be lost a bit if you haven't. Joss will be writing the first arc followed by Brian K. Vaughan, Jane Espenson and Jeph Loeb (not in that order). Joss will also be writing the last arc of the series which is supposed to run about 30 issues, or so I read somewhere.

Lastly, it was mentioned in the IDW panel today at Wizard World LA that Joss Whedon has been talking to "Spike" comic book scribe Brian Johnson about the possibility of writing the "Angel Season 6" comic book. I hope that goes through. I hear good things about Lynch's work and it seems he'd make a great fit for the new series. I'm looking forward to that series more than I was the Buffy series (but don't tell Joss).

(UPDATED with image and a few links)

Blistering blue barnacles! a Tintin movie!

Dreamworks has announced that they are indeed making a Tintin movie. What they haven't announced yet is whether or not they are doing a live-action or animated movie. Quite frankly, as long as it doesn't look like Polar Express, I'm happy.

I grew up reading 3 different comic series: Tintin, Asterix, and X-Men. I still have all my Tintin comics (by the great Herge) and have also seen the animated movies they did decades ago. The mysteries that Tintin and his friends ran into were mesmerizing as a kid and they all still hold up as some of the finest stories in the medium.

I strongly recommend checking out all 23 Tintin stories. You wil not be disappointed. I can't wait for the movies to come out.

via The Hollywood Reporter

Pirates 3

via Disney.com

People have gone crazy over Captain America #25

Captain America is dead. He was shot and killed in Captain America (current series) #25 written by Ed Brubaker. I haven't read it yet, but I hear it's well done. Brubaker's stuff is always well done (read the current run of Daredevil or his Winter Soldier run on Cap. Both are incredible).

Every comic store that I've been to in the past week (admittedly, I only went to 3) has sold out of Cap #25. Apparently, since the story made it onto Yahoo! News, etc., everyone and their grandmother has been out buying up copies hoping for a big collectors boom like what happened when Superman "died."

My regular store sold out at noon the day it was released. I didn't get there until 7. I was a little pissed that there were no more copies, but it seems that my friendly neighborhood comic book store owner had an extra copy of the variant edition. I'm not a "collector" per se, but I know the benefits of having the variant over the original. He charged me cover price.

I saw the same variant at a store in Santa Monica today selling for $50. I don't understand people at all. It makes me sad, really.

People are going to be so pissed when Cap comes back to life in 6 months. Nothing devalues a "death of" issue like that same character's resurrection.

Dunder-Mifflin Scranton's address

I'm sure everyone but me has noticed this, but I didn't realize until today that the Dunder-Mifflin Scranton offices are located on Slough Street, and Slough is the name of the town where the Wernam-Hogg offices were located in the BBC version of The Office.

Everyone knows that already don't they? I'm an idiot.

(not) Rockin' Space Mountain

I went to Disneyland yesterday with a friend of mine. We're not Disney fanatics but we like Disneyland and really enjoy most of the rides, especially California Screamin' and Space Mountain (oh, and Tower of Terror!). Until the end of April, the music on California Screamin' and Space Mountain has been swapped out with songs by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

California Screamin' was ok. The music was way too loud though, and quite frankly, I prefer the old music. The RHCP song that they had on there was edited to shreds for some reason and it got really annoying. The ride is still one of the best coasters around, so don't let the music deter you.

Space Mountain is a different story. In my opinion, everyone should stay away from Rockin' Space Mountain. It sucks! Flat out sucks! Part of the appeal of Space Mountain is that you can't see the track, where you're going, etc. Again, THAT'S THE FUN!! So now that the RHCP are suppplying the music, there's all these seeming randomly placed lights in the ride. If I had to guess, I'd say that they're trying to make the inside seem like a rock concert... with a roller coaster going through. There are very bright red and blue lights all over the place. Most of the time, you can see the track and the walls for about 20 feet in all directions. It made me feel like I was on a coaster at the State Fair built in one of the agricultural buildings that normally houses hay and horse feed. And the music was too loud. And I'm pretty sure the song was a cover, but indeed sung by the Chili Peppers.

It was disappointing. I can't wait for May when both rides return to normal.

300s of 300

MTV has 5 minutes (300 seconds) worth of the new film 300 for you to watch on their website. After watching it, I am no longer excited to see this movie. I'll still go - no doubt - but I'm not excited. The dialogue was forced (maybe it reads better on a comic book page) and the battle scene bored me. I hope it's just because I'm in a bad mood.

300 is in theaters March 9th, 2007.

Somone's mad at Jerry Seinfeld, and the Academy, and environmentally-conscious celebs

The producer of the Academy Award nominated documentary Iraq in Fragments is pissed. So pissed in fact that he wrote an open letter to the Academy. The letter starts off restating the fact that he was an Oscar nominee, which is nice for him. Then he launches into a rant on Jerry Seinfeld of all people for his comedic riff on documentaries just before presenting the Oscar for Best Doc Feature (which went to An Inconvenient Truth). Seinfeld referred to all the nominees as depressing. Listen up people: documentaries usually are depressing, or at the very least a downer, especially the good ones. There's no need to get mad at famous and notoriously hilarious Seinfeld for stating the obvious. Hell, that's WHY he's famous. Lighten up Documentary Producer Guy. Seriously.

The letter goes on to attack the Academy's new qualification rules for documentary features. I'm sure the reasoning is that far less docs will make the nominations in the years to come, and even his own doc wouldn't have made the cut. I get his point. I don't necessarily agree, but I get it. To back up the Academy on this one, they have to tighten the belt on this one a little because there are just significantly more docs & films being made these days. There has to be some way of weeding them out, and putting specific requirements of distribution makes sense to me. Hey, I think my best-friend should be nominated for an Oscar for the short we made 7 years ago on our miniDV cam, but that's just not realistic. (That was hyperbole used to put more emphasis on my point through use of humor, in case anyone wants to get mad at me for making a seemingly ridiculous statement. In my defense though, she was quite good in the short!)

Lastly, the letter criticizes celebs at the awards ceremony for not mentioning Iraq or Afghanistan but rather the environment in their speeches. This may come as a surprise to all of you but the Oscars ceremony is NOT A SOAPBOX! Congrats on your war doc getting nominated and all, but I'd rather no one talk about politics at the Oscars. It's about filmmaking and nothing else. And if people are intent on discussing politics, I'm glad that it's about the environment, because we need people to step up in that department. And for the record, I don't think talking about the environment is political talk, but people keep telling me that it is, so whatever.

All in all, I think he's being overly sensitive. I will say though that the letter rambled a little and had no clear focus of topic. None of the 3 things he discussed were even related to each other outside of the fact that they have to do with documentaries in general. There needed to be a better unifying thread to the letter. I just hope his docs have a better consistency.

You can read more about this here (via CHUD)

Not watching this show

I don't like the Geico caveman commercials. They bug me, mostly because they're just not funny. So imagine how excited I got when I read that ABC is developing a comedy pilot based on those commercials. Awesome idea ABC!

Well, hopefully they'll pull something good out of it since the guy who created the commercials also came up with the "small house" commercials which I thought were funny. But seriously, a sitcom about 3 cavemen in 21st-century Atlanta? Any jokes that will make this worthwhile were already done in "Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer" or even (dare I say it) Encino Man.

You can read more about this here (via Ain't It Cool News)