Thursday, March 31, 2005

Just a Quick One

To say thanks to everyone who visited the site this month, my hit counter is over 1000 for March, which has only happened once before, well over a year ago I believe. So, thanks for stopping by, hope you liked what you saw. Right now though, I've got a bitch of a toothache and if you've ever had one, you know how distracting they are, so, I'm gonna take some advil, head to the gym and hopefully forget about it.

I'll be back after midnight with the results of this months contest, and if I get everything written up, may announce Aprils a little earlier than planned. So, stay tuned, and if you haven't entered, just email me your name and address before midnight, and maybe you'll score some free swag.

-L

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Bah, Stupid ISP!

Anything that can go wrong apparently will, my internet access has become extremely tempermental lately, deciding when I've been on for too ling and booting me off. I think there's a problem in the line as they've just built a new subdivision across the street from me, hopefully it'll be fixed soon.

Didn't get much reading done yesterday, just one trade, Stonehaven; ended up watching The Princess Bride again (that makes twice in two days!) along with most of the bonus features. Great stuff, especially when they talk about Andre, it's enough to break this former wrestling fans heart. He was a great man, and as it turns out, a hell of an actor.

I'll be writing a review (of Stonehaven) tonight or tomorrow, and I'll keep everyone posted as to when they go up at The Galaxy. I've got a few coming, Bluesman, Helios #3 and Ex Machina vol. 1. Look for those soon hopefully.

I'd like to wish Friend o' the House Dave good luck, he's going on a bit of a hiatus it seems. I've missed his blogging lately as he was quite astute and always a joy to read. If nothing else Dave, feel free to email me, I still want to hear what you think about 1) the books I sent you, and 2) the books I recommended to you. Keep in touch man, I'll miss that blog of yours while you're out.

Steven Grant, ever the gentleman, gave me a new Permanent Damage to read today. Yes, yes, I know anyone can read it, but I like to pretend he writes them solely for my enjoyment. (Kidding of course, before he sends some sort od restraining order my way). This week he touches on a number of subject, including rape as a motivational tool for superheroines in comics, the real reason Star Wars works as a story (Hope Dorian is reading this!), ways to get comics into the hands of more youngsters, andof course, polotics. Here's a preview:

"For one thing, while Luke appears to be just a normal boy at the beginning of STAR WARS, he never really is. Luke is royalty from birth, The One who can both wield The Force effectively and redeem his father Anakin. He's the traditional Destiny's Hero who must grow up incognito for his own protection and only discovers his true nature and identity when his birthright asserts itself. That's the real hook of Luke Skywalker: not that he's a normal kid but that he isn't, which suggests the viewer himself may not really be just another schnook after all either."

"I keep hearing people suggest that supporting Democrats is the only way out of our current mess, and if that's the case we may as well throw in the towel right now."

"The problem isn't to bring the price of comics down enough that the content will seem a decent value by comparison, but to improve the content enough that the price point will still represent value for money and be widely perceived that way. This will probably necessitate abandoning our old dogma and basically recreating the comic book from the ground up. "

So, if you haven't been reading his column like I tell you, what the hell is wrong with you? It's insightful and important commentary from someone who has worked in the business for years. The man knows what he's talking about, check it out. Now.

Pup Named Scooby-Doo DVD's on the way. YES!

Someone give this man a cookie. I'd offer a prize for anyone who can name all of them...but I don't have anything that's worth enough to justify it. I'll love him forever for including Slash. At least, I hope that's Slash.

Okay, time for more reading. Just got back from the LCS, bought a few floppies (mostly from the 50 cent bin...I just can't help myself it seems, this time it was Chaykin's recent Challengers mini) as well as DC's Batman Chronicles, which I plan to review for CBG if the mood strikes me.

EDIT: Blogger seems to not be letting me post mew messages, hopefully this won't last long.

EDIT 2: It gives me this message: "001 java.io.IOException: EOF while reading from control connection"
Anyone who can help me figure out what that means, feel free to email me and/or leave a comment.

-L

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Houston, We Have the List

Here's what hot shelves today:

After the Sunset (Widescreen Edition) (New Line Platinum Series)

Try as he might, Brosnan cannot make a really successful film, this one appears to be a take off on his re-make of The Thomas Crown Affair, which really wasn't that good either, but the plot has a bit of To Catch A Thief as well. It may be worth a rent down the road just to see if it succeeds where his past attempts have failed. (I should say not by any real fault of his own, he's a good actor, he's just got bad luck with scripts I suppose.)

Apollo 13 (10th Anniversary Wide Screen Edition)

Includes the re-cut IMAX version and documentary called "WhyTom Hanks was robbed." I'm kidding about that last one, but he was.

Astro Boy - The Complete Series

I've never seen Astro Boy.

The Lone Gunmen - The Complete Series

Geekiest DVD ever.

Murder, She Wrote - The Complete First Season

You know, if I were a sheriff and she showed her face in my town I'd escort her out so fast it would make your head turn.

Orgazmo (Unrated Special Edition)

YAY!!!!!! I finally get to see it!

The Toxic Avenger (21st Anniversary Edition)

Right up there with the Killer Tomato's, which I was also introduced to via the cartoon.

And that about covers it. Today is reading day (yesterday was movie day, I watched three...I'm weird like that) so I'll be back later with some thoughts on something I'm sure.

-L
A Worthwhile Purchase

Circuit City has The Princess Bride on sale this week for $7.50, if you don't own it, now's your chance. The DVD has some great features including a commetrak and interviews. It's a classic in every sense of the word, a fun film that is truly for the whole family and one of my favorite films of all time. So, if you love it, have kids who love it or wonder why it's such a great movie, go out and buy it. It's as cheap as going to see whatever godawful film you planned on going to this weekend and I can promise you it's better. So, yeah, go buy it, meanwhile i'm gonna watch my copy!

-L

Monday, March 28, 2005

The Book Meme

AKA, I'm an illeterate fuck. (Via Alan David Doane)

If you wan to participate, here's the rules: Bold the ones you've read, Italicize the ones you started and didn't finish, add three at the end. Enjoy

001. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
002. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
003. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
004. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
005. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
006. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
007. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
008. 1984, George Orwell
009. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
010. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
011. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
012. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
013. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
014. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
015. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
016. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
017. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
018. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
019. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
020. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
021. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
022. Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone, JK Rowling
023. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
024. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
025. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
026. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
027. Middlemarch, George Eliot
028. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
029. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
030. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
031. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
032. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
033. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
034. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
035. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
036. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
037. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute038. Persuasion, Jane Austen
039. Dune, Frank Herbert040. Emma, Jane Austen
041. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
042. Watership Down, Richard Adams
043. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
044. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
045. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
046. Animal Farm, George Orwell
047. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
048. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
049. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
050. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
051. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
052. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
053. The Stand, Stephen King
054. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
055. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
056. The BFG, Roald Dahl
057. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
058. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
059. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
060. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
061. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
062. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
063. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
064. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
065. Mort, Terry Pratchett
066. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
067. The Magus, John Fowles
068. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
069. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
070. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
071. Perfume, Patrick Susskind
072. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
073. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
074. Matilda, Roald Dahl
075. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
076. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
077. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
078. Ulysses, James Joyce
079. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
080. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
081. The Twits, Roald Dahl
082. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
083. Holes, Louis Sachar
084. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
085. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
086. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
087. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
088. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
089. Magician, Raymond E Feis
t090. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
091. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
092. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
093. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
094. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
095. Katherine, Anya Seton
096. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
097. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
098. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
099. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
101. Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome
102. Small Gods, Terry Pratchett
103. The Beach, Alex Garland
104. Dracula, Bram Stoker
105. Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz
106. The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens
107. Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz
108. The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks
109. The Day Of The Jackal, Frederick Forsyth
110. The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson
111. Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy
112. The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13 1/2, Sue Townsend
113. The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat
114. Les Miserables, Victor Hugo
115. The Mayor Of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy
116. The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson
117. Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson
118. The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
119. Shogun, James Clavell
120. The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham
121. Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson
122. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
123. The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy
124. House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
125. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
126. Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett
127. Angus, Thongs And Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison
128. The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
129. Possession, A. S. Byatt
130. The Master And Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
131. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
132. Danny The Champion Of The World, Roald Dahl
133. East Of Eden, John Steinbeck
134. George's Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl
135. Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett
136. The Color Purple, Alice Walker
137. Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
138. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
139. Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson
140. Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson
141. All Quiet On The Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
142. Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson
143. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
144. It, Stephen King
145. James And The Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
146. The Green Mile, Stephen King
147. Papillon, Henri Charriere
148. Men At Arms, Terry Pratchett
149. Master And Commander, Patrick O'Brian
150. Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz
151. Soul Music, Terry Pratchett
152. Thief Of Time, Terry Pratchett
153. The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett
154. Atonement, Ian McEwan
155. Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson
156. The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier
157. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey
158. Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
159. Kim, Rudyard Kipling
160. Cross Stitch, Diana Gabaldon
161. Moby Dick, Herman Melville
162. River God, Wilbur Smith
163. Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon
164. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
165. The World According To Garp, John Irving
166. Lorna Doone, R. D. Blackmore
167. Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson
168. The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye
169. The Witches, Roald Dahl
170. Charlotte's Web, E. B. White
171. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
172. They Used To Play On Grass, Terry Venables and Gordon Williams
173. The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway
174. The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco
175. Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder
176. Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson
177. Fantastic Mr. Fox, Roald Dahl
178. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
179. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach
180. The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery
181. The Suitcase Kid, Jacqueline Wilson
182. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
183. The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay
184. Silas Marner, George Eliot
185. American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
186. The Diary Of A Nobody, George and Weedon Gross-mith
187. Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh
188. Goosebumps, R. L. Stine
189. Heidi, Johanna Spyri
190. Sons And Lovers, D. H. Lawrence
191. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
192. Man And Boy, Tony Parsons
193. The Truth, Terry Pratchett
194. The War Of The Worlds, H. G. Wells
195. The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans
196. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
197. Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett
198. The Once And Future King, T. H. White
199. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
200. Flowers In The Attic, Virginia Andrews
201. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
202. The Eye of the World, Robert Jordan
203. The Great Hunt, Robert Jordan
204. The Dragon Reborn, Robert Jordan
205. Fires of Heaven, Robert Jordan
206. Lord of Chaos, Robert Jordan
207. Winter's Heart, Robert Jordan
208. A Crown of Swords, Robert Jordan
209. Crossroads of Twilight, Robert Jordan
210. A Path of Daggers, Robert Jordan
211. As Nature Made Him, John Colapinto
212. Microserfs, Douglas Coupland
213. The Married Man, Edmund White
214. Winter's Tale, Mark Helprin
215. The History of Sexuality, Michel Foucault
216. Cry to Heaven, Anne Rice
217. Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe, John Boswell
218. Equus, Peter Shaffer
219. The Man Who Ate Everything, Jeffrey Steingarten
220. Letters To A Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke
221. Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn
222. The Vampire Lestat, Anne Rice
223. Anthem, Ayn Rand
224. The Bridge To Terabithia, Katherine Paterson
225. Tartuffe, Moliere
226. The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka
227. The Crucible, Arthur Miller
228. The Trial, Franz Kafka
229. Oedipus Rex, Sophocles
230. Oedipus at Colonus, Sophocles
231. Death Be Not Proud, John Gunther
232. A Doll's House, Henrik Ibsen
233. Hedda Gabler, Henrik Ibsen
234. Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton
235. A Raisin In The Sun, Lorraine Hansberry
236. ALIVE!, Piers Paul Read
237. Grapefruit, Yoko Ono
238. Trickster Makes This World, Lewis Hyde
240. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
241. Chronicles of Thomas Convenant, Unbeliever, Stephen Donaldson
242. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
242. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon
243. Summerland, Michael Chabon
244. A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
245. Candide, Voltaire
246. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More, Roald Dahl
247. Ringworld, Larry Niven
248. The King Must Die, Mary Renault
249. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein
250. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeline L'Engle
251. The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
252. The House Of The Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne
253. The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
254. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
255. The Great Gilly Hopkins, Katherine Paterson
256. Chocolate Fever, Robert Kimmel Smith
257. Xanth: The Quest for Magic, Piers Anthony
258. The Lost Princess of Oz, L. Frank Baum
259. Wonder Boys, Michael Chabon
260. Lost In A Good Book, Jasper Fforde
261. Well Of Lost Plots, Jasper Fforde
262. Life Of Pi, Yann Martel
263. The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver
264. A Yellow Rraft In Blue Water, Michael Dorris
265. Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder
267. Where The Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls
268. Griffin & Sabine, Nick Bantock
269. Witch of Black Bird Pond, Joyce Friedland
270. Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of NIMH, Robert C. O'Brien
271. Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt Bleh.
272. The Cay, Theodore Taylor
273. From The Mixed-Up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E.L. Konigsburg
274. The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Jester
275. The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin
276. The Kitchen God's Wife, Amy Tan
277. The Bone Setter's Daughter, Amy Tan
278. Relic, Duglas Preston & Lincolon Child
279. Wicked, Gregory Maguire
280. American Gods, Neil Gaiman
281. Misty of Chincoteague, Marguerite Henry
282. The Girl Next Door, Jack Ketchum
283. Haunted, Judith St. George
284. Singularity, William Sleator
285. A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson
286. Different Seasons, Stephen King
287. Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk
288. About a Boy, Nick Hornby
289. The Bookman's Wake, John Dunning
290. The Church of Dead Girls, Stephen Dobyns
291. Illusions, Richard Bach
292. Magic's Pawn, Mercedes Lackey
293. Magic's Promise, Mercedes Lackey
294. Magic's Price, Mercedes Lackey
295. The Dancing Wu Li Masters, Gary Zukav
296. Spirits of Flux and Anchor, Jack L. Chalker
297. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
298. The Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices, Brenda Love
299. Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace.
300. The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison.
301. The Cider House Rules, John Irving.
302. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
303. Girlfriend in a Coma, Douglas Coupland
304. The Lion's Game, Nelson Demille
305. The Sun, The Moon, and the Stars, Stephen Brust
306. Cyteen, C. J. Cherryh
307. Foucault's Pendulum, Umberto Eco
308. Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson
309. Invisible Monsters, Chuck Palahniuk
310. Camber of Culdi, Kathryn Kurtz
311. The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand
312. War and Rememberance, Herman Wouk
313. The Art of War, Sun Tzu
314. The Giver, Lois Lowry
315. The Telling, Ursula Le Guin
316. Xenogenesis (or Lilith's Brood), Octavia Butler (Dawn, Adulthood Rites, Imago)
317. A Civil Campaign, Lois McMaster Bujold
318. The Curse of Chalion, Lois McMaster Bujold
319. The Aeneid, Publius Vergilius Maro (Vergil)
320. Hanta Yo, Ruth Beebe Hill
321. The Princess Bride, S. Morganstern (or William Goldman)
322. Beowulf, Anonymous
323. The Sparrow, Maria Doria Russell
324. Deerskin, Robin McKinley
325. Dragonsong, Anne McCaffrey
326. Passage, Connie Willis
327. Otherland, Tad Williams
328. Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay
329. Number the Stars, Lois Lowry
330. Beloved, Toni Morrison
331. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, Christopher Moore
332. The mysterious disappearance of Leon, I mean Noel, Ellen Raskin
333. Summer Sisters, Judy Blume
334. The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo
335. The Island on Bird Street, Uri Orlev
336. Midnight in the Dollhouse, Marjorie Filley Stover
337. The Miracle Worker, William Gibson
338. The Genesis Code, John Case
339. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevensen
340. Paradise Lost, John Milton
341. Phantom, Susan Kay
342. The Mummy or Ramses the Damned, Anne Rice
343. Anno Dracula, Kim Newman
344: The Dresden Files: Grave Peril, Jim Butcher
345: Tokyo Suckerpunch, Issac Adamson
346: The Winter of Magic's Return, Pamela Service
347: The Oddkins, Dean R. Koontz
348. My Name is Asher Lev, Chaim Potok
349. The Last Goodbye, Raymond Chandler
350. At Swim, Two Boys, Jaime O'Neill
351. Othello, by William Shakespeare
352. The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas
353. The Collected Poems of William Butler Yeats
354. Sati, Christopher Pike
355. The Divine Comedy, Dante
356. The Apology, Plato
357. The Small Rain, Madeline L'Engle
358. The Man Who Tasted Shapes, Richard E Cytowick
359. 5 Novels, Daniel Pinkwater
360. The Sevenwaters Trilogy, Juliet Marillier
361. Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier
362. To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
363. Our Town, Thorton Wilder
364. Green Grass Running Water, Thomas King
335. The Interpreter, Suzanne Glass
336. The Moor's Last Sigh, Salman Rushdie
337. The Mother Tongue, Bill Bryson
338. A Passage to India, E.M. Forster
339. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
340. The Phantom of the Opera, Gaston Leroux
341. Pages for You, Sylvia Brownrigg
342. The Changeover, Margaret Mahy
343. Howl's Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones
344. Angels and Demons, Dan Brown
345. Johnny Got His Gun, Dalton Trumbo
346. Shosha, Isaac Bashevis Singer
347. Travels With Charley, John Steinbeck
348. The Diving-bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
349. The Lunatic at Large by J. Storer Clouston
350. Time for bed by David Baddiel
351. Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
352. Quite Ugly One Morning by Christopher Brookmyre
353. The Bloody Sun by Marion Zimmer Bradley
354. Sewer, Gas, and Eletric by Matt Ruff
355. Jhereg by Steven Brust
356. So You Want To Be A Wizard by Diane Duane
357. Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
358. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Bronte
359. Road-side Dog, Czeslaw Milosz
360. The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje
361. Neuromancer, William Gibson
362. The Epistemology of the Closet, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
363. A Canticle for Liebowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr
364. The Mask of Apollo, Mary Renault
365. The Gunslinger, Stephen King
366. Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare
367. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke
368. A Season of Mists, Neil Gaiman
369. Ivanhoe, Walter Scott
370. The God Boy, Ian Cross
371. The Beekeeper's Apprentice, Laurie R. King
372. Finn Family Moomintroll, Tove Jansson
373. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
374. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Philip K. Dick
375. Assassin's Apprentice, Robin Hobb
376. number9dream, David Mitchell
377. A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin
378. Five Quarters of the Orange, Joanne Harris
379. Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler
380. Einstein's Dreams, Alan Lightman
381. Dance On My Grave, Aidan Chambers
382. Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula Leguin
383. Hyperion, Dan Simmons
384. Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury
385. Checkmate, Dorothy Dunnett
386. To Say Nothing of the Dog, Connie Willis
387. A Clash of Kings, George RR Martin
388. The Egyptian, Mika Waltari
389. Moab Is My Washpot, Stephen Fry
390. Contact, Carl Sagan
391. Mythago Wood, Robert Holdstock
392. Feersum Endjinn, Iain M. Banks
393. The Golden, Lucius Shepard
394. Decamerone, Boccaccio
395. Birdy, William Wharton
396. The Red Tent, Anita Diaman
397. The Foundation, Isaac Asimov
398. Il Principe, Machiavelli
399. Post Office, Charles Bukowski
400. Macht und Rebel, Abu Rasul
401. Grass, Sheri S. Tepper
402. The Long Walk, Richard Bachman
403. Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman
404. The Joy Of Work, Scott Adams
405. Romeo, Elise Title
406. The Ninth Gate, Arturo Perez-Reverte
407. Memnoch the Devil, Anne Rice
408. Dead Famous, Ben Elton
409. Scarlett, Alexandra Ripley
410. Dead Souls, Nikolai Gogol
411. Look to Windward, Iain M. Banks
412. The Colossus of Maroussi, Henry Miller
413. Branded, Alissa Quart
414. The Idiot, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
415. Dharma Bums, Jack Kerouac
416. White teeth, Zadie Smith
417. Under the bell jar, Sylvia Plath
418. The little prince of Belleville, Calixthe Beyala
419. Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert
420. A King Lear of the Steppes, Ivan Turgenev
421. The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
422. Memoirs of a Revolutionist, Peter Kropotkin
423. Hija de la Fortuna, Isabel Allende
424. Retrato en Sepia, Isabel Allende
425. Villette, Charlotte Brontë
426. Steppenwolf, Herman Hesse
427. Ubik, Philip K. Dick
428. Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler
429. Solaris, Stanislaw Lem
430. The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway
431. Nausea, Jean Paul Sartre
432. The Island of the Day Before, Umberto Eco
433. The Elementary Particles, Michel Houellebecq
434. The Angel Of The West Window, Gustav Meyrink
435. A Farewell To Arms, Ernest Hemingway
436. Naked Lunch, William S. Burroughs
437. Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut
438. In the Eyes of Mr. Fury, Philip Ridley
439. Consider Phlebas, Iain M. Banks
440. Into the Forest, Jean Hegland
441. Middlesex -Jeffrey Eugenides
442. The Giving Tree -Shel Silverstein
443. Go Ask Alice -Anonymous
444. Waiting For Godot, Samuel Becket
445. Blankets, Craig Thompson
446. The Girls' Guide To Hunting And Fishing, Melissa Banks
447. Voice of the Fire, Alan Moore
448. The Geography of Nowhere, James Howard Kunstler
449. Coraline, Neil Gaiman
450. America the Book, Jon Stewert & The Daily Show team
451. The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton
452. Insomnia, Stephen King

-L
TV

Watched a little lately, both via cable and DVD.

Greg the Bunny- My latest from Netflix, finished it last night. This was an underrated show that got way too much interference and suffered from an overall lack of direction, but it was funny, especially the puppets. Tardy the Turtle is one of the best characters ever. The last 3-4 episodes were a major improvement and showed focus, but unfortunately the show just didn't have an audience. The DVD has some good extras, including commentary (one with the "puppets") and deleted scenes. It's worth the rent if you see it, but may not be worth buying unless you know you like it.

Smallville- I missed this weeks episode when it originally aired months ago. I guess I didn't miss much. Lex, great as always, the rest, just sort of there.

Desperate Housewives- How good is this show? It's fun, sexy, mysterious, hilarious, and dramatic, it's everything you need in a show. This week's episode finally furthered some of the plot involving Angela, or whatever her name is/was.

Grey's Anatomy- This was uninteresting and flat out boring. I watched about 20 mins and had to change it. Hope you didn't make the same mistake.

Arrested Developmet- Are you watching yet? Why not?! This week had Ben Stiller guesting as a rival magician to Gob. References to past episodes abound. Great as always.

The Simpsons- Repeat, and sucky at that.

Malcolm- This is always entertaining, I don't watch it enough. This week dealt with a kid who had either ADD or was and obsessive compulsive, or both, I couldn't really understand what his problem was, but they dealt with it in an entertaining and informative way. Also, Hal took a nekkid pic of his wife.

In other news...I've taken a few days off to sit around the house and read/watch movies, so look for tons of friggin updates this week as I strive to get my hitcount for the month to 1000.

-L

Saturday, March 26, 2005

Just a quick link

Ian has the full rundown of Seven Soldiers so far. Great stuff, go, read, now.

-L

Friday, March 25, 2005

Quickies-3/25/05

Haven't done any reviews in quite awile, so here goes.

Reign of the Zodiac #1

I have/had no idea what this is, I picked it up in my LCS' 50 cent bin mainly because the names Giffen, Doran and Wiacek appear on the cover (that'd be Kieth, Coleen and Bob respectively) It's rare that I see a mainstream comic I've never heard of (published by DC, btw) sporting three names I definitely have heard of, not to mention like tremendously. So, I'm glad I did pick it up, it's an odd mix of fantasy and technology, akin, I suppose, to Ralph Bakshi's film Wizards, but unlike that movie (a story for another time), Reign is quite successful with its attempt. The first issue introduces us to this world via a story being told to a young, pig-headed prince who is set to wed a girl so that the houses of Virgo and Aries can be united. Giffen's script, while verbose at times (which often distracts from doran's excellent pencils), does a fine job of setting you inside this new world and he manages to meld so many different elements of many familiar sci-fi and fantasy films and stories almost flawlessly. As said, Doran's pencils are excellent, her different versions of each world depicted are one of the books highlights. Each world has a different style, yet there's an overall fluidity to the work which makes it easier to accept and not at all the jarring experience it could have been. And yes, Bob Wiacek is a man who's name I both recognize and who's work I enjoy, which is odd for an inker (in my case), because usually comic book fans don't give it a second though. But, he does a fine job over Doran's art, which ispretty much my extent of being able to comment on inking. I should also mention Tony Harris' ramarkable cover, it definitely catches the eye. So, if you see this book and fantasy/sci-fi is your bag, pick it up! I'm gonna scower ebay and see if I can find the rest of the run.

Now, that wasn't quick at all, was it?

Vimanarama #2

I tried my damndest to write up a review of this for CBG, but it just isn't happening. I said everything I can think to say in my first issue review, and other than to add, this should be an ongoing series, I'm not sure what to add. It's not WE3, but it's a damn good comic that everyone should be reading. So, get out there and read it!

303 #4

Confusing. I had no idea what was going on here until about halfway through the damn book, but I still enjyoed the hell out of it. Ennis doing what Ennis does best with Burrows on art,it's a great combination.

Cable & Deadpool #13

To answer one of Mike's question's from last week, I read it for both of them. When done right, they are two of the best characters in mainstream comics, and they play very well off of eachother, almost like an Abbot and Costello routine at times. That said, this book mainly focus' on good ol' Deadpool as he begins to look into a murder that he may have comitted, but for some reason doesn't remember. Cable is saddled with background status, but the recent events of the Godawful X-Force mini are mentioned, and while it's probably best forgotten and/or burned, it's nice to see someone knows how to use continuity references. Fabes and Co. have done an overall excellent job with this book, and I'm glad it's still going strong.

Frankenstein Mobster #0

Another 50-cent-er, and a very enjopyable one at that. Mark Wheatley does a great job (I need another phrase it seems...) of creating his monster-filled world side-by-side with "reality" (think Toontown fron Roger Rabbit, only with Mummies and such). It looks like a very fun book and I'll definitely be buying a few more issues to see where it goes.

Palookaville #7

I have no idea where I got this (did you send it to me Alan? Was it some sort of gift from God? I dunno.), and I'm ashamed to say this was my first exposure to Palookaville, but damn is it ever good. Seth's work reminds me very much of Daniel Clowes, only more down-to-Earth (if that makes any sense to anyone but me). He has a way with the mundane that makes it interesting and heartbreaking. The story was very easy to pick up on, and something I'm looking forward to seeing more of, so, ebay, here I come.

-L
I Got Memed

By Alan David Doane! I think he likes to see me suffer!

The Book Meme

You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?

The book that's being burned, I'd rather be burned alive than to never get to read my favorite material. Yes, I know perfectly well that that isn't what the question means, but it is an honest answer! (Note to Alan: Farenheit 451 is an okay book, some people love it, I didn't, but do not watch the movie, instead see Equilibrium with Christian Bale, same premise, but it's much better, and delivers a few punches as well as a thoughtful message.)

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

Well, of course, but I'm assuming you mean in a book, cuz I fall in love with fictional movie characters constantly. Let's see....I don't think so, most books I read don't have a female character fleshed out enough TO fall for, but there may have been a comic character I crushed on somewhere through the years.

The last book you bought is:

Depends on your definition of book. Either Bluesman or The Great Movies, either way, I win.

The last book you read:

fill in which ever answer from above you think suits the question, again, I win either way.

What are you currently reading?

See above. (Yes i'm currently re-reading both of them.)

Five books you would take to a deserted island.

That's a hard one. They'd have to be long books. Watchmen (the new HC edition let's say) definitely...see, my problem is they'd all be comics...what the hell, Ebert's The Great Movies, something by Stephen King, maybe Insomnia...my mythological encyclopedia, and the longest book ever written, whatever it is.

And, I don't think I know anyone who'd actually play ball on this, so I won't pass it on. but, if you want to answer, feel free!

-L

Thursday, March 24, 2005

Asleep in Perfect Blue Buildings

I know alot of people aren't big on tribute albums, but unfortunately it's one of my musical buying weaknesses. One that's bitten me on the ass more times than I care to count. Not this time. This time I came out on top dammit.

Dead and Dreaming: An Indie Tribute to Counting Crows is one of the best tribute albums you're likely to find. I'm pretty certain I've never heard any of the bands on the album, which probably makes it a little easier to swallow. Each song is different in some way from the original Crows version, be it musically or vocally, with the sole exception of Holiday In Spain (covered by, funny enough, Number One Fan), which sounds EXACTLY like the original version. Perhaps the song with the biggest contrast is Rain King (covered by The International Language), they've slowed it down to where the song is a lullaby rather than the fast little number it is on August which really highlights Adam Duritz' lyrics. It's very jarring to hear the song like that, but after the first listen it feels as right as the Crows original version. The only song that I had reservations about was probably Mr. Jones (covered by Hidden In Plain View), my least favorite Crows song, mainly because it's incessant radio play just killed any message the song bears (at least for me), but the cover is a nice change, it's identifiable, but is far enough away from the original that it makes it enjoyable. Also of note is the tune Walkaways (covered by Boys Night Out), mainly because the original song lasts only a minute at best, containing one single verse. It is one of my favorite Crow tunes, and hearing the cover made it even moreso, it is just the one verse doubled, but this version is as passionate as the Crows original recording (still not as good as their live recording on Across A Wire however), and sounds excellent. My only complaint is that it is not placed behind the cover of A Long December (by Bayside), as that is how the songs are meant to be heard. but, overall it's a great album, and Crows fans should definitely pick it up.

After two days oflistening to this I went out and finally bought a replacement copy of August, it's good to have a listenable copy again, and I'm sure I'll be rotating the two in my CD player for the next few days. Unfortunately that doesn't bode well for some of my other recent music acqusitions, including the recently bought Hollywood Rose-The Roots of Guns N Roses. It has the original GNR demo,something I've wanted to own for awhile, it's only four songs, and they don't sound wonderful by any stretch of the word, but it's nice to add to my collection, and for it to be a real copy and not some crappy bootleg.

-L

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Gettin' the Links Out

It's Wednesday, which means there's a new Permanent Damage up. It includes part 3 of Steven Grant's Creating comics essay. He's also got some thoughts on the Schiavo dispute. I'm still relatively undecided about that.

Dorian has an interesting panel from what I assume is an old X-Men comic.

Speaking of interesting panels...via Mike.

Via Gordon- Ten Reasons to Watch Boston Legal.

I don't agree with all of them, but I do agree with the last one, The Shat is the best. (And he's right, Shat does sound like some sort of bathroom term, which makes it even more fun to say!)

Werewolf Fireman. Best. Picture Ever. Via Capt. Cory.

Chris Allen watches Desperate Housewives. See, it's a good show. Now, if only I could afford that damn Scorsese set we'd have something else in common...

Derek Martinez looks at a few movies he got from Netflix. Among them, Killer Klowns, a favorite of anyone who likes "bad" movies, including me.

Neilalien hits the nail on the head:

From the Cup O' Joe panel at Wizard World LA [Pulse]:

Q: How about a SHIELD series?

A by Q: SHIELD and Dr. Strange are very, very tough to do over an ongoing series. Certain characters seem better suited as guest-stars.

It's official: The people running the House of Ideas are fucking out of ideas.


Trash Heap has the Batman Begins poster up. Looks nice.

Finally, a new Comicscape is up, and everyone's baggin on the 90's books. Not that they don't deserve it, but I think it all amounts to nothing. Fanboys bitch about the state of comics and never do anything to actively change it. You want fewer X-Men book? quit fucking buying X-Men books. It really is that simple.

-L

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Stand by My List

Lotsa goodies hittin' shelves today!

Batman and Robin - The Complete 1949 Movie Serial Collection

Featuring a "plump" Batman. Not that I can really talk, but I don't go around wearing tights.

The Best of the New Scooby-Doo Movies

This is waaaaay too expensive for me, but good Lord do I ever want it.

Doogie Howser, M.D. - Season One

You know, it's almost impossible to get that theme music out of your head once it's in there.

Fat Albert

Hey, hey, hey, it's the DVD.

Finding Neverland (Widescreen Edition)

It's Depp! What more do you need?

The Flintstones - The Complete Third Season

WIIILLLLLMMMAAAAAA!!!!!!!!

MTV's Pimp My Ride - The Complete First Season

Why, dear God, why?

The Pretender - The Complete First Season

I can't really say anything, i've never seen this show.

Stand By Me (Deluxe Edition)

Buy it. Just. Buy. It.

Star Wars - Clone Wars, Vol. 1 (Animated)

Proving once and for all that George Lucas is a moron.

Is there anything greater in life? Maybe ice cream...mmmm...ice cream.

-L
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

Well, when Jon Favreau is hosting, there's no tellin'. I recently rented Dinner for Five's first season from Netflix, and enjoyed it for the most part. It's interesting to see some of Hollywood's stars ditch their media personalities and be frank and honest for a change. The only drawback is the short timeframe most of the episodes have, tracking at about 20-25 mins. Favreau tends to dominate most of the conversations, which for non-fans can be upsetting, but I love the guy, and get a kick out of his stories. The DVD is sparse in the features department, featuring a deleted segment for every show, a few bloopers and promos, and a "light" trivia track for each episode. Considering every dinner save one lasted a few hours, I had hoped for more. The talk of Ted Demme, and how Martha Plimpton got choked up just mentioning him, was wonderful, and any time you can see guys like Dennis Leary and Michael Rappaport uncensored it's always a good thing, no to mention repeated viewings of the sexy and strangely compelling Sara Silverman, Columbo calling Vince Vaughn a hog, as well as Rod Steiger's last appearence on film. It's well worth the rent, and even a buy for those with the spare cash.

-L

Monday, March 21, 2005

Enthusiasm: Curbed

I had high hopes for this series, I recently rented the first season from Netflix, and much to my suprise found it utterly boring. There are a few great moments, but overall I found David's "life" just plain uninteresting, and sometimes down right painful to watch. He manages to get into the worst situations possible and nothing ever ends happily for him. I just can't see this past the one-note joke that it was on Seinfeld, it very well could be called the George Costanza Show. The music is great though.

-L

Sunday, March 20, 2005

What I got

Here's a rundown of what I got for my birthday, divided up into obscure categories.

Most Expensive- Dell Jukebox, a gift to myself (I have no shame), gotten through eBay, and not recieved yet, only because I haven't paid for it yet, because the guy hasn't contacted me yet...blah blah

Most Expensive Gift From Someone Else- An electric toothbrush, the Braun Oxyjet, it's nice and practical.

Dorkiest Gift- The Star Wars Trilogy, which I refused to buy for myself, therefor I requested someone buy it for me. It's this weird thing. you don't want to know, I'm sure.

Gift Most Likely to Transform- Generation One Rodimus Prime re-issue, recieved from my bro, Ryan, very cool, and very dorky, only slightly less dorky than Star Wars.

Gift Most Likely to Get All Stealthy- G.I. Joe Ninja Battles set, also from my bro, it has a DVD with it as well, and ranks right there with Rodimus, slightly under SW.

Most Incredible Gift- Well, that's easy, it's the Incredibles DVD! From my sister, Kelly, soon to be loaned out repeatedly.

Most Musical Gift- The Futurist, Robert Downey Jr's new CD. Good stuff if you like piano players who take themselves waaaay too seriously, and I do, thank you very much.

Best Gift that wasn't a Gift- Bluesman!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll be reading that tonight.

Gift from Another Decade- A 70's music compilation CD from my Aunt, very cool.

Most Marvel-ous Gift- Marvel Legends Dr. Strange figure, from co-worker Chris Surles, featuring Galactus' right arm!

Greenest Gift- The Shrek 2 soundtrack, featuring Accidentally In Love, also from my Aunt.

The Gift of Comics- Three books via Alan David Doane (Thanks Alan!) Strange Days, Lunch Hour Comix, and Stalagmite 2 (featuring his interview with Seth, which I've listened too, but it's definitely nice to have it in print!)

That about covers it.

-L
How can you tell when Alan David Doane links to your site?


When your hit count hits triple digits. (At least in my case anyway...)

Thanks for all the well wishes everyone, it was a good birthday, and I'll have more on that tomorrow, but forgive me, it's been a looooong two days.

-L

Friday, March 18, 2005

More History

Why? because it's my birthday! So, you can indulge me, or you can just come back tomorrow, either or, but, if you stick around, you're gonna learn how this came to be.

I could be an ass and say, "well, it all started when I picked up X-Force..." but you've heard that story. No, really, the tale of how this blog came to be begins on a message board. An AOL message board at that. Yes, it was comics, the X-Men board.

I stumbled on it one day at my former job (where I pretty much screwed around all day doing nothing until we had a customer) while trying to fight off some boredom. I'm pretty sure I had given up on comics at the time, or if not I was close, but reading the goings on led me to seek out some of the X-books, which led to a little set of reviews I would do on there every week on all the stuff I picked up. Like most boards, it began to dry up and die, but there was a guy on there who I had a sort of kinship with (I'm not certain that's the right word) named Patrick Drury, he started a forum on the Delphi site so a few of us migrated over there and I began to do my little routine again. Eventually that too began to dry up, and Patrick began blogging, I started my own forum, but it failed miserably, I think I had 5-10 posts in the short months that it existed. so, without a little site to call home, I began my search through the Delphi forums to find somewhere a dork like me could be accepted.

Then I happened upon the Comic Book Galaxy forum, and while I'd like to say I was an instant fit, it wasn't exactly so. But, I tried, and I eventually fit in okay, I got to know just about everyone and felt free to pretty much post til my heart was content (and I did, I think I was in some desperate mood back then to fit in, no matter where it was, but that was then...). I will be honest and say that I immediately thought I wouldn't like Alan at all, he seemed damned determined to push the comics he was reading on others, whether they wanted to hear it or not, and back then I just wasn't open to something like that (now I do it myself, oh the irony) I read what I read, and I didn't want to read anything else. Yes, yes, stupid me. So, I caved and got Castaways and then I realized that I was wrong, and this man who I almost didn't like knew what the hell he was talking about. He was right, I was the stupid one with my head in the sand.

After that it was a whole different ballgame, and while I didn't read everything Alan recommended, I understood where he was coming from. I should also mention D. Emerson Eddy, who I immediately loved. The man embodied everything (writing wise) that I wanted to be. It may not be noticeable, but he was extremely influentual in how I tried to shape my writing, as was Alan. Now, Alan can correct me if I'm wrong here, but I think it became a hassle and/or wasn't free to use the forum any longer, so it went the way of all those before it, but fortunately we were left with D.'s forum, and it was great for awhile, but it too petered off like all forums have a habit of doing (except the ones run by idiots, those last for fucking ever apparently, I'm looking at you John Byrne!), and again I was pretty much left homeless on the net.

That brought me here eventually. Things get a bit fuzzy in this area. I know the Galaxy closed up shop (good lord what a sad day, it was like losing your compass when your lost in a sandstorm) but Alan was still blogging, but eventually that took a back seat to his life (who needs one of those?) and he "retired". This is where Alan and I might be most alike, and I don't want to speak for him, but if he's at all the person I think he is, he just couldn't NOT come back, it's in his blood. There have been many days where I thought I should just drop it all, but every day I get up and get excitied about voicing my damn opinion, or thoughts, or whatever the hell I feel like, I just want to write something (it's self-serving, yes, but EXTREMELY satisfying). Alan is passionate about comics, and passion just doesn't die, when it's there it's extremely hard to contain, so he came back, as I hoped he would. Slowly everything fell into place and it led us to this point. I'm now reviewing for the site (which I'm sure everyone knows...) and I'm in heaven.

So that's how I got here. A misguided superhero comics fan posting on idiotic message boards to writing for the best damn comics site on the Web. It's definitely odd to look at the progression of your life from that outside point of view, and realize you are not the person you used to be, nor are you the person you think you are, it's eye-opening. But, like most people, tomorrow I'll see it differently, but today is the day where I always like to reflect, and while I haven't had the most fulfilling life, at this particular moment I don't think I could be any happier.

If you stuck around that long, thanks for reflecting with me, if not, well, you're not reading this anyway.

One last quick note, I got a few packages in the mail (one from Alan, thanks man, I really appreciate it.) and another from Mike Sterling. Inside Mike's was a copy of Bluesman #1. I knew it was coming, but actually holding it makes me elated. I cannot wait to dive into it, it's almost a full circle, Castways all but led me here and now I'm getting to look at Bluesman not from just a fan's standpoint, but a critical one as well. I get to shout the praises from my self-made mountain as well as my critical outlet, Comic Book Galaxy. Mike is a prince among men for finding this and holding onto it for me.

And your geek moments for the day-I also got a poster from him, with fav character Cable on it, and I'll be getting the Holy Trilogy tomorrow on DVD.

So, yeah, I'm done now, I swear!

-L

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Anchorman

I finished off watching the DVD set (if you buy it from Best Buy you can get two extra discs) and the extras are disappointing, short of the deleted scenes and a portion of the commentrak, everything is pretty much a waste of time. One of the discs features another movie put together from storylines they cut out of the original film. It's edited together nicely (although it doesn't fit well into the continuity of the original film) and has a few genuine laughs, but mostly it's just rehashing the same jokes. The portion of the commentary that shines features a surprise appearence by Lou Rawls. Now, I have no idea why or how they got him on the track, but it's got to be the most inventive use of this DVD staple I've seen, or rather heard. Unfortunately he's only there for a short time, but hearing him out-scat Will Ferrell is priceless. Andy Richter and Kyle Gass also show up kfor a period of time, but neither of them are that funny here. Also, one of the deleted scenes from the second "movie" features Stephen Root, and he's always great. But, overall, all the extras aren't really worth the $25 asking price, unless you've just got tons of cash lying around

Two more things to note-

If you're a member of Sam's Club and you do have about $25 to spare, go buy the Abbott and Costello-Best of Franchise collections. Right now they have Vol. 1&2 for $12 a piece, each one features eight films and is well worth the asking price. The highlight of the first set is Who Done It?, hands down one of the funniest films ever made, and the second volume features The Naughty Nineties, the only film to feature the full "Who's on first?" skit I believe, but I could be wrong about that (and probably am). But all the movie are great, so if you're a member, go buy em! (They also have The Princess Bride for $8, which is a steal.)

And finally, Chris Allen has found himself a new "home", so go check it out. It's always nice to see new content from Chris, his Breakdowns column over at Movie Poop Shoot remains one of my all-time favorite columns, and his Chris Allen Comments over at the Galaxy is right up there with it, so I'm absolutely positive his new blog will be among the must-reads on the 'Net. Big thanks for Alan for pointing me in this direction.

-L
Family History

More than you ever needed to know about me and my family.

As a kid I didn't find it the least bit odd that my youngest sister was born the day before my brother and I (but four years after I should add), nor that my other sister was born on the 29th of March (three years after), or hell, even that I had a twin brother (we were born on the 18th, in case you just got here). I did feel bad about my oldest sister, Blake, because her birthday fell so far from ours, it always seemed she had to celebrate early, sort of killing four birds with one stone, if I may. But, other than that, it never really struck me that we were all born in March.

Then I learned all your basic sex ed stuff, but of particular interest was the nine months it took for a baby to arrive. (I hope you understand that this wasn't like 11th grade sex ed, more like seventh grade I suppose.) So, being the all-too-curious kid I was (and unfortunately still am), I counted backwards and arrived at the startling conclusion that my parents got pregnant with all of their children around the time of my Dad's birthday.

Trust me, if there's ever anything you don't need to know in this world, especially as a kid, it's where or when your parents had sex, you just cannot look at them the same. Now, as an adult it doesn't faze me, but as a kid I found it creepy as hell, even though they got divorced long before I ever figured it out.

On that note, it's March 17th, which means it's my sisters birthday (and, St. Patty's day as well, though unlike the rest of us she doesn't look a bit Irish, more Italian than anything I think, that's another weird story, perhaps another time i can speculate on it...), and even though she doesn't read (I think) this thing, I'd like to say:

Happy Birthday Kelly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (she does have a nice Irish name though, tho she insists on spelling it with an I instead of a Y)

And Happy St. Patrick's day to the lot of you!

Maybe I'll actually have something interesting to say tomorrow.

-L
Rearranging the House

Made a few changes to the ol' blog, added AiT to the sidebar and moved my reviews to the bottom, so the won't crowd out all those nice links. Also, added links to the Larry Young and Vimanarama pieces, enjoy.

-L

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

The List that I Forgot

I was so wrapped up in TV, I forgot about my other passion...sigh...so, I'll keep it brief.

Alfie (Widescreen Edition)

Available packaged with the original film as well.

Hogan's Heroes - The Complete First Season

Yay, Bob Crane!

The Incredibles (Widescreen 2-Disc Collector's Edition)

Brad Bird directs the best superhero film ever. He also directed the best film about a giant robot ever. Brad Bird should direct everything.

Miss Congeniality (Deluxe Edition)

Shatner, why hast thou forsaken us?

Star Trek - First Contact (Special Collector's Edition)

Considered to be one of the series best, and rightfully so. Johnathan Frakes = the best.

See, short.

-L
Stupid Blogger

I wrote up a post about how good the Shield season premier was and Blogger decided it was hungry for dinner and ate it. So, it was good, everyone showed up, it was a bit unexpected and Glenn Close kicked much ass.

Stupid friggin' Blogger...

-L

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Quick Reminder

If you'd like to win a copy of James Kochalka's Sketchbook Diaries, email me by March 31, two winners will be chosen at random. That's it, that's all you have to do, and you can win a free comic. So, get going already!

-L

Monday, March 14, 2005

I Stole This Idea

It's true, and I stole it from the always wonderful Tom Spurgeon at The Comics Reporter.

See, yesterday Tom put up an article called Ten Comics, Ten Memories, and I think it's absolutely brilliant, so I'm hoping he won't mind if I step on his toes for a brief second or two.

I don't think I can come up with ten, but I'm going to try:

X-Force #8

While the cover leaves much to be desired, it's the inside art that probably hooked me more than anything. Most of it is done by Mike Mignola, who was then unknown to me, and the work inside holds up suprisingly well, better than a Rob Liefeld plotted comic book deserves at any rate. As any longtime reader can tell you this was my first comic. Certainly not the first one I ever read (likely a Spider-Man or Batman book), but this is the one that got me where I am today. I bought this at a Wal-Mart in Phenix City, Alabama. The Wal-Mart is gone, but I still have the comic. It was on a weekend, because we spent the weekends with my dad, and he'd take us to the local Wal-Mart late at night (we liked that, made us feel older), but I remember this being in the afternoon. It was a last minute decision (I can't for the life of me remember the other book), and one I don't regret at all. I read it and was in awe of Mignola's art and how the story went from present to past to back again, and the fact that there was a larger story here, this wasn't merely a good guy beats bad guy thing, there was something here that would span across issues and issues. It was my first real taste of serilized storytelling.

Watchmen TPB

It was in my Grandmother's trailer, where my dad lived most of the time. It was during the summer. I had been lent the book by a friend of my mother's, an actor named Brik (or Brick, can't remember which) Barker, he dug it out of his parents basement one weekend when I went to visit him in Atlanta. He told me to read it, that it would change the wayI think about comics. It took me weeks to get through it all, and most of it I didn't understand, but he was right, I never looked at superheroes the same.

Swamp Thing: Love & Death

It's been awhile since I first read this, but I just reread it about a year ago, and it's as amazing now as it was then. I'd never seen anyone re-imagine a character before I saw Alan Moore do it. In all the years since I've never seen anyone do it as well. I read this first at a job I held years ago, in the span of a day and I remember thinking it had to be the greatest origin ever told in the history of comics.

Preacher: Until the End of the World

I got this at a convention, about four, maybe five years ago I think. I read it in my apartment that night, couldn't put it down. This was likely my first exposure to Garth Ennis, and remains, like Watchmen, a turning point in the way I view comics. As a whole Preacher remains my favorite piece of work in comics, and this remains a prized posession, as battered and beat up as it is.

Uncanny X-Men #201

My dad gave this to me at Christmas one year, probably about eight years ago. It was one of my "Holy Grails", the first appearence of baby Nathan (Cable), and I was excited as all hell when I got it. Of course now it's not really anything, but back then it made me one happy camper. Like so many books before it, it was read inside my grandmothers trailer.

The Castaways

I worked at a pager/cell phone/car stereo shop (also the place I read Swamp Thing) when I got this in the mail. Recommended to me by Alan David Doane via the old CBG forum (this could turn into a whole history lesson, but I won't let it...). I didn't know Alan then, he was just the guy that ran this site I had come across. He seemed passionate and witty, he knew what he was talking about, and damn he loved this book. So, I ordered a copy. This is why I will forever be in Alan's debt. This book opened up an entire new world for me and eventually lead me here. Sure, i knew about indy comics, but nothing like this. This wasn't wannabe superhero books or melodramatic fluff, this was real. I couldn't put it down. I think I read it twice that day, and then again the next.


Okay...so that was only five...but hey, I can't remember everything, and it'd be too easy to do the cop-out and name some recent books. Let's see you come up with ten!!!!

-L

Sunday, March 13, 2005

Happy Freaking Birthday Mike!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, congrats to Rich Johnston on the birth of his baby girl yesterday.

Just so's you all know, my birthday is Friday, my address is on the sidebar, I WILL be expecting presents.


(No, not really.)

Birthdays always put me in the mood for Beatles, so, if you'll excuse me...

"They say it's your birthday" duhn duhn duhn duhn duhn duhn duhn duhn "It's my birthday too yeah!"

-L

Saturday, March 12, 2005

Week Links

Gotta love a play on words.

Alan has the winners of the Street Angel contest, along with a new 5Q, this time it's James Kochalka, about his upcoming book Superf*ckers. I've enjoyed the few Kochalka things I have read, with the exception of his daily strips. I've probably mentioned this before, I don't think they're bad by any use of the word, but they're just not my cup of tea. But, if you're into autobiographical stuff, trust me, you'll love them, in fact I have two of the smaller collected volumes, and I think I may just give em away. So, yeah, if you think you'd enjoy the work of Mr. Kochalka, send me an email with your name and address and I'll pick two winners at random on March 31st and send them to you. For a look at his stuff, check out his page. Given my last contest went over like gangbusters (NOT!), let's hope this one get's a few more responses. (And, any and all that will spread the word, I'd much appreciate it, gracias.)

All that's off the subject though, I wanted to talk about Superf*ckers, but to keep it short and sweet: I cannot wait until this book comes out. It looks brilliant.

Speaking of Kochalka, Top Shelf has a sale going on and you can pick up a ton of stuff by him and many others pretty darn cheap, so check it out.

Everyone's doing the review thing, or so it seems.

I think Dorothy, Bambi, and It's a Bird all sound good enough for me to track down. Also, I think Mike should be given a medal for his incredible rundown of ALL the books he got into the store this week.

Excuse me as I *SQUEAL* with delight (sorry Tom), Dorian has finall posted a new Subtext? And jeez is it ever hi-larious.

My link may be a fw days late, but there's still a new Permanent Damage up, so if you haven't read it do so now! It has the beginning of a column about creating comics.

Fred's talking about the gloved one, and good lord is that Bob Hope hand puppet ever scary...

Speaking of hand puppets...BWAHAHAHA. That just made my day.

Here's another puppet, this one is of THE "hand puppet." Not nearly as funny, but the fact that it says 25 phrases pulled from actual sound clips makes it somewhat so. "It's fuzzy math" Heh. also not those eyes. Creepy.

And lastly (is that a word?), Shane has his latest entry int his "100 greatest" list.

-L

Friday, March 11, 2005

The Revenge of George Lucas

I think he makes the movies crappy on purpose, because, really, who's going to stop him, or even tell him to his face? He'll pay a guy to dress like Boba Fett and come get medievil on your ass, literally.

So, yeah, I saw the trailer for Episode III, and you know what I think? I think he's having a ball destroying everything he ever built. Really. He's created this cult/religion that practically hold a society together, and in this next movie he gets to dismantle it. It will be fun to watch, though it may not be a great movie. Plus, we already know everyone except Yoda and Ben are gonna die. I can't wait to see how Sam Jackson bites it. Get it?

(See, he was in this movie where he got killed by a shark biting him in half. Funny, no?)

It looks exciting, and given Episode II was better than Episode I, I can say without a doubt Episode III will be better than Episode II. Really, it couldn't be any worse, because if nothing else you get to see a load of crappy characters die.

But, if he'd taken my advice, not only would he have pissed off every loyal follower, he'd have had an actual brilliant plot twist.

What was my advice?

Well, since you asked, Ben should have turned out to be Luke & Lea's father, Anakin finds out she's been cheating, which send him spinning into the Dark Side and puts him on a quest to destroy all the Jedi. See, it makes sense, AND it pisses people off, it's a two-for-one deal!

Also watched Cellular yesterday. Not a great movie by any means, the plot is standard and the acting is par, BUT it's action from beginning to end, it really doesn't ever stop, and that's a good thing. It's easy to get caught up in and it doesn't take a genius to understand it. Good popcorn flik, probably the best in quite awhile. Recommended for anyone looking to kill a few hours in an entertaining and exciting way.

-L

Thursday, March 10, 2005

No Trouble at All-The Comics of Larry Young
by Logan Polk

(Special Thanks to Alan David Doane for providing the nifty title and giving me permission to post this here, for the original piece, including graphics, visit Comic Book Galaxy.)


Larry Young is an idea man. And while that may sound like an easy title to saddle the man with, it's not one that's easily obtained or lived up to. The comics he writes and/or publishes are some of the finest works being distributed in the medium today.

His first work, Astronauts in Trouble, the flagship title to his AiT/Planet LAR publishing house, is as ambitious as it is thought provoking. The collection, titled Astronauts in Trouble: Master Flight Plan, collects all three of his Astronauts tales (Live from the Moon, Space: 1959, and One Shot, One Beer), along with the back-up stories from the first book.

The first of those, Live from the Moon, takes place fifty years after man first set foot on the lunar surface. The Channel 7 news team is drafted to film the world's richest man as he attempts to land on the Moon. As with any good plot, things are not what they seem, and the news crew quickly learns that Mr. Hayes has been sending up rockets for quite some time in an attempt to claim the lunar rock as his own.

With Live, Larry has created instantly identifiable and likeable characters. Even the "bad guy" Mr. Hayes is not without his charm. The art by Charlie Adlard and Matt Smith takes a permanent backseat to Young's dialogue, the true star of this story. It's not that any of it is ever bad, not even close, just that Young's characters are almost entirely defined and identified by the way they speak.

His timing is impeccable, knowing exactly when to place the humour so that it never feels forced. It's a big screen action comedy boiled down into its bare essentials. One-liners abound, but they never feel out of place, and there's plenty of action and suspense but it never feels over the top. Each character acts and reacts according to the unnamed rules given to their personalities.

Larry's plots are as complicated as his characters. He manages to meld the jokes and the action with the suspense of a man's desire to be the greatest, to be known as the man who owned the moon. Add in the mystery behind it all, and a touch of the mafia and you have a brilliant melding of genre's that provides one exciting tale.
The second story, Space: 1959, chronicles another Channel 7 news team, the first, from 1959, as a mysterious murder leads them to Peru, where they will be reporting on the United States attempt to jump into the space race. As the pieces of the puzzle come together, the news team watches as one man shows how he'll go to any lengths to make sure the good ol' USA isn't thwarted by communism.

Once again Larry Young flawlessly melds different genres into something new. He captures the nuance and paranoia of the late '50s perfectly, as well as the crime noir elements so popular in novel and film during the time.
The art, solely by Charlie Adlard both here and in the follow-up One Shot, One Beer, lends itself well to the noir style, and while it is still overshadowed by Young's characterizations and dialogue, the characters are infinitely more recognizable here than in Live. Perhaps mostly due to the consistent art, but part of it is definitely the tone the book takes.

Where Live was a smart action adventure with trace elements of other genres, Space: 1959 seems to bring those "other genres" to the forefront and add in just a touch of action adventure. In the introduction Young admits to being inspired by several things, mostly Warren Ellis's challenge to do pop comics (basically, short and sweet, three issues done with a definite beginning, middle and end, no stretching the plot just to get a few extra pages or bucks) and George Lucas's decision to actually film the prequels to the mega-successful Star Wars films.
Between Larry's plot and dialogue and Charlie Adlard's excellent visuals, Space: 1959 does what Lucas failed miserably at. When coupled with the actual Moon landing, both Space: 1959 and Live from the Moon present an entire evolution of man's infatuation with that orbiting rock. It goes from pipe dream to realization to obsession, all within the span of sixty years one true event and two wonderful stories.

In the foreword Young admits that this is his favorite story, as well it should be.

The final story in the volume, One Shot, One Beer, takes place entirely within a bar on the Moon, ten years after the events of Live from the Moon. The patrons sit around drinking their pints, each telling pieces of a larger story, mostly reminiscing about one man's crazy attempt to claim the Moon as his own.

It's a bit of an anthology-type book, each story is different, yet every one relates to the overall theme. It's the simplest of all the stories contained within the collection, and rightly so. Whereas the other tales all felt like Hollywood movies, One Shot, One Beer feels like that undiscovered independent film. Think Clerks on the Moon, only there's only one employee and it's the customers who get to carry the plot along.

As with Space, Young and Adlard find a good enough mix of visuals and dialogue to keep your eyes affixed to the page. The stories are short and to the point and touch on details that were possibly intentionally overlooked from the previous stories. It's what happened and why, told from other's perspectives. It might not be what really happened, but this is how they remember it.

The book contains little of the type of humour found in the previous Astronauts stories, instead focusing on the more dramatic points of Live from the Moon. It's interesting to see how Hayes' actions affected the world afterwards, and it's something that could have been explored further, but Young seems to know exactly when his audience will tire of the recapping and retelling of events already seen before.

The back-ups seem almost like teasers, the previews before the film, or perhaps in this case, small discreet burps after a very fine meal. They may not have been as enjoyable as the main course, but they are not without their pleasures. Each story is self contained, yet fits into the world Larry has created, or rather the world he has adopted. He enlists a great talent of pencilers to bring his short stories to life, but as with most of the Astronauts stuff, they just can't hold their own against the script, never bad, but never as great.

Master Flight Plan is a love letter to the people that pioneered space exploration. It's Larry Young traveling within time, creating a fully believable cast of characters and plots and melding them with true events to create a trilogy of unique stories.

Larry Young's next offering, Planet of the Capes, should feel very familiar to anyone who's read modern superhero comics. It's his version of the "real world" hero. The world's strongest heroes unite to fight evil, but are somehow thrown from their world into one where super heroes do not exist. It's grim and gritty comics meet the real world. And while grim and gritty superhero books are not unique in any way, the back cover of the book speaks volumes about its content. "Nobody Learns Anything. Everybody Dies."

At first glance Planet of the Capes may seem like just another superhero story, but upon further review it begins to feel more and more like Larry Young's view of the genre, or rather his view on the current genre trend, as opposed to just his story within it.

The book opens with quite a long story of classic superhero archetypes who have pledged to rid the world of wrong do-ers. There's the dark prowler of the streets, Justice Hall, Kastra, an other-worldly amazon-like princess, her father, the super-strong yet almost brainless creature known as The Grand, and finally Schaff, the be-all, end-all of super heroics, the boy scout of the group and there by is their leader.

The opening story is filled with old-school action mixed in with a bit of comedy, the origin stories are quickly recounted and the misunderstood and rampaging Grand is stopped before he hurts anyone. Though it takes up most of the pages, it's not nearly as exciting as what happens when the group is somehow transported to our world, where people like them do not exist. It's a fast paced story that ends in disaster for its participants.
Unlike Larry's Astronauts books, the script never overpowers the artwork. Brandon McKinney's pencils feel very much inspired by the likes of Derrick Robertson and Steve Dillon, which makes it a perfect fit, as Larry seems to be channeling a bit of Garth Ennis with his script (both Dillon and Robertson have collaborated with Ennis, quite frequently).

As mentioned, after repeated readings, or perhaps on the first for anyone who's more observant, Planet of the Capes begins to show its true colors. The beginning shows that these characters, when set within the boundaries of their world work almost flawlessly, it's funny, there's action, it's got everything those "classic" superhero books had and maybe just a little bit more, but once those same heroes enter the "real" world their story goes from great to nonexistent within the span of a few pages. This is Larry Young and Mike McKinney showing the world that super heroes can't and shouldn't exist within real world scenarios, and despite all the evidence to the contrary, they might just be right.

"Nobody learns anything. Everybody Dies." seems to speak more about the state of modern superhero storytelling than it does about the characters within the book.

Lastly there's Proof of Concept, Larry's latest offering. Presented in a unique way, we watch as Larry Young converses with his agent over the phone, illustrated by Kieron Dwyer, pitching him various concepts, each one as unique as the last. But, ambitious as they all are, a few stand out even further from the crowd.

Hemogoblin turns the vampire story on its ears; not an easy task given the vast history of the subject matter. It's a world where vampires have been hunted for their blood in the hopes that the secret of eternal life can be obtained. The art, by Damien Couciero, is simplistic at first, but becomes increasingly complex and simultaneously creepy, then back again as the story unfolds, working hand in hand with Larry's script.

Zombie Dinosaur is exactly what it sounds like; somehow a prehistoric creature has become one of the living dead. While one would expect the image of a zombie t-rex to eclipse just about any story's plot or character, especially one as short as this, Larry manages to pack a ton of character development, and a bit of humour, into the few pages he's allowed himself. We may not know any of their names (well, we're given one, Major Davenport), but by the time these soldiers meet the star of the show we feel as if we've known each of them for quite some time. The art, here by Steve Sanders and Jeff Johns, is effective; each character has as much a style as they do a personality, and it immediately evokes Kubrick-esque war films somehow spliced together with old EC comics, and rightfully so. They also deliver one of the most disgustingly cool moments ever, the first look at the zombie tyrannosaurus.

The Camera is one of the book's two missteps. The story is about a group of kids who discover a wormhole that leads them to the past and what happens when they go exploring it. It's not bad by any means, the dialogue is witty and the art, by Paul Tucker, is serviceable, but the story itself is a bit confusing, and the last panel seems to acknowledge that very fact. The most captivating thing in the story resides completely outside of it; as the children explore the wormhole one of them begins to explain the concept of two dimensional ("Like a dime on its edge," he says). This portion is told in a series of rotating circular panels, like a dime, spinning on its edge.

For the Time Being is another time travel story, but more in the classic H.G. Wells sense, and funnily enough that happens to be the name of the crews ship. In short, their captain goes insane is somehow "smeared" across time and space, and now his crew must chase him through forever in an attempt to save the time-space continuum.
As said, it feels very much like classic science fiction, but visually funneled through Kubrick's 2001, so it comes as no surprise that the art once again the work of Jeff Johns. Young's script and dialogue are as crisp as can be expected, but it is Johns's pencils that really tell the tale. The captain looks very much god-like and dangerous to no end, and the way Johns plays with the black and white tone of the story is both gorgeous and brilliant.

The next story, Emancipating Lincoln is one of the book's true highlights. It's 2437, and the world is populated by people who all bear a striking resemblance each other and to Abraham Lincoln, a fact they don't seem to mind, and a man they know nothing about. One young man finds a clue to their past and hires a private detective to seek out the mystery behind it.

It's rare to find an original concept in the world of comics, but Larry Young has found one. The potential of the story is limitless; it's both futuristic sci-fi and classic crime noir, it speaks on multiple levels, as an example of man's incessant need to explore the past, his want to be just like everyone else, and the inevitability of individuality.

John Flynn's art is wonderful to the point of being unnoticeable. It never tries to point out the obvious, instead, it just is, if you notice the similarities it makes you that much more excited for what might come next, and if you don't it makes the last panel even more shocking. Unfortunately merely knowing the premise of the story (which is proudly emblazoned on the back cover blurbs) all but ruins the ending, otherwise it's a fantastic piece.

The final story is the book's longest, and unfortunately the worst, thereby making it the books aforementioned second misstep. The Bod is the account of a young woman, Kelly Gordon, who comes to Hollywood to make it big but finds herself relegated to working in a special effects house, until a freak accident turns her invisible. Kelly becomes the toast of Tinsel town when her television show, You're So Transparent, becomes a huge hit. The story chronicles the typical ups and down of celebrity lifestyle and how it affects both Kelly and those around her.

Originally written as a story for Image comics, The Bod is an attempt to blend sci-fi elements with E!-type celebrity docudrama. It's a noble attempt, and a good idea, but not one that holds up well past the initial concept. As with every story within the book, both the dialogue and art (by John Heebink) are solid, but neither can save the plot from mediocrity. There isn't much that can be said either for it or against it past those points, other than the story comes to a comfortable end and seems to be complete, where as the others have been offered up as potential future projects.

The interstitials that serve as a connection for all the stories are also pretty humourous, and always beautiful thanks to the previously mention Dwyer's art work. One would think that capturing an honest version of yourself in a script would be a tremendous task, after all few of us are the people we think we are, but Larry Young manages to do it. Everything you've ever heard about the man is right there on the page, almost daring you to prove differently, and it doesn't hurt to get someone as talented as Dwyer to make you as charismatic as the dialogue is snappy.

With the comics he writes Larry Young has melded cinema style storytelling and the graphic novel into something relatively new. He's shown that comics can be innovative, smart, deceptive and enormously fun. And, while his career as a comics writer might be a short one, with books like Astronauts in Trouble, Planet of the Capes, and Proof of Concept, Larry Young has proven that occasionally there is something new under the sun.

-L
Quickies- 03/10/05: Getting Intimate Again

Looks like I will get to post after all!

Intimates #5

Casey takes on suicide via new character, Dead Kid Fred. Odd that he chooses to tell some of the story via the characters "hivejournal" (read: blog), since he felt the need to attack bloggers recently. We get to see another side of Punchy, which felt weird, as he jumps through hoops to save Fred. We also get to see his powers in action, which was great.

Seven Soldiers of Victory #0

I wanted to like this, but I'm afraid my lack of DC continuity may have hindered that. I have no idea who any of these people are or who they descended from. It's a good story, but I just didn't care about the characters that much, plus, there's no way I can afford to keep up with the coming books.

Picked up a ton of junk out of the 50 cent bin today, a few Crossgen books, one by Chuck "I suck hard" Dixon, the others by Ron Marz (it's Chimera).

That's an awfully weird, crude, stab at both the man and his name, but I find it hilarious, so sue me. It's a pirate book, El Cazador, and it fas two lousy quarters. If I like it, I may pick up the rest of the issues (also el cheapo), if no,t at least I finally got to use that stupid joke I've been saving.

Also, Frankenstein Mobster, because what doesn't sound cool about that. And, Desperadoes: Quiet of the Grave #1-3 (no #4, but they had #5), and the recent Swamp Thing #1-3. Haven't read them yet.

I did read Vimanarama #2 tho. You'll have to wait to see what I thought about it, as it requires at least a few more read through's.

EDIT: Looks like Larry Young read my CBG piece on him, kick ass. Check out the AIT site for yourself (I need to add it to the blog roll soon)

-L

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

A List is a List, of Course, of Course

21 Jump Street - The Complete Second Season

Starring the American version of Johnny Depp. That said, remember in high school when people would walk around speaking in faux British accents? Yeah, Depp and Madonna need to grow out of that, it doesn't make you any cooler or sexier, it just makes you look like a twit. Now, bring me some shrubbery bitch!.

The Best of Mister Ed - Volume Two

I read on someones blog about a theory regarding this show, that Wilbur really was crazy and that Ed couldn't talk. Interesting. That's far more thought than probably anyone has ever put into this show. Still, can't beat that episode with Clint Eastwood.

Columbo - The Complete First Season

Peter Falk rocks. "Serpentine Shel, serpentine!"

Earthsea

Starring Iceman...err..Bobby Drake...whatever the hell his name is.

Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids - The Original Animated Series, Vol. 1

Hey hey hey, can you say too late to capitalize?

Felicity - Senior Year Collection (The Complete Fourth Season)

I { heart } Keri Russell.

Friends - The Complete Ninth Season

Yeah, I definitely wasn't watching it this season. Hey, only one more set to go!

Green Acres - The Complete Second Season

Now this was a stupid show. When a pig upstages your human cast, you have a problem, dahling.

Ladder 49 (Widescreen Edition)

Is this the one where the emperor of Rome sets fire to the coliseum and Danny Zucco has to put it out, and then the T-1000 comes back in time to kill them both? Where's Arnold when you need him?

Yeah, I know, it wasn't really that funny.

Xena Warrior Princess - Season Six

Yayayayayayayayayayayaya.....was that how that stupid thing went? Can't help but notice the lesbian innuendo in the preview for the box set on TV. Geez, people are shameless. That said, I really want this set. This wraps up the series I believe.

Yesterday I watched Akira Kurosawas Hidden Fortress. One word can just about sum it up, and as cliched as this is: WOW. Everyone probably knows it best as the film that inspired Lucas, but other than the C-3PO and R2-D2 comparison, there isn't much else there, and there's even an interview with Lucas on the disc about this. It's the story of a princess and her greatest general as they try to escape their homeland (now taken over by opposing forces) and rebuild their Clan. It's told from the perspective of two very low-class citizens, who believe these two are just hangars on who want to get while the gettin's good and get there share of the found gold. It's a "prince and the pauper" type of story in an action-adventure type of setting, from the perspective of two theieves. Kurosawa manages to tell this huge story without ever really telling the huge story. It's better than Seven Samurai by far, which stunned me because I didn't think he ever topped that. The Criterion DVD looks phenomenal and sounds excellent. I'll warn all you that haven't seen it, it is subtitled, but there is no need for them. The visuals are so strong that you know exactly whats going on, there's no need to understand the words. The soundtrack is beautiful, it reminded me very much of John Williams score to Star Wars, and Kurosawa's use of simple background sounds is also an element Lucas adopted. In the end as the two thieves walk away with their small prize you can hear crickets chirping, it's subtle, but it's there. It adds so much to the depth of the world he was trying to create, and it's hardly noticible until it's gone. If you haven't seen this, I strongly recommend it, but renting may be the best option, as buying will be uber-expensove ($30-$50 I believe.).

Oh, and I joined Netflix too. I really have to stop buying movies, I'm running out of room, my collection is well over 700 now, and those TV boxsets take up lots of space!

A bit of sad news. I read that Debra Hill has passed away recently. I'll always remember her name from the Halloween films (interesting trivia, she was born in Haddenfield), but she had a pretty long career filled with some great producing credits, many Carpenter films among them. Most notably was probably The Fisher King, a true masterpiece, and a film that made me realize Robin Williams can act, though he hasn't done much of it since then. She'll be missed, and my prayers and condolences to her friends and family. It's no conselation, but Halloween falls as one of my all-time favorite films.

EDIT: I can't get Blogger to bring up the new posts menu, or when I can it won't publish my post, so there may not be a post today, and hopefully it'll fix itself by tomorrow.

-L