In a Town With No Name...

Worst pitch meeting EVER!

2007-09-17T19:23:00.000-07:00

Saw this on Kung Fu Monkey. So freaking funny... had to share:

Hilarious Bud Light commerical

2007-09-11T20:46:00.000-07:00

I heard that this wasn't allowed to air due to its content, but I don't know if that's accurate or not:

Recent History: Photographs by Luc Delahaye

2007-09-09T17:43:00.000-07:00

From July 31 to Novemeber 25, the Getty Center in Los Angeles is has an exhibit called "Recent History: Photographs by Luc Delahaye." I went today and I cannot recommend it more. There are only maybe 10 photographs on display, but don't let that keep you from going. Remember, the Getty is free aside from parking (which is currently $8 per car).

Delahaye's photographs are astounding to look at when on display. I didn't even want to put one of his photos in this post because I don't think any gif or jpeg will do them justice (although the Getty site linked above does have images). Not only does Delahaye capture unique and painfully real images, but the prints are then blown up to what the museum describes as "near life-size." Each print is several FEET long and high. I felt like I could almost step into the scene.

The rest of this will really only make sense if you've been to the exhibit or (gasp!) looked at the photos online:

I truly liked every single one on display. My favorite was the one called "Aftermath in Meulaboh" depicting a single man standing in a field of rubble in the wake of the 2004 Tsunami. According to the exhibit brochure, Meulaboh lost 1/3 of it's population. The sadness of the scene is intense and immediately affecting.

"A Mass Grave near Snagovo, Bosnia" made me feel like I was dead inside. As the exhibit notes, the scene feels almost clinical and academic, when in fact these four people are kneeling in death. I felt like I should've had more of a reaction at first sight... but that's the point of the photograph, isn't it?

I've been thinking about every one of the photographs ever since I saw them today. I may even go back to see them again in a few weeks.

UPDATE: The following quote was up on the wall in the first room of the exhibit mixed in with other info on Delahaye and his work. I found it to be indicative of not only the photographs, but also in an overall sense, of how the photos impacted me:

"There is something rather beautiful about the practice of photography: it allows the self to be reunited with the world." --excerpted from "Luc Delahaye: Snap Decision," interview by Philippe Dagen, Art Press no. 306.

my Fall 2007 TV (read Tivo) line-up

2007-09-08T20:30:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the Fall TV Preview issue of Entertainment Weekly (EW), I've been able to piece together what I'll be watching this fall. And by the way, I list cable programs without a time because they tend to rerun often, so I let the networks take priority and watch/record the reruns a couple hours later. Alright, here we go:

Sunday:
8:00 Simpsons (Fox)
9:00 Family Guy (Fox)
cable: Battlestar Galactica (SciFi, when it returns)

Monday:
8:00 Chuck (NBC)
9:00 Heroes (NBC)
10:00 Journeyman (NBC)
(If Chuck sucks, I'm quickly switching to Aliens in America, 8:30 on The CW, which EW says is excellent. And, I don't think Journeyman will last long, but I like Kevin McKidd from Rome and more importantly Dog Soldiers.)

Tuesday:
8:00 Bones (Fox)
9:00 Reaper (CW)
cable: Eureka (SciFi)

Wednesday:
8:00 Pushing Daisies (ABC)
9:00 Bionic Woman (NBC)
10:00 Dirty Sexy Money (ABC)
(I'm only checking out Dirty Sexy Money because I think it'll be like Falcon's Crest, and who doesn't miss Falcon's Crest? I should tell you that I have no basis for this assumption)

Thursday:
8:00 My Name is Earl (NBC)
8:30 30 Rock (NBC)
9:00 The Office (NBC)
9:30 Scrubs (NBC)
cable: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX), Burn Notice (USA)

Friday:
9:00 Friday Night Lights (NBC)
cable: Stargate Atlantis, Doctor Who (SciFi)
(I'd check out Moonlight (CBS) and Women's Murder Club (ABC) too, but they conflict with FNL. No, I don't have a dual-tuner Tivo!)

Saturday:
11:30 Saturday Night Live! (NBC)

That's it (I think). Go ahead, copy me. It's ok. I don't mind.

3:10 to Yuma

2007-09-08T20:21:00.000-07:00

Quick review: 3:10 to Yuma, I'm talking about the new one, is awesome! A great western that flawlessly mixes action with drama. The gun fights were imaginitive and fresh... not the same old High Noon fare (not that High Noon isn't a good film too). Russell Crowe was absolutely incredible. A let's not forget Christian Bale! Ben Foster was mighty good too. It's just a good good good movie. Go see it.

Bridge to Terabithia

2007-09-08T20:06:00.001-07:00

I've had the book sitting on my shelf for months and haven't read it yet, but someone did just give me the DVD of the most recent movie version of the book.

I liked it. Worth watching. Not what I thought it was going to be, but that turned out to be a good thing. Disney's marketing department really went off in the wrong direction on this one. From the trailers, they made it seem like a new Narnia, ie. a fantasy epic involving kids and a mythical army of animal soldiers fighting some dark force. This immediately seemed off because Terabithia, like Narnia, was made by Walden Media and Disney. Why, with the first Narnia film still in recent memory, would you market your film to look like a wannabe Narnia?

Whatever. Forget all that. Bridge to Terabithia isn't about another fantasy realm that exists just outside of memory. It's about friendship, responsibility, and the power of imagination, all set in the real world. Remember that going in and you won't be mislead or disappointed.

The only problem I had with the film was the soundtrack. The Miley Cyrus, Hayden Panetierre, etc. tracks were out of place. Seems like Disney was trying a little too hard to promote their up-and-coming music stars. One scene in particular suffers from the poor choice of songs... it's the one where the kids are setting up their tree... you'll understand when you see it. The scene could've been much better with a different song. Never underestimate the power of the sound in a movie, be it music, effects, etc. That said, the inclusion of Steve Earle's Someday was a nice touch and perfectly emulated the tone of the scene and the movie as a whole.

I'm curious now to read the book to see how it differs from the film. Good thing I already own it, eh?

(formerly known as the) E.B.S.

2007-09-01T22:17:00.001-07:00

This has never happened to me before. When I was driving today, listening to the radio, the Emergency Broadcasting System activated... and it was NOT a test. It freaked me out for a sec, especially since the buzzer went off, the beeps sounded, and nobody said anything for almost a minute. Then a voice came on saying that there had been several tornadoes spotted in Kern County, CA, and that people should seek the appropriate shelter. I was about 150 miles west of there at the time, so I was good (whew!)

But I couldn't believe the EBS went off while I was listening to the radio! Weird... and kinda cool at the same time.

UPDATE: According to a Google search, it's now called the Emergency ALERT System.

The Return of Klaatu

2007-08-28T20:39:00.000-07:00

Not really. Well, not quite, anyway.

Honestly, I don't see why Klaatu would ever really need to come back to Earth. He did his job and we're all hanging (peacefully!) with Gort on the National Mall, so all is good.

Kinda went off on a bit of a tangent there. Let me begin again...

Do the words "Klaatu, Berata, Nikto" mean anything to you? Aside from in the context of Army of Darkness, that is. If so, then you've probably seen the 1951 sci-fi awesomeness that is The Day the Earth Stood Still.

As old sci-fi goes, this has to be one of my favorites. I still own this movie on VHS although I plan on replacing it with the DVD any day now. I really don't know why I like this movie so much, except to say that the story is good and makes sense, it's fairly acted, and it has a moral that will knock you on your ass with how relevant it still is today.

Well, it turns out that The Day the Earth Stood Still is being remade for a 2008 release starring Keanu Reeves as the alien, Klaatu. I like Keanu Reeves and think he's a fine actor, and I have nothing against remakes in general, but I'm super-skeptical about this one. My worry is that they'll over-politicize it when transporting the story to the present day. The politics that were the backdrop of the original are no where near the same as they are today. Not even close.

Despite all that, I'll go see it. Like I said, I like Keanu Reeves and tend to enjoy most, if not all of his movies. That, and I'll just be curious as hell.

(by the way, this is another poster I'm dying to get. Either the one sheet (above) or the three sheet, which is pretty cool too).

UPDATE: a quick Google search revealed that you can watch all of The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) on Google Video, although I urge you to watch it on DVD or better yet, at your local theater if it's ever shown.

UPDATE 2: if you just want to watch the trailer, here it is, courtesy of the wonder that is Youtube:

Oh yeah... Heroes too

2007-08-28T20:34:00.001-07:00

In case you didn't see Heroes on NBC last season (what is wrong with you?!?) and didn't watch the numerous reruns on the SciFi Channel (seriously, what? No Tivo?), then I'm here to tell you that your prayers have been answered: Heroes: The Complete First Season is now available on DVD.

Drop everything. Go buy it. It's freakin' awesome and you'll love it (or not). Either way, soon you'll know what the rest of the world has been talking about for the past 9 months.

Friday Night Lights on DVD

2007-08-28T20:24:00.001-07:00

Friday Night Lights: The Complete First Season came out on DVD today. Target, Best Buy, and Amazon all have it for $19.99 this week. That's $20 for 22 episodes... a serious bargain!

Do me a favor and check this show out. It's a critically acclaimed yet under-watched show that has some of the best acting and writing I've seen on TV in a long while. Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton stand out in particular for their impeccable portrayals of Coach and Mrs. Taylor.

And don't worry if you're not a fan of football, there's not a hell of a lot of game time in the episodes, but when there is, it's hold-your-breath exciting and suspenseful.

If you don't want to buy it, rent it. Season 2 starts this fall, moving to Fridays (finally!) on NBC.

"We all go a little mad sometimes" - Psycho

2007-08-27T20:24:00.000-07:00

I went to see Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho on the big screen this past Friday at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica. I've seen this movie maybe 10 times (at least)... I even own it on DVD... but this was a unique experience.

Quick tangent: I want the poster shown above or one of it's variations. Really I just want any of the ones that have Hitch pointing at his watch telling people they can't come in after the movie starts. If you know where I can get one, let me know. I can't seem to find it anywhere. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough.

But I digress...

The theater was packed. My friend and I got good seats about half-way down and just to the right of center. I had my buttered popcorn and a Sprite as I settled in waiting for the film to start. After a quick intro by the theater manager, the movie started.

Bernard Hermann's score is REALLY disturbing when piped into a dark, crowded theater. Again, I've seen the movie before and I was immediately agitated and anxious and loving every minute of it:

The theater erupted in applause when Hitch's name appeared on-screen.

Now, before I go on, I must tell you that there will be SPOILERS from here on out, but seriously, if you haven't seen this movie yet and/or (even better) you're one of the few people out there who don't know what happens at the end, stop reading and go rent this movie.

It must've been very trippy for folks watching Psycho when it first came out to not know that Janet Leigh (who is gorgeous, by the way) was going to get killed. Even if people talked about the infamous shower scene, they may have been slightly mislead into thinking that Vera Miles was the victim due to the ingenious trailer for the film in which Hitch gives a tour of the Bates Motel:

Now, one thing I didn't notice before and probably only did this time because the picture was 3 stories high (or whatever) is that Hitch really made Janet Leigh's character seem a little crazy before she gets to the Bates Motel. When she's driving in the rain and is imagining what people back in the Phoenix are talking about, her eyes get wide with a hint of crazy in them, and even though she's imagining the downfall of her plan, I swear to you she looks like she's smiling.

Jump ahead the Bates Motel, and say hello to Norman - a nice, polite, generous, good-looking, funny, and charming young man - played to absolute perfection by Anthony Perkins. He was an actor ahead of his time. He made Norman Bates so REAL, that this eventually becomes a horror movie in the truest sense of the word. By the end, you'll realize that everything you've seen is not all that ridiculous.

The shower scene was absolutely frightening. In this large theater, no one was moving. There's no music at the beginning of the scene. You're just sitting there, in the dark, listening to the water fall. The door swings open without a sound and the figure moves forward. Then the curtain flies back, the music starts, and then is punctuated by screams and stabbing sounds. When the scene is done and Marion (Leigh) is lying there dead, again all we hear is the shower until almost a minute or two later, Norman cries out "Mother! Oh God Mother! Blood!" Powerful, powerful stuff:

Let's skip to the end of the movie. Norman Bates is in the holding cell. His "mother" is narrating and says the famous line about not hurting a fly. Norman looks up at the camera... at the audience really. It will remain one of the creepiest moments in movie history. I shivered.

There's so much I'm leaving out, but those were the moments that really made an impression on me when watching the movie on the big screen. There were even moments that were downright funny, sometimes intentionally and sometimes not ("Did Norman Bates kill my sister?" "Yes... And no!")

If Psycho is showing in a bona fide theater in your area soon, I highly recommend you do the same if you get the chance. A masterpiece of film-making.

a post on an article about the WGA negotiations

2007-08-09T11:05:00.000-07:00

Days ago, there was an editorial in the New York Times discussing the in-progress WGA/Studio negotiations. After reading it, it's clear (at least to me) that the editorial was full of skewed logic, questionable sources such as "some economists," and some very odd so-called statistics on the business of making movies.

Screenwriter Craig Mazin has completely dissected the editorial on The Artful Writer. Don't bother reading the editorial, just jump right into Craig's post. It's exceptionally well-done, and is well worth the time to read.

(via Kung Fu Monkey)

Explosion at Scaled Composites

2007-07-29T13:00:00.000-07:00

You may or may not know that I'm a bit of a space enthusiast. I was at the Mojave Airport for the first rocket flight of SpaceShipOne in December 2003 when it became the first privately developed aircraft to break the sound-barrier. I was also there when it first and second times it went into space back in June 2004.

I'm surprised that I didn't hear about this until today, but there was an explosion at Scaled Composites, creators of SpaceShipOne, last week during a test related to the development of SpaceShipTwo that killed 3 and injured 3 more. You can read more about this in the LA Times.

I've spent a bit of time at the Mojave Airport. It's hard to imagine an explosion of this magnitude there.

Comic-Con 2007

2007-07-29T12:53:00.000-07:00

I went. I was under-whelmed.

Comic-Con gets more and more crowded every year. Even going on the 1st day in the middle of the week isn't enough to escape the swarms of fan-boys & girls. It's a giant buying frenzy with few announcements to be made.

I didn't really see anything cool that was new. Some of the booths had the same old stuff from last year. All the panels I wanted to see, which were few, were packed to capacity hours before they started.

I didn't even buy anything really. I got 2 Peanuts t-shirts and an issue of Mouse Guard: Winter 1152 #1 which I in turn got signed by writer/artist David Petersen. I also asked him to sign the Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 hardcover that I own, which he did along with a quick little sketch next to the sig.

Coolest thing unveiled at this year's con: the Sweeny Todd poster... which I saw on Ain't It Cool News, not at the con itself. With the internet, there's really no point in the Con anymore.

I doubt I'll go next year unless I have to for work.

World War Hulk

2007-06-25T21:27:00.001-07:00

I've never been one to read the Incredible Hulk comic, not even when Peter David was writing except for an odd issue here and there. He's just never really appealed to me all that much. In fact, I think I liked the Bill Bixby TV show better than the comic book.

And now, there's this massive event in the Marvel Universe called World War Hulk. My friendly neighborhood comic book store owner, Cat, who owns DJ's Universal Comics in Studio City (awesome store... check it out) recommended I buy the prologue issue to the event with the promise that I wouldn't be disappointed. And he was right...

The whole event is FREAKIN' AWESOME!! (so far)

I don't want to go into what it's all about, suffice it to say that the Hulk returns to Earth very very pissed at some key Marvel players (Mr. Fantastic, Dr. Strange, Iron Man, Blackbolt, and a few others) and looking for vengeance. What happens next is crazy... and good. It's crazy good!

The great thing is that you don't need to know much about the Hulk to jump in. He's big, green, has a terrible temper, is super-strong, can withstand pretty much any extreme, is kinda dumb, and he really really really hates his alter ego, Bruce Banner. The rest that you need to know is summed up on the first page of each issue (the "previously on" page).

If you're looking for somehting new, check out World War Hulk. Like Cat, I would say that you won't be disappointed.

The prologue and issue #1 (of 7 I think) are out already. If you're also gonna pick up some of the cross-overs, I'd recommend the regular Incredible Hulk issues. The others I'm not bothering with (which doesn't mean they're not good).

American Gangster trailer

2007-06-25T21:22:00.000-07:00

Haven't posted in a while, I know. I've been working hard on this latest production that I mentioned in an earlier post (still can't say more about it), but it's been stressing me out to no end.

Anyway, I say Ocean's 13 recently and while the movie is mediocre, there was a cool trailer attached to it for a movie called American Gangster. I know I'll see it.

What makes me bring it up is that I love the song that they play in the trailer. I tracked it down and found out that it's called "Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)" by Jay-Z. It's a remix/sampling of an older song, but the version they use in the trailer is definitely Jay-Z's. You can buy it on iTunes.

Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed

2007-05-29T22:20:00.000-07:00

Like most geeks, I watched the Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed documentary on The History Channel this past Monday night. I honestly thought I was going to be bored, especially when I saw that it was 2-hours long. And, keep in mind that that was the same day I say Pirates 3, so I wasn't really in the mood for another long movie/TV watching commitment.

Turns out, I was enthralled the whole time. It really is a great documentary, and I don't normally like documentaries. I'm sure they're gonna re-run it a couple of times, so if you didn't watch it, check you Tivo.

I really enjoyed the approach of the doc, how they related the epic to stories from the Bible, Greek and Roman mythology, religion, history, etc., and how they explained the significance of the major characters and their ultimate purpose in the Hero's Journey (as Joseph Campbell called it). I feel like I just took a humanities class with all the information I absorbed from the doc.

It's important to remember that what is presented really is all theory. It fits sure enough, but as Dr. Joan Breton Connelly points out in the doc, you get to the point where you ask "did George Lucas mean for this connection to be made, or am I making it? Am I participating as part of the poet?" Lucas himself never appears in the doc outside of archive production footage to corroborate any of the experts' assertions. Connelly later goes on to say, "100 years from now, someone will be sitting here discussing the impact of Star Wars, and they will be seeing different things in it than we are seeing today." Just something to keep in mind.

That said, I totally bought all of it, hook, line, and sinker.

As far as the interviewees, it was nice to have some of the intellectual community represented, as well as filmmakers like Joss Whedon, Kevin Smith, JJ Abrams, and Peter Jackson. They each offered a unique and engaging perspective on the films' themes. I was kind of thrown by the inclusion of Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather, but after a while it made sense to me since they really are experts on the 20th century. It's kind of weird to think that Rather and Brokaw like Star Wars, but then again, who doesn't? That said, I thought the inclusion of interviews with Newt Gingrich and Nancy Pelosi went too far. I'm sure they love a good sci-fi epic as much as the next cat, but it was almost comic seeing them in a Star Wars doc. If they needed politicos in the doc, they should've gotten President Clinton instead. You just know that guy is a huge Star Wars fan, neh?

On the whole, the doc almost made me want to watch Episodes I-III again. Almost.

And in case you're wondering, my favorite of the 6 films is Empire. It used to Star Wars (I refuse to call it "A New Hope"), but I changed it.

Bruce Campbell: genius

2007-05-28T20:33:00.000-07:00

I know these have been floating around the internet for some time now, but in case you haven't seen them, here are the awesome Old Spice commercials starring Bruce Campbell.

The first ("If you don't have it..."):

The second (Hungry Like the Wolf):

Pirates: At World's End

2007-05-28T16:26:00.000-07:00

I went to the 11am show of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End today. I knew it was a long movie, but not getting out of the movie theater until 2:10pm was still a shock. About the movie, here's what I thought, in no particular order (WARNING, THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD. BIG ONES):

1. Keira Knightley is ridiculously gorgeous in the entire movie. At some points, it was even distracting.

2. I wish the movie had more Jack Sparrow in it.

3. I think the "Maelstrom" battle would've been even cooler if there WASN'T a whirlpool in the middle of the 2 ships. Also, the Jack & Davy duel high above the deck was unnecessary and unrealistic. Who has balance that good?

4. Despite what I said in #3, the end battles were spectacular! Lots of fun even after 2 hours of mostly talky-talky.

5. Sao Feng lost all appeal when he attempts to rape Elizabeth. His asking for forgiveness did not make up for it.

6. Keith Richards did a really good job. Although, he may have been too commanding of a presence. It made me wonder why he wasn't one of the 9 Pirate Lords.

7. I love the fact that Beckett freezes at the end. Very realistic for a villain who was obviously all talk and only as strong as the man beside him.

8. Everyone at ILM should be preserved for future generations to use. They are geniuses without peers in my opinion.

9. I was really glad to see more of Jack's cunning and trickery in this one. He was kind of buffoonish (and not in a good way) in the last film.

10. I could've done without the good Jack-bad Jack/angel-devil/duck season-rabbit season hallucinations that Jack has after he gets out of the Locker. Silly.

11. I've read some reviews that the story is too dense to follow. This is NOT so. It's dense, but it makes sense... at least it did to me.

12. What the hell were the other Pirates' ships doing during the last battle?

13. I want to know what happened to Calypso. There was very little effect to her resurgence, so why not cut out that storyline? Maybe because of Davy Jones? I don't know.

14. The "road" to World's End was perfect, in terms of both scenery and dialogue/interactions.

15. Once again, Bill Nighy is freakin' amazing as Davy Jones. 'Nuff said.

16. The most intriguing story in the entire film was that of the origin of Davy Jones. I wanted to hear/see more about it.

UPDATE: 17. I don't know if the "parlay" scene was supposed to be an homage to the final standoff in The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, but that's what I immediately thought of when it began. Am I the only one? Well, it was excellent either way.

Overall, I liked this one WAY better than Dead Man's Chest, but Curse of the Black Pearl still reigns supreme. At World's End is definitely worth seeing on the big screen, if only to see Davy Jones' tentacle face in some magnificent close-ups.

Paul McCartney: Dance Tonight

2007-05-27T11:45:00.000-07:00

I've actually been really eager to see Paul McCartney's latest video, "Dance Tonight" starring Sir Paul, Natalie Portman, and Mackenzie Crook, and directed by Michel Gondry. Reason being that I had the good fortune of meeting and having a long chat with Mackenzie Crook a few months ago, and he was telling me all about the video, in particular how the effects were done. Based on his descriptions, I couldn't wait to see how it turned. Here's a good description:

"All the ghost effects are done in camera: the ghosts are actually evolving in front of a glass separation that reflects their image into the shot. This technique is based on smoke and mirror effects of magic tricks (known as the Pepper's Ghost effect) and other early cinema effects." --from director-file.com

I think the video and the "ghost effects" all look great (I'm a big fan of practical effects over CGI). Check out the video:

(found thanks to Russ)

Joss Whedon on violence

2007-05-27T11:29:00.000-07:00

Joss Whedon speaks out on violence and the objectification of women.

Well, I didn't do a very good job a describing his essay... just go read it. In my opinion it's an emotional yet well-thought-out examination of the world we live in. Worth your time.

(via Whedonesque)

Tattoo

2007-05-26T14:51:00.000-07:00

This is probably the most exciting piece of animation that I've seen in recent years. It's a teaser reel for a project called "Tattoo" that was done by ITS CARTOON, a Beijing-based animation company that is doing some phenomenal work right now. That's right, I said Beijing... as in China. Mark my words, China is going to be the next hotspot in cutting-edge animation.

I have no idea if this was ever made into a full-length thing. And it's hard to see all the coolness of this piece in this Youtube clip, but take a look anyway. The coolest of the cool starts at around 2:55 or so... when the helicopters show up:

I've never seen camera-control (movement, focus, zoom, etc.) like that used in animation before. And how cool is the use of 2D characters in a 3D-that-looks-2D environment? Shiny.

Transformers

2007-05-26T12:48:00.000-07:00

I can't remember the last time I was THIS excited to see a movie, and it's all thanks to this trailer:

On a related note, I'll go see any Michael Bay movie, really. I get a kick out of almost all of them. I own several which I watch over and over. I'd say it's my guilty pleasure, but I don't feel guilty about it.

To all you Michael Bay haters out there, you've got to admit that this looks awesome! And if you don't, I'll tell everyone you secretly liked Armageddon...

...which really is a pretty kick-ass movie, in my opinion.

Terrible, terrible (that's 2 terribles)

2007-05-26T12:33:00.000-07:00

In the past week, I've seen both the John Rambo (I call it Rambo 4... or should it be Rambo 3: First Blood Part 4?) "trailer" and the Star Wars Animated: Tales of the New Republic teaser. And I didn't like either of them. In fact, I thought they were both really bad. And now, to demonstrate how bad they are, both are embedded below.

This was a dilemma for me. Just post links to the offending clips on Youtube, or embed them here? I chose to embed them just so readers wouldn't have to put any extra effort into finding and watching these if they so choose. I'm trying to help you here.

This John Rambo trailer contains VERY graphic violence. It may even be ultra-violent. You have been warned:

The Star Wars Animated one doesn't contain any objectionable material... except for the character designs (hyuk hyuk):

found both via Ain't It Cool News.

the answer to my prayers

2007-05-26T12:25:00.000-07:00

Found this on BoingBoing this morning. It's a portion of a hypothetical (or fantasy) map that illustrates an LA mass transit system based on the London Underground system. How freakin' awesome is this:

Here's the link to the full map.

God, please snap your fingers and make this come true. All of us Angelinos want this to happen (I know I'm speaking for a lot of people here, but trust me... I know).

100: very exciting

2007-05-26T12:17:00.000-07:00

Friends... I've landed my first professional directing job. This is a HUGE milestone for me which will only be superceded when I have finished my first professional directing job. Sadly, this announcement is a little premature as I'm not actually allowed to talk about what I'm working on just yet, but I should be able to give you the full skinny within the next two months at the latest.

Here's what I can tell you about it, in very general and vague terms. The sum total running time of what I'll be directing will come to a maximum of 15mins. It's for a well-known entertainment company starring a couple of recognizable peeps. We're shooting in July and hopefully releasing before the end of the year.

It is not porn. I know you were thinking it.

More on all of this later, but until then, join me in a collective WOO-HOO!!

(btw, this is my 100th post on this blog. Not the biggest of feats when considered against the whole blogging community, but it is for me. Personal woo-hoo! 'Nuff said.)

28 minutes later...

2007-05-13T16:54:00.000-07:00

It's been about a half-hour since I left the theater having just seen 28 Weeks Later. I should say that I am a REALLY big fan of Days and was looking forward to this sequel. At first, I was skeptical about it, thinking that since Danny Boyle was no longer directing and Cillian Murphy would be nowhere to be seen, then the movie was going to be crap.

Not so. I dug it. A lot.

It looks and feels just like the first film. Although there is no explanation of what happened to Murphy's character and the other survivors, the new characters are compelling and equally tragic. The film has a solid story and is exceptionally paced and well-made.

If the opening scene doesn't give you a panic attack, then I think you'll be ok for the rest of the movie. The beginning is CRAZY. And the way that scene ends is classic and made me chuckle only because I just know that I would've been having the same reaction as (SPOILER ALERT) Robert Carlyle's character when he's finally motoring down the river in his boat.

MORE SPOILERS: There is one thing that I didn't like and that was the scene in the containment room during the beginning of the Code Red... the scene that ends with Andy entering the A/C ducts. The director used a lot of shaky-cam which normally doesn't bother me, and 90% of the time it didn't bother me in this movie either. Just that one scene where the cuts make no sense, everything is an extreme close-up, and there are lights flashing like crazy. It lasts for less than 5-mins, I think, but it was still annoying.

END SPOILERS

Aside from that, all good in my book. I especially like the music/score/soundtrack or whatever you want to call it. It fit the scenes perfectly and powerfully conveyed the emotions on-screen to a degree that I've rarely seen in recent years.

It's a little gory but not overly so, and you probably expected that anyway. What's next? 28 Years Later?

Even MY spider-sense was tingling

2007-05-07T20:43:00.000-07:00

I know I'm in the majority, but I wasn't too crazy about Spider-Man 3. Although, I'm more forgiving than most because I did think the action scenes, especially the crane-building sequence were really fun and incredible to watch. It was everything in between that nagged at me. I could tell within the first 20mins or so that there was something off about the movie. Here's a SPOILER-FILLED list of the things that bugged me the most about SM3 (in no particular order):

1. What the hell happened to Spidey's spider-sense? He got snuck up on, beat down, and tossed aside at every occasion. One of his main powers is missing? That's just lazy writing if you ask me.

2. Even when he had the full Venom-mask thing going (you know... the eyes, teeth, tongue thing), the voice coming out of the most menacing Spidey-villain ever created (IMHO) was that of Topher Grace. With the mask up, the voice should've been much more raspy and monsterous.

3. Eye-liner and messy hair do not an evil Peter make.

4. The 70s-esque evil-Peter montage was slightly funny, but mostly out of place and a waste of time.

5. Venom wasn't introduced until late in the movie at which point there's no opportunity to fully explore the damaged psyche of Eddie Brock and Venom. In this movie, he just comes off as a spoiled, over-sensitive brat.

6. Gwen Stacy was an unnecessary addition. She could've been any random woman, so why make her the figure from one of the most tragic stories in Spidey history? You're just asking to piss the fanboys off.

7. The retcon that made Flint Marko Uncle Ben's killer. Stupid.

8. The revelation that Harry's butler knew that Norman really did die by his own glider's blades. That makes it ok? Forget the fact that Spidey jumped out of the way of the glider to save his own ass, but Norman DID NOT commit suicide. He was killed accidentally during a fight with Spider-Man, people! Harry, in his state of mind, would not have cared about anything else.

9. How many times does Peter have to take off his Spider-Man mask in public before someone sees him and exposes his secret identity?

10. In the church, even I couldn't tell it was Peter Parker from Brock's vantage point... AND I ALREADY KNEW IT WAS. Again, lazy writing to make up for the fact that a major villain wasn't introduced until pretty much the end of the movie. But don't get me wrong... the Sandman story was sooooooo much more compelling than what the Brock-Venom storyline could've been. For those who aren't sure, I'm being sarcastic.

11. How did Peter not hear or see the freakin METEORITE hit the ground 10-20 yards away? And why did said meteorite only make a minor hole in the dirt, like a kid had just been building a mud-castle or something?

That'll do it for now. Honestly, I just can't keep up the negativity. Again, the action scenes were AWESOME. For real. Some great stuff there that makes you temporarily forget about the bad stuff. Oh, and Thomas Hayden Church was great as the Sandman. He really was. And J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson... fugedaboutit!

I'll leave you with what I think would've been a better way to approach Spider-Man 3: let's learn from the mistakes made in the original Batman series of movies... just because it's the third movie doesn't mean you need 3 villains. Limit it to the black suit and Venom. Hell, even start the movie with Peter already in the black suit and being mean. Dr. Conners can explain it away as the symbiote-agression-blah-blah-blah. Have Peter rid himself of the costume within the first third of the movie and then introduce Venom and explore that relationship to a fuller extent, leading up to a battle that is essentially Spidey vs Spidey, and not Spidey and the Goblin vs Venom and the Sandman (talk about needing to stay focused on the themes of your film... sheesh!)

Done and done. And yes, I realize it's easier to be on the outside looking in.

First time that I've heard the term "torture-porn"

2007-04-22T23:01:00.001-07:00

Now, it could be that I've been living in a hole for the past several months, but I'd never heard the term "torture-porn" before today. Torture-porn, for those who are wondering, is basically a splatter film or a film that repeatedly and graphically portrays violence and gore. Some examples are Hostel, the Saw films, and The Hills Have Eyes, to name a few.

I'm not the most eloquent person in the world, and there are much better writers out there than I, so I'm going to point you to them to express the aversion (that's putting it mildly) that I have to this genre of film. I pretty much agree 100% with this article over at CHUD, so go there first. It's a good read, but be prepared... the page has the latest poster for Hostel II on it as an example, and it's fairly off-putting.

Here's another article (also linked within the CHUD article) that reports, among other things, on Joss Whedon's opinion on the matter. The rest of the article is a little preachy and overly socio-analytical in my opinion, but it's a decent read.

my music-buying habits

2007-04-19T21:10:00.000-07:00

I tend to buy all my music through the iTunes Store these days. After looking at my recent purchases, it turns out I only buy music if I heard it on the radio (most likely KROQ) and liked the song (natch), or I heard it used in a film/TV show. Here's a list of relatively recent purchases from the latter category in reverse chronological order with where I heard it in ( ):

"Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap (SNL)
"Smack My Bitch Up" by Prodigy (referenced on SNL)
"Hold Tight" by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich (Grindhouse: Death Proof)
"Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood (SNL) (I almost didn't admit to this one)
"Fury" by Prince (SNL)
"Ain't No Reason" by Brett Dennen (Scrubs)
"Fault Line" by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (Bones)
"Requiem for a Tower" by Corner Stone Cues (trailer for Sunshine)
"Get Back (Sum 41 remix) by Ludacris (trailer for Smokin' Aces)
"It Ends Tonight" by All-American Rejects (promo for Battlestar Galactica)
"Painkiller" by Turin Brakes (The Last Kiss)
"Prophecy" by Remy Zero (The Last Kiss)
"Warning Sign" by Coldplay (The Last Kiss)
"Winter" by Joshua Radin (Scrubs)
"Savin' Me" by Nickelback (promo for BSG)
"Two Words" by Kanye West featuring Mos Def, Freeway & the Harlem Boys Choir (Chappelle Show)

Good stuff.

"That boy's got the devil in him" - Grindhouse

2007-04-17T23:05:00.000-07:00

Yeah. I saw Grindhouse this past weekend. Everyone's talking about it and I don't have too much to add in the way of a review. A few random thoughts though:

1. Planet Terror was funny most of the time, but some scenes were sooooo gross that it actually decreased my enjoyment of the film as a whole. Which scenes? Really anything with the abscess guy. All in all, it's a true send-up of grindhouse movies.

2. Death Proof was really good. The car chase at the end is abso-freakin' amazing! Loved the ending too. In my opinion, where Rodriguez made a send-up, Tarantino made an actual grindhouse movie... and he made it really well. Did I mention the car chase at the end?

3. DON'T was the absolute best of the trailers. A cut above the rest (no pun intended). I would actually see that movie. It's no surprise that it was directed (for free, btw) by one of my personal favs, Edgar Wright, the director and co-writer of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.

4. Jeff Fahey's portrayal of J.T. in Planet Terror was spectacular. The guy cracked me up.

5. How awesome was it to hear "Jeepster" by T.Rex in Death Proof? It's one of T.Rex's best songs and I was really happy to see it prominently featured in a film. T.Rex is such an amazing glam rock band. Quentin's got some wicked taste in music. "Jeepster" can be bought on iTunes.

Vonnegut's rules

2007-04-14T10:08:00.000-07:00

As I'm sure you've heard by now, Kurt Vonnegut passed away recently. I have to say I wasn't the biggest Vonnegut fan... I'm not really partial to Slaughterhouse Five like most people are, but I kinda dug Cat's Cradle, so that's something right?

Anyway, Vonnegut's 8 rules for writing a story are getting posted all around the net. They're all brilliant, and not necessarily things you normally think of when starting to outline or write your story. I first saw them on Jane Espenson's blog, so that's the one I'm linking here. And as Ms. Espenson also notes, these absolutely apply to screenwriting as well. Go read!

(again, via Jane in Progress)

All Along the Watchtower

2007-03-25T23:10:00.000-07:00

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"?

2007-03-21T12:52:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-19T23:43:00.000-07:00

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)

2007-03-18T19:12:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-18T15:30:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-17T23:53:00.000-07:00

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?

2007-03-17T23:15:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-03-11T22:52:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-11T13:33:00.000-07:00

via Disney.com

People have gone crazy over Captain America #25

2007-03-10T23:11:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-10T23:07:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-10T22:58:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-04T13:00:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-04T12:33:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-04T12:26:00.001-08:00

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)

"Yeah, suck it, I DO read the paper" - 30 Rock

2007-02-23T19:41:00.000-08:00

30 Rock cracked me up last night. In fact, it cracks me up every time it's on. I'm surprised that more people don't watch this show. The regular excuse I get from co-workers is that they watched the pilot and weren't too blown away with it, so they never bothered to come back.

Tell me people, when was the last time that you saw a really kick-ass pilot for a sitcom. The Friends pilot is meh, as are the ones for The Simpsons, M*A*S*H*, Seinfeld, The Office (American version), and more. All of them shaped up and have become classics.

Now, I don't know if 30 Rock will become a classic of TV, but it certainly has hit its stride now and is much better than the pilot. Check it out one more time. I think you'll like it.

Alec Baldwin alone makes the show worth watching. The man is a freakin' genius!

Pulp Fiction: just words

2007-02-23T19:39:00.000-08:00

Someone put together this little piece using just animated text and the original audio from the "What does Marcellus Wallace look like?" scene in Pulp Fiction. The result is a very pretty, yet occasionally hard to follow, piece of animation. Worth checking out (contains explicit language):

What has FOX done now?

2007-02-19T12:32:00.000-08:00

For the record, Fox News generally makes me angry. And also, I love Comedy Central's Daily Show, although I'm not a die-hard fan and I don't think it's the Gospel according to Jon Stewart. I just think it's funny and pertinent. Who doesn't like good topical comedy?

So, that being said, I'm not sure if the following makes me angry or just sad. Fox has created a Daily Show rip-off called The 1/2-Hour News Hour which seems to be specifically designed to lampoon Democrats and liberals. Fine. Ok. Everyone is entitled to skewer whoever they want in the name of comedy. It's just that the show is not funny at all.

I figured it out. The whole things just makes me sad. Not angry. So very sad.

Veteran TV writer John Rogers, over at his blog Kung Fu Monkey, has an exceptional and hilarious post on the show, the politics of it, the bad writing, and the so-called "comedic" nature of the show, complete with clips. I'll wager that you'll be amazed by the whole thing, and not in a good way.

New Oscar ads by Spike Lee

2007-02-18T19:05:00.000-08:00

Since this year's Oscar advertising campaign has been all about famous quotes from Oscar-winning movies, director Spike Lee went ahead and filmed average Joes and Janes in average settings delivering various memorable quotes to bring this campaign to TV. Check it out the 1-min version:

I'm told there are more than just this one, but you can go find those yourself :) The Oscars can be seen Sunday, February 25th, 2007 at 5pm PST on ABC. That's a week from today people! Get your act together! Battlestar Galactica will rerun later in the night so that can't be your excuse for missing the biggest awards ceremony of the year.

Oh, and I found all this out via CHUD.

Ghost Rider

2007-02-17T19:23:00.000-08:00

I just got back from seeing Ghost Rider. It was awful. One of the worst comic-based superhero movies ever! The two people in front of me got up and left less than 1/2-way through the movie.

For me, out of the ones I've seen, Catwoman is probably the very worst. After that, Elektra. Then Hulk. Ghost Rider is probably on par with Elektra, although the latter did have Jennifer Garner and kung-fu which raises it up a slight notch... maybe.

The writer/director is the same writer/director that did Daredevil, which I enjoyed if only for the fact that I like Affleck, Garner, Favreau, and Joey Pants. I would've liked to see someone else as Kingpin, and a better story with better effects, but oh well. I can watch it again without cringing, and that's what matters in this discussion.

Ghost Rider has a God-awful script, terrible performances from good actors, bad direction, and toxic amounts of cheese. The effects were good if it was the Ghost Rider himself, but everything else looked less refined, like it was done 5-10 years ago. The story was bland and didn't make much sense 90% of the time, nor was the mythology very consistent. SPOILER QUESTION: if he could get stabbed while in Ghost Rider form and need to be stitched up after reverting back, shouldn't the 100 bullets fired into him by the police have killed him when he became Johnny Blaze again?

Ugh, and what was with all the pointing?!?!? You'll understand what I mean if and when you see the movie. LAME!!

ANOTHER minor SPOILER: the only good parts were with the goth girl (about 2mins) and the ride of the two Ghost Riders (about 30-seconds).

Please. No sequel. Just... no sequel.

UPDATE: Link to an Ain't It Cool News review that is much more eloquent (and angry) than mine. All the same, I totally agree!

"Did he mean me or that?" - Hot Fuzz

2007-02-17T19:16:00.000-08:00

Hot Fuzz is the new film from the creators of the zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead, one of my new favorite movies. I cannot wait to see Hot Fuzz. I believe it just came out in the UK and is getting rave reviews. Unfortunately for us yanks, it doesn't come out here until April (I think). I guess I'll just keep watching the trailer daily until then. Seriously, though. How freakin' funny is this?:

"People never go out of business" - The Office

2007-02-17T19:05:00.000-08:00

If you didn't see this past week's episode of The Office entitled "Business School," you are really missing out. It was easily one of the best episodes ever! And to top it all off, it was directed by Mothra himself, Joss Whedon. The episode was side-splittingly hilarious and down right touching at the same time.

If you missed this episode, you can get the episode on iTunes for the standard $2. And now I hear that JJ Abrams will be directing next week's episode. Not sure if that's true or not, but if it is I'm stoked. Unless it turns out the Dunder-Mifflin played backwards says Hanzo Foundation. Then I'd be really pissed.

Here's a clip of Joss Whedon talking about directing The Office:

And I was doing so well avoiding these

2007-02-06T23:57:00.000-08:00

Let's talk MMORPGs for a sec. I just know I would absolutely love "World of Warcraft" (Lord knows my coworkers do). I also know that because I would love it, the game would consume every ounce of free time that I have. So therefore, I don't play it. And for that same reason, I don't own an XBOX 360, a Nintendo Wii, or play online poker. I am comfortable in my time-wasting activities that I don't need new ones.

That all may change. I just read a 2 sentence blurb in this month's Wizard that says that a Firefly (yes, that Firefly) MMO is being developed by some company called Multiverse. WHY AM I JUST HEARING ABOUT THIS?!?!?

If it's even slightly good, I'm getting it. Firefly is one of the all-time great yet shafted shows along with Arrested Development, but to be fair, Firefly was shafted harder that Arrested Development. How cool is it going to be to play an MMO where you get to be a real space cowboy just like good ol' Mal Reynolds.? Hopefully they'll get the master himself, Joss Whedon, to consult on the game to make it better. Ah, who am I kidding. If it blows, I'll probably still play it.

Link to an article on this subject in Wired Magazine.

UPDATE: You can get the entire series of Firefly on DVD for around $20 these days. I know Amazon had it for that low recently, as did Best Buy I think. It's always going on sale and at $20, you can't afford to pass it up!

Good Will Hunted

2007-02-06T23:49:00.000-08:00

The latest in the rash of fake trailers is "Good Will Hunted." It's Good Will Hunting recut to make it look like a government conspiracy movie. Not bad, but not as good as the other one's I've posted on before. Oh, and it contains explicit language, so turn that volume down:

When Harry Met Sally - the thriller

2007-02-02T19:22:00.000-08:00

Another great fake trailer. This one is for When Harry Met Sally as if it were a horror/thriller. Well done and pretty funny. Found this via a post on BoingBoing:

The Shield teaser song

2007-01-31T21:13:00.000-08:00

The song in The Shield's season 6 teaser is "This Night" by Black Lab from their album "Passion Leaves a Trace." A friend of mine had me track this down, so I figure I'd share the info with you all in case anyone else was looking for this song. Good song. Available on iTunes.

UPDATE: Link directly to the song on iTunes.

The Tale of Buddy Israel

2007-01-28T15:07:00.000-08:00

I don't have too much to say about Smokin' Aces. I saw it yesterday and thought it was just ok, which is disappointing because I could not wait to see this movie.

The action is entertaining, but ultra-violent. The actors all do a good job, but none so much as freakin' Jason Bateman as the strung-out lawyer. He's only onscreen for about 5 minutes, but he steals the show anyway. That man needs to be in everything! Why did FOX have to cancel Arrested Development? But I digress.

The main problem with Aces is that it doesn't have too much of a story to it. MINOR SPOILER (kind of): there's a twist at the end, and people... I guessed what it was 20 minutes into the movie, and I'm not the brightest cat on the block when it comes to these things. The whole thing was sooooo transparent. To be perfectly honest, I didn't guess one small detail of the twist, but it was inconsequential to the overall story. It's a whole lot of headache for nothing. And Ryan Reynolds' meltdown at the end doesn't mean much to the audience, even if it was well executed by Reynolds.

Smokin' Aces is a movie made from excess. If you can get through the first 5 minutes of the movie without having to shake your head to clear it from overstimulation, then you'll like this movie a whole lot more than I did.

Best comics of 2006

2007-01-28T12:37:00.000-08:00

A short best-of list:

Best single issue: Superman/Batman #26 by The 26. This is the issue where 26 industry heavyweights got together to finish a book written by young Sam Loeb who passed away before seeing it realized. Read more here. Runner-up: Mouse Guard #1 by David Petersen.

Best mini-series: Mouse Guard by David Petersen. I know the last issue didn't come out till 2007, but still. This little indy comic has become a sensation for it's great art and compelling storyline. Good for all ages if you ask me. The last issue just came out, and the first issues are being reprinted heavily. A hardcover collection of the mini will be out in April 2007, and then the next Mouse Guard mini begins in June (I think). Read more here. Runner-up: The Escapists by Brian K. Vaughan.

Best graphic novel: Pride of Baghdad by Brian K. Vaughan. Based on a true story, this original graphic novel tells the tale of a pride of lions that escape the Baghdad zoo during the bombings. Their journey through Baghdad is a perfect allegory for the current war in Iraq. Poignant, unrelenting, and heart-breaking.

Best thing I read in TPB: Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Vol. 2 by Ed Brubaker. Bucky is back from the dead. Whether or not you're happy about this, the Winter Solider story-arc comes to a heavy conclusion as Cap deals with reliving the loss of his protege and the return of his friend. This TPB would make an exceptional script for the next Captain America movie. Runner-up: DMZ: On the Ground by Brian Wood.

Most shocking series: The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman. The quintessential zombie story is still trucking along. The places that Kirkman takes you and the things that happen will leave you feeling gross, all the while eager to find out what happens next. Great storytelling. Runner-up: Marvel Zombies by Robert Kirkman (go figure).

Best ongoing series: Daredevil by Ed Brubaker. Pick up the TPB of his first arc, "The Devil is Cell Block D," dealing with Matt Murdock being in prison alongside several villains that he put there. And there's a Daredevil imposter in Hell's Kitchen. The conclusion of the arc will leave you wanting more, I guarantee. I've never really read Daredevil before, but now I can't put it down. Runner-up: Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon.

Best writers: tie between Ed Brubaker (Daredevil, Captain America) and Joss Whedon (Astonishing X-Men).

Best artists: tie between John Cassaday (Astonishing X-Men) and Michael Lark (Daredevil).

UPDATE: I completely forgot about the single most disturbing comic of 2006. See, the most shocking comic was normal to begin with and then went in directions I couldn't image. My pick for "most disturbing" started off in the sewer (figuratively) and stayed there. I am, of course, talking about Fell by Warren Ellis. This $1.99 per 16-page issue is crime fiction at its best, depicting the very worst of humanity. And I mean the real dregs. Detective Richard Fell stumbles onto cases that are so incredibly foul that I feel sick after each and every issue. And I can't wait for the next one (there have only been 6 so far).

Against my better judgment...

2007-01-28T12:11:00.000-08:00

...I still watch Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because I hope it'll get better, but it hasn't. In fact, after the holiday break it may have even gotten worse.

The main criticism of this show that I've been reading around the 'net is that it isn't funny at all. And for a show about the behind-the-scenes of a late-night SNL-type sketch comedy show, it really should be. What you get though is more The West Wing than Sports Night (which is so incredibly good that you should stop reading and go get the DVDs right now).

Week after week, I'm disappointed with the story. The main plotline in the most recent episode was how one person is in love with another co-worker. This is not a unique story and quite frankly has been done in every other show EVER! Another plotline dealt with the 2 African-American cast members arguing over a semi-race issue that is trite and beneath any intelligent show. God forbid that Studio 60 put their minority cast members in regular, non-race-related situations. That was the case at the beginning of the season, but not anymore it seems.

Lastly, it's really sad when the most compelling storyline in recent Studio 60 (actual show) episodes has nothing to do at all with Studio 60 (show within the show) itself, but rather deals with the Head of All (played by Steven Weber) and the Super Head of All (Ed Asner in a slightly Denny Crane-esque role) and his fight against the FCC over censorship of the news. OF THE NEWS!! How does this relate back to the sketch comedy show? The deus-ex-machina's daughter is a big fan of the show. I'm not kidding.

Overall, the censorship issue and the way it's dealt with on the show is really intriguing and facinating and engaging and makes up only about 15 minutes of th hour-long primetime drama about comedy.

I can't believe I still watch this show.

"Sparta will burn to the ground"

2007-01-27T21:17:00.000-08:00

I've gone back and forth on whether or not I'm excited to see the movie 300 from director Zack Snyder based on the comics mini-series by the legendary Frank Miller. I'm back on the bandwagon saying that 300 will probably be pretty good.

I thought Sin City, again based on Frank Miller's comics, was good. A little long and meandering, but all in all it was entertaining and well-made. However, I was not exactly enthused when I saw that 300 would, like Sin City, be shot completely against a green/blue-screen and then the backgrounds composited in (or at least, it seems that way). It just looks fake (which it is) and it takes me out of the movie. The only reason I accepted it during Sin City was because I'd read some of the Sin City comics and realized that the movie was a shot-for-shot recreation and stylistically it made sense. But when used in a Greek period action movie... I don't know.

I recently came around just because I think the action sequences themselves will look good, and I think the guy yelling in all the trailers will make a good movie hero. And the general story is amazing. So we'll see.

If you haven't seen the various trailers for 300, go here now.

New movie from Danny Boyle

2007-01-27T21:07:00.000-08:00

I went and saw Smokin' Aces today (more on that in a later post). One of the previews beforehand was for Danny Boyle's new movie, Sunshine. If you're not familiar with Danny Boyle, or his name just doesn't ring a bell, he's the director of Trainspotting and 28 Days Later among others. I LOVE both of those movies even though the former contains a scene that made me gag the first time I saw it. The latter is not only one of the best and most frightening zombie movies ever made, but it was also shot on prosumer Canon DV cameras which makes it all the more impressive if you ask me. All that said, the trailer for Sunshine is excellent and I can't wait to see the movie:

The Office: a crime drama

2007-01-26T20:47:00.000-08:00

This is pretty funny. Someone cut a fake trailer for "The Office" as if it were a thriller:

Scrubs: The Musical

2007-01-20T11:34:00.000-08:00

I gotta say... Scrubs is one of my all-time favorite shows and one of the best comedies on TV, but this season has left me a little wanting. The musical episode that aired this week was no exception. I thought it was just plain dumb. The only good part was the last song and even then, after 20mins of mediocre not-very-funny tunes, it was hardly enough to win me over.

And it's not because I don't like musicals; I do. And it's not because I don't like special musical episodes of shows either. The musical episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer was great! One of the best episodes of the whole series, and probably the best post-season 3 episode (I thought the show went through a very very very slow decline after they graduated high-school, although Seasons 4-7 are still superior to most shows on TV and are highly entertaining). Here's the first song from the Buffy musical episode which was written and directed by the man himself, Joss Whedon:

Watch Picasso paint

2007-01-15T23:12:00.000-08:00

Very cool stuff here. This is a time-lapse of Picasso painting from 1955:

via BoingBoing

You know you want one

2007-01-14T10:56:00.000-08:00

Apple unveiled the iPhone last week. I thought I'd mention that in case you were on some other planet for the past 6 days. Yeah, I want one. I think it's the coolest thing... which may change when I actually get my hands on one to demo.

Check out Colbert's hilarious rant on Apple and the iPhone:

via Moconews which also has the SNL, Conan, and Craig Ferguson takes on the iPhone embedded.

Sadly, I own the X-Men comic on your right

2007-01-12T21:20:00.000-08:00

I'm referring of course to the scene in Weird Al's "White and Nerdy" video when he's holding up a bunch of X-Men comics. My first thought was, "this video/song is hilarious!" (yes, I think in slash/words too). My second thought was, "that's Uncanny X-Men #268 on the left." I'm a dork. What do you want from me? Hey, in defense of my geekiness, the comic is worth around $20 now, which is a hell of an improvement over the $2 I bought it for way back when.

If you haven't seen the video yet, it's great. I hear that this song is Weird Al's first Top 10 hit. In case you're wondering, this song is a spoof of Chamillionaire's song "Ridin'". Weird Al's is better.

Donny Osmond is by far the best part of the video, though. BY FAR! (never thought I'd say that)

Beckham and MLS

2007-01-11T21:29:00.000-08:00

I've never really talked about how much I like soccer. I'm not fanatical and I don't have a favorite team, but I try not to miss the major matches of the World Cup from Round 1 on up. I'm enthralled by a good World Cup match. I also enjoy watching European League soccer, English Club Soccer, Euro Cup, etc. The only soccer I don't really like watching is MLS. I can't stand it and I'm not sure why. It just seems substandard compared to the rest. Maybe it's because there aren't any truly great players in MLS.

Well that's changing. David Beckham is leaving Real Madrid and joining the LA Galaxy (link to story on SI. com). Since I live in LA, I'm so gonna try to get tickets to a game 'cause I can't wait to go see Beckham play live, but this will not change my opinion of MLS, at least not in the short term. Beckham is one of the best in the world, and he's coming to the MLS? It won't be until Zidane, Ronaldo, Henri, and other great players come to the MLS as well that it'll become worth watching. Until then, they're just exhibition games. The rest of the MLS, even the rest of the LA Galaxy, is way out of their league.

Then again, maybe I'm being too harsh on the MLS...

Comics without pictures

2007-01-11T21:10:00.000-08:00

Here's an interesting thing I read on Marvel Comics Executive Editor Tom Brevoort's blog: in his latest post, he discusses a class he was in where "it was postulated that, if you removed the words from a comic book page and just left the images, what you'd have would still be comics, but if you removed the pictures but left the words, you wouldn't." Brevoort decided to try to debunk the theory by drawing a 6-panel comic without any images, and just words. You can see the result on his original post linked somewhere above.

My 2 cents on this is almost exactly what a commentor on the post said. Word balloons are pictures too. And there are panels! If you ask me, the panels are part of the overall image. I guess it all depends on the definitions of pictures and words. After all, aren't letters themselves pitcures? And aren't words just disguised examples of sequential art? (I think I may be spouting portions of Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics now).

Anyway, I don't want to harp on this because Brevoort himself said that this was merely "an interesting exercise" which it certainly is. More power to him for taking the time to try and prove them all wrong.

Futurama: Super Happy Fun Show

2007-01-10T22:38:00.000-08:00

Check out this fan art that is posted on deviantART by someone calling themselves Space Coyote (link to his/her profile on deviantART). deviantART is the site that boasts it's the largest art community in the world. I don't doubt it... freakin' site is huge and very cool! Anyway, check out Space Coyote's anime take on the gang from Futurama:

The piece is called "Futurama: Super Happy Fun Show." Link to the original page on deviantART which links to a larger version for download.

Space Coyote has also done an anime version of The Simpsons cast of characters called "The Simpsonzu." It's cool and it's getting tons of links around the 'net, but I like the Futurama one better. Hope I didn't offend!

If I ever needed pre-existing characters reimagined in an anime world, I'd so hire this cat. That's just really great work.

The Queen

2007-01-08T21:42:00.000-08:00

I saw The Queen over the weekend. Yeah, yeah, I know. Not my usual fare. Suck it up. I like these kinds of movies too...

It's also awards season, so every ad for this movie is talking about how incredible Helen Mirren is as Queen Elizabeth II. I tend to never agree with the ads because I find that most of them are just paid Variety ads from the studio.

Well, this is not one of those cases. Helen Mirren is perfect as The Queen. She really is. Michael Sheen is also incredible as Prime Minister Tony Blair. In fact, there are few people in this film that don't shine in their roles; James Cromwell as Prince Philip and whoever played the Queen Mum also come to mind.

I've heard people say that the movie is slow. I guess. I didn't think so, but I can certainly see how you could get that. However, I was enthralled by the actors and the script was really cohesive and well-paced. Aside from Mirren, the most remarkable part of the movie is that Queen Elizabeth II comes off as sympathetic and extremely likeable. It's not that I don't think she is in real life, but rather that the writers did a good job conveying those sentiments in a character who is most well-known as a person of wealth and royal priviledge.

I highly recommend this to any fan of good acting and writing. Just remember, it's a character piece. And if Helen Mirren doesn't win the Oscar for her performance, I will lose all faith in the movie industry.

UPDATE: I had no idea that Michael Sheen (Tony Blair) played Lucian in the Underworld movies. I didn't even think he looked that familiar, and I LOVE the first Underworld.

The movie that made $30

2007-01-01T23:30:00.000-08:00

Apparently there was a movie called Zyzzyx Rd., starring Katharine Heigl and Tom Sizemore, that only released in one theater in Dallas for just 6 days in 2006. It made a total of $30 in it's theatrical release... $20 of that was during the first 3 days. You can read more about this sad sad story over at CHUD.

Just because I feel like it, I'd like to point out that Zyzzyx Road is a real road with it's own exit on the I-15 between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. It's still a stupid name for a movie, let alone a street. Even worse is the word itself... according to Wikipedia, the zyzzyx is a species of wasp that was named after the sound it makes! Obviously named by the most uncreative scientists on the planet.

What was that song?

2007-01-01T22:56:00.000-08:00

Have you seen the trailer for Smokin' Aces? It's the new film from Joe Carnahan, the writer-director of Narc, a movie that I really like and was highly impressed with. So, the fact that I like the director and that his new flick has an awesome all-star cast including the underrated Jason Bateman... that just means I'll be there opening weekend.

After seeing the trailer a few times, I found that I really dig the song that's being played in the latter half. Now this has been a major problem for me in the past, ie. it's really difficult to find out what the music used in a trailer is... at least for me. Well, it was off to google for me where I found the soundtrack.net trailers page. It's an excellent resource and had the answer I was looking for. If anyone's interested, the song is "Get Back [Sum 41 remix]" by Ludacris featuring Sum 41, and is available on iTunes.

And because I'm thorough (or at least I try to be), here's the Smokin' Aces trailer I was talking about. The Ludacris song starts around 1:17 or so.

Happy New Year! (and Season Pass woes)

2007-01-01T12:20:00.000-08:00

2007 is going to be my year! Just a prediction, but I can feel it. Happy New Year everyone!

Moving on... NBC has decided to mess with my Tivo season pass list. We're more than 3 months into the new seasons and I thought I had it all worked out. You see, my biggest problem has always been Wednesdays, especially at 8pm. I started watching Jericho, but when started, I gave up on the CBS drama in favor of the hilarious 30 Rock. All the while, I've also had a season pass for Bones which I thoroughly enjoy but am not terrible heartbroken if I miss an episode. So the pass is there, but just further down the list. But then a good thing happened... 30 Rock moved to Thursdays as part of the all-new must-see TV. That left only Bones in my Wednesday at 8pm slot. The kinks were finally worked out and my Tivo was running smoothly.

Not anymore. NBC has moved their incredible new drama Friday Night Lights to Wednesdays at 8pm. We all know how much I like this show, so it obviously takes precedence over Bones, no question. I'm just annoyed is all. Looks like I'm going to be missing Bones on a regular basis again. Thanks NBC!

The Last Kiss

2006-12-31T12:14:00.000-08:00

I loved this movie. LOVED IT! The script, acting, even the soundtrack are incredible. I'm a big fan of Zach Braff, but it's Jacinda Barret who, even though I can't recall her in a single other movie I've ever seen, really stands out here as she carries the emotional tone of the film. Casey Affleck was great as always and Tom Wilkinson's speech to Braff near the end of the film seemed like gospel without being preachy. But this movie isn't for everyone. The turning-30 characters deal with hard issues like adultery, parenthood, commitment, etc., but with a certain humor to punctuate the drama. Some of the problems they have are actually pretty comic so that the movie isn't wholly depressing.

I equate The Last Kiss, in a way, to Closer starring Clive Owen, Julia Roberts, et al., not because the actions of the characters are so despicable, but because even though the main characters do things that seem so incredibly wrong (or right for that matter), they are immediately relatable and that's not a happy thought for most. I tend to gravitate to movies that lead to introspection, what can I say?

A note about the soundtrack: as I've said before, it's awesome. My favorite tracks in no particular order are "Warning Sign" by Coldplay, "Prophecy" by Remy Zero, and "Painkiller" by Turin Brakes. Each has a different style but all are quality music. The entire soundtrack is available on iTunes but they make you buy the whole album. If you want individual tracks (like I did), most if not all are available on their original albums on iTunes. Just do a search you lazy bastards.

The reason I like The Last Kiss so much is because I know every one of these people. Not the actors of course (though that'd be pretty cool) but the characters. I grew up with some of them, and some are my closest friends right now. I could even be one or two of them.

When it comes down to it, The Last Kiss exemplifies how I feel to be 29... or at least how I think being 29 should feel.

This is NOT OK!!

2006-12-29T21:07:00.000-08:00

That's all I'm thinking at the moment. Nothing terrible is wrong, mind you... I'm just watching the horror flick The Descent which is out on DVD now.

SPOILERS TILL END OF POST (mostly minor): I'm only 30mins into the movie so far and I'm finding it hard to watch, not because it's a bad movie, but because the critics were right: this movie plays on your most basic fears (or at least mine anyways). These women are in a cave with no natural light. That's bad enough, but then they go crawling into narrow narrow narrow passages that I don't think would fit my wide butt. This movie is making me feel claustrophobic and tight chested, so yeah... that's why all I can think is "This is not ok!"

Despite all that, the movie's been really good so far and you have to admire a movie that can make you feel that way. I'm gonna go watch some more.

UPDATE: One of them got stuck in one of the narrow passages. She started to freak out. I had to take a break again.

UPDATE 2: Still in the narrow place. Cave in! So not OK!! I WILL make it through this movie but I doubt I'll be watching it again.

UPDATE 3: Why is she hanging from the ceiling like that?!? Leave it to this movie to play on one's fear of heights while in a cave. God, I sound like a complete wuss. But really... explain to me how spelunking can possibly be any fun at all.

UPDATE 4: I just finished the movie and it IS quite good, but it became less scary to me when the "monsters" show up, probably because the make the situation less real in my eyes. That being said, the bone thing was horrifying for several reasons. You'll know what I mean when you see it.

Doctor Who season 2 finale

2006-12-29T20:46:00.000-08:00

A quick note about the new Doctor Who: it's one of the best shows on TV now. It's not incredibly deep or philosophical, nor will it change your life in profound ways, but it's really good fun. I'd never watched Doctor Who before, but then the 1st season of the revived BBC series started running on SciFi Channel. I was immediately hooked by Christopher Eccleston's engaging performance as the being known only as The Doctor (hence the name of the show. Get it?) His companion, Rose Tyler played by Billie Piper, is also an appealing character and brings balance to the show. After season 1, Eccleston left the show only to be replaced by the remarkable David Tennant who played Barty Crouch in the recent Harry Potter movie. The change is actors is well explained in the course of the show and the fact that Tennant is so good as The Doctor forgives any apprehensions one may have had. So watch the show. Season 2 just ended here in the US and I beleive season 3 just began in the UK.

The season 2 finale was excellent. I don't want to ruin it for anyone but I will say there may be some MINOR SPOILERS TO FOLLOW. Billie Piper has left the show as of the end of season 2. It's been in the entertainment news so it's no big surprise. What we didn't know was what the circumstances of her character's departure would be. I'm not going to tell you specifics, but it was... unexpected, and quite possible perfect. It was a tearful goodbye; hard-hitting and emotional. Many shows try to pull off moments like this, but they rarely succeed to full effect. This one did.

Can't wait for season 3 to get here to the US. And the Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood too (which I just read is a anagram of Doctor Who... who knew?)

Son of Jor-El, kneel before Richard Donner

2006-12-29T20:05:00.000-08:00

Christopher Reeve = best Superman ever!!

Just wanted to get that out of the way. So, it seems as though everyone and their grandmother wanted to see Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut because even though it was at the top of my queue, it took me almost 3 weeks to get it from Netflix. Anyway, I finally got it and popped it in immediately.

HEAVY SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT: This is definitely a different version than the original. There's a lot of new footage as promised... the entire Niagara Falls hotel segment has been replaced with footage from a Margot Kidder screen test. It's not as bad as it sounds, and actually the scene plays out better than in the original movie. Clark doesn't just fall and "burn" his hand anymore. Lois freaking shoots him with a gun to prove what she already has figured out: that Clark Kent is Superman.

Let me jump back to the beginning and see if I can remember the major differences between the 2 versions. First off, the entire Paris/Eiffel Tower elevator thing is gone. Zod, Ursa, and Non are not released from their Phantom Zone prison by the hydrogen bomb attached to the elevator that Superman tosses into space. Instead, the are freed by the explosion of the nuclear missle set loose by Lex Luthor at the climax of the first Superman, that Superman intercepts and tosses into space. I like that fact that the 2 movies tie into each other. Seeing as though they were shot concurrently, this makes a lot of sense and it gives the audience a time frame of reference.

Maybe I haven't seen the original version of Superman II recently, but if you ask me, Luthor's escape from prison and his subsequent travels north play out better this time. There's more humor and it all seems less forced. Amazing what you can do with a good editor. Also, when Lex gets to the fortress of solitude, Marlon Brando's Jor-El gives him a lesson on who the greatest Kryptonian criminals are and what happened to them. Again, this may have been in the original but I don't remember it.

And was Marlon Brando even in the second film or did they replace him with someone else? I think they actually had Superman's mother as the guiding voice in the Fortress. Oh well. It's always nice to see Brando.

I already mentioned the Niagara Falls bit. Oh, I forgot one thing about that too. Lois doesn't throw herself into the water to have Superman save her. That's been cut out entirely.

Clark still gives up his powers for Lois, although the scene plays out differently as Clark argues with Jor-El over his decision. When he finally loses his powers, the crystal console explodes preventing him from ever undoing it... which is not entirely true because it obviously gets undone. But when that comes about, what we now see is a very heart-felt scene between Clark and his father.

The last major difference that I can remember is the way the end of the film plays out. The Fortress of Solitude is still the setting for the final showdown between Lex, Zod and his cohorts, and Superman. Gone are the ridiculous elements of the ensuing battle such as the teleporting Kryptonians and the giant cellophane "S" that Superman tosses at one of the villains. I can't tell you how glad I am that both of those things are all gone.

And finally, a few things that I didn't like: the film doesn't show you what happens to Lex Luthor at the end, although one can assume that he goes back to prison. I'm just saying that it'd be nice to see. Also, Lois doesn't forget who Superman is by the stupid "kiss of forgetfulness" or whatever it was from the original movie. Instead there's a break-up scene between her and Superman which is kinda touching but not really. It would've had more effect if it weren't for the fact that Superman then spins the world backwards/goes back in time so that nothing in the movie actually happens. At the end, Zod, Ursa, and Non are still in the Phantom Zone spinning mirror thingy floating away in space. SERIOUSLY?!?!? You're going to finish the superior version of Superman II with the same lame ending of the first? COME ON! That was the only thing that I didn't like about the first and I'm disappointed it was added back in here. If you ask me, Superman is less super if he can't accept responsibility for his actions. That may be over-simplifying, but I think it's a valid point nonetheless.

Overall, the Richard Donner cut is way better than the original. If you can get past the screen test footage (easy) and the lame ultimate ending (not so easy), you'll really enjoy this film. Go rent it, buy it... whatever it is you do.

Silent Star Wars

2006-12-20T20:53:00.000-08:00

Yeah yeah yeah. I know I haven't posted in over a month. Instead of giving some lame excuse like "I didn't know what to write about," I'll spare you. Here's the truth: I'm lazy... and this post isn't much of a remedy, but it'll have to do for now.

Check out the version of Star Wars as if it were made in the silent film era. Pretty funny, although they could've done more with it. Who am I to complain though? I can't even blog regularly...

They've lost me

2006-11-12T22:19:00.000-08:00

I liked the pilot of Lost. I even liked the first one and a half seasons. The plot (or lack of one) started to get contrived and annoying, but hey... I can forgive bad plot more than the next guy, so I kept watching. The 2nd season wasn't all bad: they introduced my favorite character in the short history of the show... Mr. Eko. His origin story in the 2nd season was possibly the best episode of the entire series. It's been my favorite at least. Well-written, well-directed, and very compelling.

[3rd SEASON SPOILER WARNING!] Well, I don't know why but they killed Mr. Eko 2 weeks ago. Right there, you've lost me. He was underused since his introduction and had little to no screen time in Season 3. Solution? Let's have an episode focus on him and his past and then kill him with a giant and seemingly sentient cloud of black smoke.

I mean, seriously? Are you guys just making this stuff up as you go along?

Don't get me wrong... I love JJ Abrams' work. I'll watch anything he writes, directs, etc. Alias was awesome (at least for the first 1/2 of the series) and MI3 was the best of that franchise. Damon Lindeloff too... his short run so far on Marvel's Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk has been incredible, although I wish they'd release issue #3 already. It's been several months since #2 came out.

Lost as a show has become sub-standard, and no longer lives up to it's own rep. Viewers now have shows like Heroes and Battlestar Galactica, shows where questions are answered and new ones are posed so that the story can move forward. Even 24 doesn't linger on a problem for more than a single season. It's necessary to keep everyone's interest!

I'm sorry to say that even the Losties that I work with have jumped on the anti-Lost band-wagon. It's almost hip these days to harsh on Lost. Maybe the 90 day break between new episodes will help that (you decide whether I'm being sarcastic here or not).

And that Season 3 mid-season finale cliffhanger? Not a cliffhanger. I don't think you'll find anyone who would say "I can't wait to find out what happens next," and it certainly did not make me yearn for February when the show returns.

Now the Alias season 2 or Battlestar Galactica season 2 finales! That's how you do cliffhangers!

Fall Season 2006

2006-11-05T22:20:00.000-08:00

New shows that I watch regularly (ie. they're good): Heroes, Friday Night Lights, 30 Rock.

New shows that I checked out for a spell but then dropped: Jericho, Justice, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Standoff, Kidnapped, Vanished, Six Degrees, the Nine.

The rest of my current Season Pass list: Prison Break, Veronica Mars, Bones, Lost, My Name Is Earl, Grey's Anatomy, Battlestar Galactica, Doctor Who, SNL, The Simpsons, Family Guy.

Addicted to reruns: M*A*S*H*, Scrubs.

Mouring the loss of: Arrested Development.

Friday Night Lights - Tues. 8pm, NBC

2006-11-05T22:13:00.000-08:00

Not enough of you are watching this show. Personally, I think it's one of the best new shows of the season (the best being Heroes, but I won't get into that now), and from what I read recently it's in danger of being cancelled.

It's on Tuesdays at 8pm on NBC. Give it a shot. If you liked the movie of the same name, you'll like this show. You don't even have to like football (but it helps). The character of Matt Saracen should be enough to get you to come back week after week.

Don't let good TV go to waste. And let's face it, Veronica Mars isn't on till 9pm, so you've got an hour to kill.

UPDATE: Friday Night Lights has been moved to Wednesdays at 8pm on NBC starting January 2007.

The Departed

2006-10-08T10:58:00.000-07:00

Best movie I've seen all year, by far. I don't normally like Martin Scorsese movies, the notable exceptions being Goodfellas and The Aviator (and I thought King of Comedy was pretty good), but this one is outstanding. If you ask me, Leonardo DiCaprio shines above all others in The Departed, and that's saying something seeing as though everyone in this film gave incredible performances. That being said, Alec Baldwin's portrayal of the quirky yet tough Statie was my favorite part of the movie.

One of the most intriguing things about this movie is that, if you see it in the theater, it's a great demonstration of nervous laughter. So many times in the packed theater I was in did people just bust out laughing, not because the scene was comic or lacking emotional power, but because they were so uncomfortable with what just happened. The violence in this movie hits hard, and doesn't let up. None of it is glamourized... it's all just matter-of-fact. That in itself is disturbing.

Five stars. Go see it.

Heroes is super!

2006-09-26T22:39:00.000-07:00

Heroes is the best new show of the season so far. Not only that, but it has the potential to be one of the top shows on TV. If you haven't seen the pilot yet, I think they're rerunning it on NBC and SciFi. You can also get it off of iTunes, and I think you can also watch it on NBC.com.

The show is great! The acting from a key few leaves a little to be desired sometimes, but you'll get over it. Lots of great characters in this one, and I'm already more hooked on this show than I was after watching the pilot of Lost. Nothing against Lost... I think it's a good show, but it takes so long for things to happen, even in the pilot. With Heroes, the pilot moves right along and introduces you to most if not all of the main players and sets up a lot of story elements that I can only hope will be addressed in the near future.

My favorite character by far is Hiro, the dorky Japanese guy. The parts with him are the best of the whole pilot. Although, if I had to pick one of the characters I'm most curious about, it'd be Nikki. I mean seriously, what the hell is happening with her?!? Weird. Very very weird.

Heroes is on NBC Monday nights at 9pm. Be there! And be sure to check out the official unofficial website of Heroes, 9th Wonders. It's full of goodies and is a direct link to the creators of the show.

unsolved mysteries

2006-09-10T15:50:00.000-07:00

George Reeves' death in 1959 was ruled a suicide, but others were convinced that he did not indeed kill himself, but rather that he was murdered. The "truth" as it were has never come to light. I have no opinion on what really happened. It's a sad story no matter how you look at it.

-- SPOILERS (possibly minor) FROM HERE ON OUT --

The inherent problem with movies like Hollywoodland is that they are based on mysteries that are yet unsolved. Therefore, there is no ending to the story. In itself, that doesn't mean that it's going to be a bad movie, but it's a small strike against it.

When making a movie based on an unsolved mystery, you can do one of 3 things: 1) you can make an ending up; 2) you can take your best guess (an extension of #1); or, 3) you can present all the facts and let the audience decide for themselves. #3 is lame in my opinion, and that exactly what happened in Hollywoodland. I would like to point out that #3 was the route taken in The Exorcism of Emily Rose which I thoroughly enjoyed. It worked well there, just not here.

It would've been better if the hero of Hollywoodland, Louis Simo, played by Adrien Brody, had a more compelling story about him, or if his life was allegorical to Reeves', or even if he became so obsessed with the mystery that his own life imploded. Something! But as it turns out, Simo is bland and has the least compelling story arc in this movie. Everything about Simo seemed forced. Even his big emotional moment comes from, not the Reeves case, but a completely other and wholly unnecessary pseudo-mystery which in turn leads to a drunken catharsis played out at Simo's son's school. It might have been a better movie if it was just about Simo as a PI in the 50's, and not set against the back-drop of Reeves' death. As it stands, the movie just doesn't make a lot of sense.

Ben Affleck however was great and by far the best part of Hollywoodland. I've always been an Affleck fan, but he does shine in this film. Worth seeing just to see his performance, although he's only in about 50% of the movie, maybe less.

On second thought, just rent it.

Galactica webisodes

2006-09-09T20:15:00.000-07:00

The Sci-Fi Channel and the producers behind Battlestar Galactica (aka BSG to myriad fans) continue to impress me. Not only is the most recent incarnation of BSG the single best show still on TV, but they really do know how to treat their fans well by providing them with so much supporting material to consume, it's ridiculous.

For example, there are podcasts from the show creators that give commentary on current and past episodes. If you begin playing the podcasts when the opening credits say "The Cylons Were Created by Man," you'll get a real-time commentary experience. I just looked on the Sci-Fi/BSG downloads page and you can also download the audio recording made at the writers meeting for the "Scar" episode.

And now, to tide us over until the October 6th premiere of the third season of BSG, there are webisodes to watch. There will be 10 in total, each 2-3 minutes long. A new webisodes premieres every Tuesday and Thursday leading up to the season premiere. The first two are already available. You can only stream them, not download, and you can't find them on iTunes, but hopefully that'll change soon.

The webisodes follow the story of some old and new members of the resistance movement. But, unlike other TV-show/spinoff webisodes that don't feature any of the original cast and look to be a poor imitation of the production as a whole, the BSG webisodes look and feel the same as the TV-show, and feature main characters like Colonel Tigh and Chief Tyrrol in supporting roles.

I don't want to ruin it for you, so I won't talk spoilers or anything. I'll just say that I dig the webisodes so far and can't wait for the season 3 premiere of BSG!

arrested development of Arrested Development

2006-09-03T11:50:00.000-07:00

That can't be an original headline, but for the life of me I can't remember ever seeing it... so I'm gonna use it for this brief post.

Arrested Development: Season 3 has been released on DVD. It's the final season of this comedy that really was one of the best in TV history. I've already talked about the genius of this show, so just go buy this DVD set.

Watch it, love it, and then cry yourself to sleep.

[cue "Final Countdown" music] [fade to black]

I want to be a guards-mouse

2006-08-05T10:14:00.000-07:00

The best new comic series of the year is "Mouse Guard" by David Petersen from Archaia Studios Press. No contest.

This book has an art style that is redolent some books I read as a kid... almost like all the cover art for every edition of Watership Down, only better. The story is deceptively simple: mouse society is often plagued by predators, so the Mouse Guard was formed to protect the passages between settlements and to keep the peace. When an old merchant-mouse goes missing, three of the elite are sent to find him. What they discover is that the unthinkable has happened: there is a traitor within the Mouse Guard. From that point on, we are thrust into a deeply layered story that unfolds at a comfortable pace. There are no long monologues or soliloquies. Words are only used to say what the art cannot (as it should be).

SMALL SPOILER! A good example in the first issue is when the three guards-mice run into a giant snake (well... giant to a mouse anyways). There's no posturing by the characters and no dumbing-down of the story to explain that snakes and mice don't mix. The danger is evident and the characters' instincts take over. The fight that ensues is quick but still suspenseful, and when they find the snake's lair, their actions are swift, decisive, and at first seemingly cruel, but in an instant you realize that it was ultimately necessary. And because they're mice, their defeat of the snake immediately transforms them (in our eyes) from cute, cuddly mice with swords and itty-bitty capes, into experienced warriors to be reckoned with. END OF SPOILER!

Take a few seconds and go to the site and you'll see several preview pages from "Mouse Guard" #1 and #2 (scroll down to the bottom). Tell me that it doesn't remind you of one of the great stories you read as a kid, like Where the Red Fern Grows, Charlotte's Web, or even the epic comic Bone. "Mouse Guard," like these stories, is not without violence, sacrifice, and other "adult themes", but that's not what the story is about. It's about the heroism and skill of these guards-mice. There is so much fun to be had with this story, plus there's a mystery to be solved! It's kinda like a mouse-spy story set in medieval times. I cannot recommend "Mouse Guard" enough! ... and it's safe for the whole family (in my opinion).

"Mouse Guard" is a six-issue mini-series that is released bi-monthly. It's an odd size (square I think) which means finding bags & boards for the issues is nigh impossible. The first four issues are out already with issue #5 due in a little under 2 months. First printings of issues #1 and #2 are scarce and are fetching sky-high prices. The most recent issue of Wizard Magazine values them at $45 and $22 respectively (cover price is $3.50). The book is so popular that I couldn't even find a 2nd printing of #1 which has also sold out. Currently, #1 is on it's 3rd printing, and the 2nd printing of #2 was just released last week along with #4. I imagine #3 is fairly scarce at the moment as well. Apparently there is a collection planned for all six issues of the mini-series, but I don't think it'll be out until sometime in early 2007.

Find it at your local comic book store. Enjoy!

More Vader funnies

2006-08-04T20:41:00.000-07:00

YouTube is the BEST SITE EVER! A friend of mine at work sent me this link of another re-edited Vader clip. I couldn't stop laughing. It's only 46-seconds long -- and you had enough time to come here to my blog -- so don't tell me you don't have the time to watch this. Hilarious, I say. HILARIOUS!

And yes, I do know that that is 2 different people in the clip. Still funny!

NOTE: link updated so that you don't have to sign-in to YouTube to view it.

Swear to me!... AGAIN!

2006-07-31T21:46:00.000-07:00

I just read over at CBR that the long-rumored sequel to Batman Begins has officially been announced. It will be titled The Dark Knight. The article now includes a copy of the official Warner Bros. press release.

Chris Nolan is back to direct (nice!) and Christian Bale, Michael Caine, and Gary Oldman are all under contract for 3 Batman movies, so they'll be back too (triple nice!). Looks like David Goyer is also on-board to script again (nothing to shake a stick at, but seriously... Blade: Trinity was crap and he needs to make up for it).

There are 2 big news items in the official Warner Bros. press release that CBR reported on: first was that at least one of the villains in the film will be the Joker. No big surprise there since this was teased at the end of last year's Batman installment. I was slightly bummed when I heard that Batman Begins was going to deal with Ra's al-Ghul instead of the Joker, but the movie more than made up for it.

To me, the Joker is probably the single best villain in the history of comics. One of the best ever even! I liked Jack Nicholson's portrayal of him back in the 80's but I really hope this film will delve into the purely psychopathic genius that is the Joker. There's no two ways about him... he's pure insanity and that makes for some good storytelling.

Oh, and Mark Hamill did the best Joker voice ever! No contest.

So now for news item #2: Heath Ledger is playing the Joker. To this I say "BOOOOOOOOOO!" with a disclaimer that I have the right to recind that BOO without getting crap from everyone. I am happy to be proved wrong. Take Spider-Man for example. I thought Tobey Maguire was gonna suck, and he's great as Peter Parker. Awesome casting choice and proof yet again why I'm not a casting director. And it's not like I don't enjoy Heath Ledger's movies either. I really enjoyed A Knight's Tale. I just don't think he'll do pyscho-incarnate very well. He's a fine actor to be sure, but I worry.

To get over this, I have to put my faith in Nolan. He's a phenomenal director, even if I didn't really care for Memento, but hey, it was well made. I'm sure he'll get 150% out of Ledger, just like he did with Bale and the rest of the cast. I just need to keep thinking "Chris Nolan is directing" and I'll be fine.

To wrap up, here's my essential Joker reading list for you, in case you want to bone up on your Batman/Joker history: "The Killing Joke" by Alan Moore (the best Joker story, period!), "The Dark Knight Returns" by Frank Miller, and "Batman: Secrets" by Sam Keith. Each one will blow your mind in a different way. Now get reading!

Is this movie out yet?!?!?!?

Eureka!

2006-07-29T15:41:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the modern marvel of Tivo, I didn't get around to watching this show until just now. The 2-hour pilot was fun, engaging, and... well... smart. Good pilots are hard to make, people!

Also, I've read some criticism of Eureka around the 'net, saying that it's unoriginal and unrealistic. Sure, some of the themes are derivative, but that doesn't mean it can't be enjoyable. And to all those who say it's unrealistic... GIVE ME A BREAK! It's on the Sci-Fi Channel for God's sake! It's not supposed to be realistic. If you're looking for realism, watch Discovery or something. Trust me when I say, you will NOT find it on the Sci-Fi Channel.

Anyways, if you like fun and silly sci-fi shows, check this one out. It's not going to make history, but it is a bright spot in the dank, dark hole that is summer TV. I'll keep watching for a while at least.

Vader Sessions

2006-07-29T11:17:00.000-07:00

Put together by a mad genius, this is one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. This 10-minute piece is a comp of several Darth Vader scenes from the original Star Wars with Vader's dialogue replaced with other James Earl Jones dialogue from his other movies. I'll admit, I only actually recognize 3 of the lines: 1 from Coming to America and 2 from Field of Dreams.

In case the embed didn't work, here's the link to the Vader Session on YouTube.

At this point, what I'd really like to find is "the annotated Vader Sessions" so I could follow along with what movies were used where. If anyone finds something like that, let me know. Otherwise, if I can't sleep tonight because of the sweltering heat here in California, maybe I'll take a stab at it, but don't hold your breath.

I wonder if James Earl Jones has seen this yet. If he did, I bet he laughed his ass off.

More than meet the eye

2006-07-23T10:51:00.000-07:00

I just read over at AICN that it was officially announced that Peter Cullen will be doing the voice of Optimus Prime in the upcoming Michael Bay movie, Transformers, due out next year. As a major geek, I've been long worried about who would voice Prime, and I had always hoped Cullen, the original Prime, would provide the voice. Now I can focus on my worry about what the live-action movie will look like instead.

By the way, I am also the only one I know who thinks the teaser trailer is cool.

Me and a billion other people

2006-07-09T21:50:00.000-07:00

...went and saw Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest this weekend. I will spare you a long drawn-out pseudo-review because there are enough sites doing that. Instead I will jump right into listing specific impressions and opinions that I had:

**SPOILERS** You have been warned! Although, some of this will only make sense if you've seen the movie...

In no particular order:
-Captain Jack Sparrow's "entrance" was excellent. Johnny Depp himself was excellent again. I wonder if he'll get another Academy Award nomination. He should win at least once for his characterization, don'cha think?
-Stellan Skarsgard and Bill Nighy made great additions to the cast.
-The woman sitting next to me literally jumped in her chair and screamed when the first of the natives attacked Will Turner.
-The fruit fight was out of place as was Jack's flip across the chasm, . All the other action in the Pirates films was fairly realistic, even if there were skeletons and sea monsters invovled. It just all seemed possible in that world. This stunt, not so much. That said, I will admit it was pretty funny.
-I think they went a little overboard (no pun intended) on the gross-factor when designing the crew of the Flying Dutchman. Definitely creepy, that's for sure. The things that grossed me out most were the rocks/crystals/whatever that were jutting out of Bootstrap's face.
-Keira Knightley is beautiful. I'm just sayin'.
-The water-wheel sword fight was fun, if not a little grandiose.
-Tia Dalma is a little hard to understand at times.
-The new villain, Lord Beckett, is really slimy... which he's supposed to be, so that works for me.
-It was nice to see a disheveled Commodore Norrington. Makes him more sympathetic, I think.
-The cliffhanger ending was awesome. The last shot of the film got cheers in the theater I was in.

Overall: good stuff. A very worthy sequel. Can't wait for Pirates 3!

Trailers annoy me

2006-07-09T21:29:00.000-07:00

Not the vehicle-attachments, but rather the alternate name of movie previews. Now here's why...

I don't know too terribly much about the trailer-editing world, but from what I understand, producers and directors sift though the footage for their not-yet-finished film and select several different shots that they deem acceptable and sexy enough to be included in the trailer. Then it's up to the trailer editors to put together a really kick-ass preview to what we hope will be a really kick-ass movie. Trailer editors have tough jobs, that's for sure!

Let me also say that I LOVE trailers. If I miss the trailers before a movie, I feel slighted. I must be in time for the trailers. They're fun and exciting to watch and, let's face it, sometimes they're better than the movie itself.

So what annoyss me about trailers? It's not that they always showcase the best lines of any movie (although that does suck too). It's the fact that oftentimes, the trailers do not contain the same footage as that which ends up in the film. Take the 1995 film Dangerous Minds starring Michelle Pfeiffer. Good movie, really liked it. But do you remember the trailer? In the trailer there were several shots of Pfeiffer playing pool with her students, a montage that ended with Pfeiffer's memorable line, "Loser Rack!" It was one of the most prominent lines in the trailer.

The pool-hall scene was not in the theatrical release of the film. At least, not in the one that I saw.

See, along with the rest of the free world, I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest this weekend. Great movie, but that's another story. This is a movie that I've been so eagerly anticipating that I must've seen the trailers (all versions of them) about 50 times; enough times that I can probably recite them to you from memory. Sure enough, the trailers for Pirates 2 contain some different takes than were used in the film. Not many, but enough so that I noticed while I was watching the film... and they were all Jack Sparrow lines, ie. the best and most recognized lines of the film!

It annoyed me. Not overly, but enough. The last example may have been a little nit-picky, but for those of us geeks who have (modesty aside) an incredible memory and a tendency to quote every excellent movie we've ever seen, it would help if the trailers would remain consistent with the film, and vice versa.

If nothing else, it'll give me time to complain about other inane and petty subjects... like the current state of the Sourdough Jack at Jack-in-the-Box. When did they start putting so much ketchup on it?!?!?

Finally, a great web-comic.

2006-07-06T21:40:00.000-07:00

I'm not really partial to web-comics. I don't know why really. I think maybe it's because I don't find that they can keep my interest on a regular basis. Most just don't seem very fresh and... well... interesting.

That is NOT the case with Planet Karen. Whether or not you read comics on a regular basis or not, check it out. I believe the site is updated daily with new comics and most are short (2-4 panels). I don't want to say too much about the comics because I think there are several different reasons that one would enjoy them, so take 2 minutes and see if I'm right.

See you there tomorrow!

One of the best shows you're not watching

2006-06-11T17:32:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine recently turned me on to It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, a new comedy from FX Networks that debuted late last year. FX greenlit the series after seeing the pilot which was shot by 3 friends for only $200. The first season was only 7 episodes long, but let me tell you... all of the episodes were absolutely hilarious. With great shows like Arrested Development off the air now, it's nice to find a new series to fill the comedy void that isn't being filled by the regular networks.

The series, created by Rob McElhenney who also plays Mac on the show, revolves around four friends who run a bar in South Philly. They all have their own insensitive and twisted view on the world and relationships, and we watch as they fumble their way through prickly situations involving controversial topics such as racism, abortion, gun control, and more. Trust me... it's great!

Some of the episodes are currently being rerun on Fox, and Danny Devito joins the cast when season 2 premieres on June 29th at 10:30pm on FX. So set your Tivos people! You can also get the entire first season on iTunes.

UPDATE: The second season is also available on iTunes. They seem to regularly update the offering with the latest episodes.

UPDATE 2 : For anyone new to the show, check out the Best of Sunny Funnies, also available on iTunes. It's a montage of the funniest moments to date from the show (approx. 4mins long). This one's FREE, people, so there's no excuse not to check it out.

Bill Haverchuck for President!

2006-06-03T12:25:00.000-07:00

I just finished watching the entire series of Freaks and Geeks which wasn't too terribly difficult because there were only 18 episodes made before the show was cancelled. It's too bad because this series is exceptional in almost every way.

I think everyone can and will relate to Freaks and Geeks in one way or another. And I'm certain that no two people will relate for the same reasons. If you went to high-school even for just a single year, this series is for you.

By the way, my favorite character in this show is by far Bill Haverchuck played by Martin Starr. He has some of the funniest and most heartbreaking moments in the entire run, especially in the episodes "Chokin' and Tokin'" and "Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers." He may be the ultimate geek, but he's also probably the most honest character of them all.

Freaks and Geeks... Netflix it, rent it, borrow it from a friend, or hell... just go out and buy the 6-DVD set. You will not be disappointed.

Superman/Batman #26 released today!

2006-06-01T22:18:00.000-07:00

Superman/Batman #26 finally hit the stands today. It was supposed to come out back in April, but delays happen. Whaddya gonna do?

This issue was written by Sam Loeb who passed away before the comic could get made, so 26 comic industry heavyweights banded together to make Sam's story become a reality. I highly recommend that you pick one up. It's only $4, and not only do the proceeds go to charity (the Sam Loeb College Scholarship Fund), but it's also an excellent excuse to buy a comic and fell like a kid again.

Run out to your local comic store and ask for it by name. Tell all your friends.

You can read my original and more detailed post about Superman/Batman #26 here.