Practise your craft…
July 30th, 2007
ComicCon has been in full swing, information and previews of genre shows and films have been steadily flowing out into the Internet. Two little gems that have come out are the posters for JJ Abrams film projects. One of course is very close to my heart and the other looks really interesting:
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July 29th, 2007
As editor of Pop Culture Heroines I’ve had to really examine the role of female comic book characters and the positive or negative images they put out into society. It’s hard to look at Spider-Woman in her extraordinarily tight outfit and the overtly sexual style that she is generally drawn in and argue that she can be a positive female icon. And at PCH we tend to try and focus on positive rather than negative. It’s easy to launch into an essay about women being treated as objects in superhero comic book circles, you have to dig a little deeper for the positives which there are indeed plenty of once you get past the aesthetic.
That is why when I read about the Australian Army’s internal recruitment campaign I was torn over my reaction and which side of the fence I come down on.
On one hand, being a huge comic book fan I am straight away attracted to the artwork, purely on an art basis. I can see what the brief was and how the artist got to the conclusions. I’m assuming that they were told to present the woman in a comic book hero light to show that the roles that they are performing are just as important as the front line and just as heroic. In this regard I feel that the artist has achieved what they set out to do. However some of their judgement is questionable especially in my opinion the dental nurse/dentist poster I don’t know does it have a suggestive undertone?
Half of these posters I think are passable, in that you would have to be imaginative in order to put a sexual context (not hard really just ask any teenager). But the other ones are just suggestive and have poses that show a lack of familiarity with the role.
There are other reasons that have been suggested for the removal of these posters, reasons that personally I probably can’t really comment on as I have no idea what it is to be a woman but the portrayal of these ‘characters’ all have them in form fitting uniforms looking perfect with their hair and make up done. Does this send the wrong idea not only to men but also to woman that in order to be successful you need to try and live up to the impossible Barbie look even when changing tires? Apparently in all fairness the male version of these posters has a chiselled jaw super man wearing tight overalls. I guess you’re not going to put ugly people up there are you? Once again we come back to the brief and more often than not comic book characters look perfect unless they are villians.
Take a look at the other posters and let me know what you all think!
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July 26th, 2007
The rumour mill has gone into an absolute Spock casting frenzy. Several sources are declaring that Zachary Quinto of ‘Heroes’ fame is in final stages of contract processing to play our favourite Vulcan in the new Star Trek film and will probably be announced at Comic Con.
Man I hope so.
He looks like Spock! I can’t comment on his acting ability because I didn’t watch Heroes (I’m going to buy it on dvd and watch it in one hit) but I don’t hear bad things and it’s not going to hurt the project having someone who actually looks like the icon.
There’s going to be people unhappy with this news but quite frankly Star Trek fans are probably the hardest fan group to make happy.
Get a life. Look forward to the new film.
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July 25th, 2007
Well I just saw the trailer for Die Hard 4.0 in Australia and yippee ki yay they dropped the whole Live Free rubbish and it’s officially four point zero. Too bad for you American Die Hard fans! Guess you’re just all going to have to buy region 4 discs.
At some stage as I’ve mentioned I’ll going to try and put fingers to keyboard to discuss my thoughts on the travesty that is Transformers. I’ve managed to read a couple of posts and reviews that at least restore my faith in the general public based on their opinions. I’m still trying to wash the awful misery off after seeing it.
Something brilliant though, I managed to sneak a peek at the pilot episode of Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles and I’ll let you all know just how brilliant it is tomorrow.
In semi related news my wonderful wife who surprises me on a daily basis bought me a very nice present for looking after her lately (not that she needed to, it’s my job!!). She surprised me with the limited edition River Triumphant from Serenity. I got a really low edition (28/1000)
Oh yeah it’s related because the delightful Summer Glau is in the Terminator series.
Finally you may have noticed that we have a new poll, I’m trying to pick the next character to draw and can’t decide so I’ll leave it up to you guys
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July 23rd, 2007
When you’re making a Die Hard film you really need to bring your A game to the court. A Die Hard film is not just an action film, it’s a Die Hard film, almost a genre onto itself. So for me Die Hard 4 has a lot of expectations surrounding it, an almost impossible legacy to live up to.
Firstly the name is all shades of wrong. I still have trouble referring to Die Hard 3 as Die Hard with a Vengeance. I barely recognize the Die Harder attached to Die Hard 2 and Live free or die hard is truly awful. Especially as they had a great working title in Die Hard 4.0 considering the computer aspects of the movie.
The name is of course a minor issue and to be honest I think it’ll stay in my head as Die Hard 4 anyway so it really isn’t a sticking point for me. Bruce Willis is awesome as always as the world weary John McClane, he falls back into the role with ease, like Die Hard 3 was yesterday.
The other characters are all pretty good, especially McClane’s daughter who shows that some of his genes have been passed along rather than have her as the helpless whining girl. The only exception is the guy playing the head of the taskforce managing cyber security, he just doesn’t quite fit but again it is only a really minor thing and doesn’t ruin the film.
What does ruin the film at least in part is the widely discussed PG rating and absence of the traditional language, the f bomb is avoided completely with even the precious Yippee Ki Yay is ruined, which really pisses me off. Also the ending is weak and doesn’t compare at all with the previous brilliant movies.
So I like it, but I don’t love it. It’s a great action film with awesome action sequences and very cool in-jokes referencing the previous movies: Agent Johnson.
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July 22nd, 2007
Well it was a marathon effort but I finished it around two o’clock this morning. There was unfortunately washing to be done and meals to prepare and I got sidetracked watching a movie but I’m now done. I’ve seen the whole Harry Potter thing through to the end and all is good.
The book easily outshines a couple of its predecessors in simple pace and interest though you certainly have the sensation every once and a while that there is a LOT going on and not enough time to dwell on some of the smaller points or characters as one may have hoped.
Of course if you were to take those sidetracks over and over the book would have been huge and probably unreadable. As it is now the twists and turns throughout and the pace straddle a fine line (have I written that before?) but never crosses over.
In fact I think this one turns out to be the most satisfying. As I mentioned previously I will not be a tosser and ruin this for anyone with spoilers. I will however give this piece of advice - prepare for death and not necessarily who you would expect.
There are a whole mess of things that happened that I’m still letting wash over me and as I’m writing this they are coming back and making me say wow all over again.
So I’ll leave it at that whilst I digest the whole thing and wait for the world’s reaction to the book.
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Categories: Books | Tags: Books, deathly hallows, Harry Potter, harry potter and the deathly hallows | 2 Comments
July 20th, 2007
Yes, tomorrow morning I’ll be one of those in line to pick up their pre-ordered copy of the last of the Harry Potter books. The plan then is to get home and hole up in the bedroom with an ample supply of cheese and lettuce sandwiches, junk food and cola. I don’t plan on resurfacing until I’ve seen this whole Potter thing through.
If it’s following the trend of the other books this one should be huge and pulled around by thousands of tiny ancient egyptians. Fortunately the books are generally easy to read quickly and I’m hoping to be done late tomorrow night.
It depends on how we read it because Tracey wants to read it too and is giving me a hard time over how the whole reading it together thing is going to go down and to be honest I’m at a loss because I don’t follow as well when reading aloud.
At least I don’t think so, it’s not something I do often so who knows maybe that’ll be fine.
Check back over the weekend and I’ll give you my spoiler free opinion!
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Categories: Books | Tags: Books, cheese and lettuce sandwiches, deathly hallows, Harry Potter | 2 Comments
July 19th, 2007
Over at Culture Kills… MC was talking about the things he misses from his childhood and one of them was when action figures were toys to be taken out of their boxes and played with.
This is something very close to my heart because if there is one thing I hate the most, it is comic books and figurines in their boxes.
I’ve got a story that generally drives the type of person who likes to keep things pristine in a box to wake up in cold sweats in the middle of the night.
Through eBay I bought a T-Rex and Triceratops from Jurassic Park, mint condition in their boxes - unopened for seven or eight years. The first thing I did was rip those packages open and get those dinosaurs out into the open air and let them breathe! Straight onto the shelf for everyone to see (not touch of course).
You see, these things to me are not commodities to be bought and left unloved. I need the tactile sensation of getting them out and holding them. I mean what’s the point if you’re just going to leave them in those plastic cocoons.
I remember one of those claymation Christmas movies that had some elf build a machine that covered every toy with hard resin so they wouldn’t ever wear out. It wasn’t considered a good thing in that movie.
That brings me to people who buy comic books to keep unread in acid free bags. ARRRRGGGG. It’s these people who let the comic book companies bring out 15 different holographic covers for the one bloody issue. Companies who begin to rely on gimmicks rather than good story telling to flog comics. Artists and writers make these comics to be read not be kept like shares! I’ve got a pretty good comic book collection, no scratch that I have a great comic book collection and every single one of those comics have been opened and read and enjoyed.”Oh but you can make a lot of money if you don’t open them… blah blah blah”
Shut up suit.
Do me a favour if you have a comic book that you haven’t read or a boxed up toy that sitting on your shelf - go and open it, read it, feel it, ENJOY IT!
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July 19th, 2007
I saw the season two premiere of Eureka the other day and I can’t believe that a show of this quality was away for so long! It was on break for ages and I hope that it doesn’t hurt the viewing numbers with regulars forgetting it.
They haven’t sold the show to Australia yet either but I doubt it would do well here and would probably be stuck on the midnight timeslot like Stargate Atlantis. Having said that though Channel Ten here has put a lot of faith into the BBC Dr Who spin off Torchwood and I wonder how that’s rating.
So was the season two opener of Eureka worth the wait? When I answer a big yes I fear that I’m speaking as a Eureka convert. The show is comfortable, it doesn’t feel like a thrill ride or some melodrama, it just feels right and comfortable.
The premiere picks up directly where season one finished and I must admit it took me a little while to orientate myself to events that had already passed. The episode then goes into reset button mode as it tries to distance itself from the events that happened in the alternative timeline future. By the end of the episode at least one character has been reset so that the finale events doesn’t have any huge change to their character for the time being.
That’s not to say there won’t be long reaching implications.
So it appears that everyone is back and in fine form which doesn’t hurt the show at all. I’m looking forward to exploring Eureka a bit more as the new season unfolds - now if only they’d bring back Men in Trees…
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July 18th, 2007
On the last project I was working really long days and through the weekends and gradually I began drinking coffee/diet coke again. In fact I even started taking caffeine pills to make it through the long days. When the contract was over I scaled back on the coffee but have kept up the diet coke consumption.
It wasn’t until today that I came to the realization that I’m addicted all over again. Around two o’clock this afternoon I hadn’t had a coffee or cola for just under two days and that’s when the caffeine headache kicked in.
I’m at at work so I can’t really afford to be reduced to a mumbling, depraved dope fiend (that’s really more a Thursday morning thing). So I went and made myself a full strength coffee and halfway through the cup my brain returned to normalcy (well normal for me anyway).
So yup that’s it, we have addiction again…
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