April 30th, 2008
I really can’t believe that in just over twelve hours I’ll be settling into my seat about to watch one of my favourite comic book characters of all time being brought to live on the big screen by pretty much the perfect cast and from all reports, director also.
Tracey and I had this conversation the other day:
Tracey: ‘What if the film is no good?’
Lee: ‘Won’t be.’
Tracey: ‘But you know, sometimes you really want a film to be really good and it isn’t.’
Lee: ‘Not going to happen.’
Tracey: ‘Would you marry Iron Man?’
Lee: …
Tracey: ‘You would!!!!’
Fortunately the reviews for Iron Man couldn’t be better - well they could, there are still a couple of party poopers who don’t get comic book films but you know… whatever.
There was also an interview over at USA today with the three leading ladies from Iron Man, Hulk and Batman.
There were some fairly condescending questions such as:
But let’s face it: Aren’t these movies, by their very nature, a little silly and hokey?
Maggie: Ours is not like that. We had a good script.
Gwyneth: Ours, too! It wasn’t embarrassing in any way. Although there were lines that were a little bit like (screams dramatically), “No, no, press the button! Press the button!!!” Sometimes I’d go, “This line belongs in the book called ‘What You Cannot Say in a Movie.’” But I suppose if you’re going to blow somebody up, there’s a limited number of responses you can have for that.
Read the rest of the interview.
Also if you follow the Friday Five lists you know that Friday is going to be Top Five Comic Book Movies, if Iron Man is even half as good as I hope then it will hit the number one spot easily!!!
Popularity: 10% [?]
Categories: Comics, Movies |
Tags: Batman, comic book movies, hulk, iron man, usa today | 4 Comments
April 28th, 2008
This is kinda cool, one of my drawings is going to be on display in an exhibition on April 30th (my birthday) as part of the Rise and Fall International Skull Drawing Competition 2008.
Granted all entries are part of the exhibition but I’m very happy with myself for putting in an entry and I love the timing. Â I had a couple of other ideas for pieces that I never got around to so you never know I may enter them for next year.
Popularity: 9% [?]
Categories: Art |
Tags: Art, drawing, International Skull Drawing Competition 2008, rise and fall, skull | 23 Comments
April 27th, 2008
That funny thing was God of War II and it seriously drained all of my free time. Â I had read what an awesome game it was but I really wasn’t prepared for how awesome.
So it may put the reading challenge back a little. Â Not too bad but I’m not confident on getting the third book done by the end of next weekend. Â Especially if I accidentally start on God of War one.
I’m also developing some stuff with our good friend Memphis over at Crypt Hunter that I expect to show its face come May 1st.
Discovered last night that I haven’t actually watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire so will have to rectify that some time this week (missed the start on TV)!! Â But I am catching up on Torchwood and the show gets cooler every episode.
Overheard in our room today:
Tracey: Should I get a primer or a sunscreen?
Me: Unless that’s got Optimus in front of it I have no idea what you’re talking about.
I wonder why she married me somedays.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Categories: QYDJ |
Tags: Books, god of war ii, harry potter and the goblet of fire, reading challenge, torchwood | 8 Comments
April 26th, 2008
The other day I did something that I haven’t done in a very long time, an impossibly long time.
I went into a comic book shop and bought comics.
Not graphic novels, trade paperbacks or even collections. Â Just standard monthly comic book issues. Â It felt right, comfortable and like I was coming home. Â I used to buy comics on a weekly basis, of course back then they weren’t as expensive, not as well constructed either.
I dipped my toe in the water a couple of weeks ago and bought a Marvel Adventures Iron Man issue. Â $7.50 it cost which is an outrage. Â Â First lesson, if you live in a city don’t buy your comics in a newsagency, they just can’t compete price wise. Â They also tend to write on the cover, not so much these days but some places still do that, which is fine if you are simply buying to read but at those prices that’s crazy.
No I ducked into a local comic book shop and noticed that the prices had come down to on par with American cover prices thanks to the exchange rate. Â This got me thinking, four dollars for a comic? Â I could actually do that. Â That’s a cup of coffee or four days with of the newspaper (more like three days actually). Â I don’t feel cheated by this and when the exchange rate changed those guys changed their prices to match pretty quickly which I appreciate.
A couple of days ago I went to the comic book store and picked up some issues of lines that I used to read and a couple of was just curious about. Â The feel of brand new comics, not yet thumbed through is delightful and as much as I love digital comics actually holding the paper issue in your hands is something else.
Something that might be a happy coincidence is that I picked up Titans #1 so I can start fresh with that series.
Man the paper quality has changed. Â So glossy and vivid, maybe this is a good thing maybe it’s not, I’m yet to form a strong opinion.
The main thing though about doing this is that it felt like me, a part of me that’s been missing for a long time. Â It felt really good.
Remember to support your local comic book shop!
Popularity: 10% [?]
Categories: Comics, Stuff about me |
Tags: comic book shop, comic book store, Comics, graphic novels, iron man, newsagency, Titans, trade paperbacks | 5 Comments
April 25th, 2008
Is it morbid to delight in watching the Earth burn? I don’t know, I do know however that it is Friday (in Australia) and that means that it is time for the Friday top five time.
Today we have the ‘it’s the end of the world’ top five:
- ID4: Independence Day - Oh the complaints and the criticism that is directed at this film. From computer inaccuracies to the over abundance of America is cool’isms. I’m pretty certain that I’ve heard them all and you know what? I don’t care, this is an awesome ride of a film. Landmarks are destroyed, jet planes swarm and Data is a crazy scientist working in Area 51. I managed to see this on its opening night/morning (we caught the midnight premier) and it was a great experience with a bunch of people who were there to see a dumb popcorn film. I didn’t get to hear the end at the time because there was too much calling out and cheers when we got to see our very own Sydney Opera House with a downed mothership in the harbour.
- Armageddon - If ID4 is considered to be ‘often criticised’ then Armageddon is crucified! Oh and by the way I still don’t care LOL. Big freaking badass space shuttles, that’s what we’re talking about here. At any rate if you want someone to blow something up you go get Bruce Willis or Jack Bauer and since JB wasn’t invented then you go with BW. Another couple of wonderful landmark destruction sequences and what an awesome soundtrack.
- Mars Attacks - It’s not unusual to be loved by anyone. Essentially this film should have been called Tom Jones saves the world. It would be an inaccurate title but I still would have appreciated it. Any film that ends with Tom Jones emerging from a cave and declaring in one voice that it’s not unusual… is just plain brilliant and funny. This is a very uneven film but it has an amazing cast and some great visuals so it makes the list.
- Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea - OK this one is my wild card, it’s here because I dig submarines, big science fiction’y submarines and this one is pretty big, pretty cool and went on to be a standard of my childhood with its TV series later on. It’s a giant film for its time, directed by Irwin Allen and features Barbara Eden and Frankie Avalon as well as one of my favourite actors of the time Peter Lorre. It does feature a wonderful threat to the Earth, pesky meteors have slammed into the Van Allen Radiation belt and caused it to catch fire and this is heating up the Earth. Awesome.
- The Core - I have a love hate relationship with the Core, I love to hate it and it is so bloody awful it’s hilarious. When I grow up I want to be a terranaut. There’s very little in this film that’s plausible which is of course not the reason to watch a disaster film but really guys!? Earth core stops? I’m giggling just thinking about it and will probably watch it again this weekend whilst eating cheetos! Just keep reminding yourself that Hilary Swank is an Academy Award winner.
All I am grateful for this week is that Groundhog Day is not a film that features the almost destruction of the Earth unless you count the space time continuum… no it’s not on the list. I don’t want to hear about Deep Impact either, don’t even bother because you won’t convince me. There are reasons behind this that I’m sure if you did a search of the site you would find yourself but for marital harmony I refuse to bring it up.
The Day After Tomorrow certainly nearly made the list, as did War of the Worlds (original not the disaster of a film) and I haven’t watched Sunshine yet.
If you vaguely enjoy the Friday Top Five list why not stumble it or add it to your Facebook or whatever (there are icons below!).
Next week: Comic Book Movies - because we don’t argue enough!
Popularity: 11% [?]
Categories: Top five |
Tags: armageddon, id4 independence day, Jack Bauer, mars attacks, The Core, tom jones, voyage to the bottom of the sea | 29 Comments
April 23rd, 2008
There has been some minor media attention into the pizza industry here in Australia in regards to the sizes of the pizzas. Specifically the shrinking of them over recent time, highlighted specifically by one franchise who at this point in time has not started making their pizzas smaller.
They targeted one of the franchises that have started serving smaller pizzas in their advertising which caused the targeted pizza company to complain and thus bring more attention to the story.
The biggest complaint that I can see from a consumer point of view is that there was no reduction in price when the smaller pizzas came into play, there was also no announcement although I can’t imagine how one could spin that successfully in advertising.
On second thoughts, perhaps I can, perhaps this is not really a bad thing after all? You see the thought occurs to me that there are an awful lot of people overweight here in Australia, and I imagine elsewhere as well in the western world. Part of the problem lies in serving portions, we’re simply eating too much.
So would a couple of grams less of pizza not be a beneficial thing? I mean I guess if one is really that hungry you could always buy two (which most of their deals give discounts on anyway). But should we not eat a little less of something fatty like pizza?
I certainly don’t think that this is the reason that the franchises have decided to tighten the sizes of their pizzas but I can see how it could be a beneficial side effect. We got pizza the other night as a very rare treat (one of the few fast foods that don’t blast my blood sugar into the stratosphere) and the size of the pizza was pretty much spot on for what we wanted.
Of course it would be cool too if they could make single size pizza but I guess it isn’t economical. Oh and don’t worry this lapse of corporate harmony and understanding won’t last, next week I’m sure I’ll be blasting on about some company screwing the little guy!
Ummmm I might go get some pizza for dinner tonight.
Popularity: 13% [?]
Categories: Stuff |
Tags: australia, pizza industry, pizzas, serving portions, size pizza | 10 Comments
April 21st, 2008
Something that has been giving me a lot of joy over the past couple of weeks is Lolcats, here are a couple that made me giggle with absolute joy.
see more crazy cat pics
Popularity: 6% [?]
Categories: Stuff |
Tags: cheezburger, lolcats | 8 Comments
April 20th, 2008
As part of my reading challenge (to read three books in as many weeks) I realised that I haven’t been indulging in much comic book reading of late and I have a huge backlog thanks to digital comics.
One of the series I am interested in catching up on from day one is Robin. I was reading and collecting Batman at the time when Tim Drake became Robin and have always been interested in his career, if only for this fact (eighteen years or something now - wow).
Tim was actually the very first Robin to have his own mini series.
So I went back and grabbed the first mini-series which took place immediately after Tim was given the mantle of Robin. The storyline is simply that after being confirmed by Batman as Robin Tim feels like he hasn’t earned the right to be Robin and goes away to Paris to train with a master martial artist, sort of like how Bruce Wayne did in his early years.
It was a five part mini series and if you haven’t read it before it really fills in some blanks for some of the storyline showing up later in the Batman mythology. Especially Lynx who was still an ongoing character up until 2006 and King Snake who I thought was killed but apparently survived several encounters.
We also discover why Robin chose a Bo staff as his weapon of choice.
The story and art holds up today, if you can get past Tim getting his arse handed to him for pretty much the entire first issue as he trains at the dojo and then by some ex CIA or FBI guy and then later on by Shiva. Apparently taking a beating makes the Robin.
I don’t know though if it was worth five whole issues though, I would have possibly wrapped up the main story in possibly three and maybe have him finish the training he actually sought out in the first place.
Of course it must be said that my reading the early Robins is simply leading me up to a post titled: how much do I hate Robin’s current costume?
Popularity: 8% [?]
Categories: Comics |
Tags: Batman, Comics, Robin, tim drake | 8 Comments
April 19th, 2008
I felt that the worst decision of the Star Trek: The Next Generation’s movies was the death of Captain Kirk, well probably not so much his death but certainly the way it came about. The second worst decision: The Borg Queen.
Yes I know that First Contact is the best of the TNG films but the moment the Borg Queen was introduced I think the Borg themselves were weakened. This trend continued on in Voyager as the Borg Queen made her reappearance and at some stage actually negotiated with Janeway?!
You see the thing which always made the Borg great is that they were mad scary. No reasoning with, no individuals to take down, they were just a faceless wall of assimilating horror.
The reason why I stir up this hornet’s nest is that the Borg are the focus of Star Trek TNG: Resistance the novel by J.M. Dillard. Set a few months after the events of Nemesis… Ok don’t groan, it isn’t Nemesis! People really loath that film, I mean it wasn’t THAT bad!?
Before I go on I need to let you know that there are spoilers coming, I’ll try to keep it to a minimum but I can’t promise anything and just to get the ball rolling so you can gauge the level of disappointment you’ll feel as you read spoilers is the secret that the good guys win in the end!
There, still with me?
Great.
So a lot of the regulars are no longer there having moved on or died and there are a couple of new faces or should I call them red-shirts (wink wink)? B4 (Data’s double) is done away really quickly with, J.D. must have felt that he was a dud character, not exactly a lonely position to take.
So the long and the short of the book is simply the Borg have regrouped and are spawning a new queen, Picard senses this and take off, disobeying Admiral Janeway’s direct orders and decides to destroy the Borg before they go on a bloody rampage.
You see the Borg no longer care about assimilation they only care about revenge and killing all humans. There is a particularly tense scene where this fact is discovered and a red shirt has the chance to report back ‘they kill on sight now’ with his dying breath.
There are a couple of ‘love’ stories that are handled really awkwardly and I really didn’t enjoy picturing Picard and Crusher in bed together, let’s not talk of it again…please!
Overall a pleasant enough read that doesn’t really boldly go anywhere, such is the curse of writing a Star Trek paperback.
This was book one in my three week reading challenge and the next book I’m going to read is another Trek book: The Starless World by Gordon Eklund which is barely one year younger than I am (I’m 31 soon… God that sounds awful).
Popularity: 12% [?]
Categories: Books, Star Trek |
Tags: admiral janeway, borg queen, first contact, j m dillard, nemesis, picard, resistance, star trek the next generation, star trek tng, the next generation, TNG | 7 Comments
April 18th, 2008
It should be of no great surprise that Bill Murray is one of my favourite actors and anyone who reads this blog with any frequency will already know the number one film in this list. Murray is intriguing also for the fact that he refuses to have an agent, reportedly he has a phone number with message bank that he infrequently checks.
- Ghostbusters (1984) - Don’t even bother debating the subject, one of those perfect films, had an extraordinary impact on my life and even holds up today despite some less than brilliant special effects (by today’s standard that is). So many fantastic lines, so many awesome scenes, it’s just Ghostbusters. The sequel sadly enough illustrates the point that even bad Ghostbusters is ok. Bring on CGI Ghostbusters 3.
- The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) - I find his portrayal of Steve Zissou a funny, tragic and moving performance as is the case in all of his Wes Anderson characters. A lot of critics really disliked this film but quite frankly I’m not too concerned about a lot of critics. My life feels richer for experiencing this film.
- Ed Wood (1994) - Another film that seems to get its fair share of bad reviews and similarly another film I feel richer for experiencing. Murray camps it up as Bunny and Tim Burton delivers a wonderful tribute to an often misunderstood director (as accurate as the film may or may not be).
- Stripes (1981) - Funniest half a film I’ve seen him in, the first half of this film makes up easily for the confused and plodding second half.
- Coffee and Cigarettes (2003) - This is an odd choice for the fifth spot and many will complain about no Groundhog Day or Scrooged, both of which were serious contenders for this spot. The film Coffee and Cigarettes itself gets the movie across the line as I love the collection of short movies one of which features Bill Murray. If you haven’t seen it then I greatly recommend it for a series of short personal reflections that feature coffee and of course cigarettes.
There is a very long list of films that easily could be on this list, but there are only five spots and I’m not bumping one of these films for Charlie’s Angels so don’t even bother suggesting it :).
Next week: It’s the end of the world…
Update: I’ve finished the first novel so I’m right on track, just have to choose the next one, probably stick with the Star Trek theme.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Categories: Top five |
Tags: Bill Murray, Coffee and Cigarettes, Ed Wood, Ghostbusters, Steve Zissou, Stripes, Top five, Wes Anderson | 19 Comments
