May 30th, 2008
This is obviously going to be a very personal list, which in reality, apart from all of the tough scientific testing I usually do is the case for all of these lists. Â I wanted to get a little away from the movies and comics and cartoons that usually dominate the Friday Top Five and look at other areas of popular culture starting with literature.
Now I’m not a book snob, obviously there are genres that I am less keen on than others but I honestly recognise popular literature over classically high class literature. Â I love most books equally.
These five books certainly may not be the best novels ever written but they each have left an imprint on me and my life.
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S Thompson taught me that a book didn’t have to be like a normal reading experience. Â If there was any doubt in your mind at all, after finishing Fear and Loathing you know that Hunter hit up the pharmaceuticals rather hard, there’s no way this book could have been written otherwise. Â The novel reads like a literature equivalent of jazz as the narrative pops on highs and lows throughout as we follow Raoul Duke on his quest for the lost American dream. Â I almost replaced this with The Rum Diary also by Thompson, written much earlier in his life and I often find myself thinking about it.
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- The Wind in the Willows - this extraordinary novel written in 1908 made its author Kenneth Grahame enough money that he was able to quit his day job which he hated (he was a banker) and was able to spend his time messing around in boats. Â I love the pacing in the book that is often described as too slow but I think it suits the characters. Â The biggest reason though that this book is in this list is that it was the very first book I read.
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- Fight Club - You never really know yourself until you hit rock bottom, something that I really appreciate and has stuck with me since reading this novel. Â It’s disturbing and violent but also discusses issues about a man’s place in society or how we define ourselves through commercialism. Â If you’ve only ever seen the movie you make time to read the book.
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- The Return - well a Star Trek book had to make the list but this one is pretty much my favourite Trek novel as it is a bit of a fanboy session, you have all the Star Trek series up to this stage crossing over and of course Kirk comes back to life after that stupid death. Â There is a great connection made between V’Ger and the Borg - ok you have to be a Trek geek to get that. Oh and Shatner wrote it.
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- Skymaze - This one may not be as well known outside of Australia it is the sequel to Space Demons written by Gillian Rubinstein. Â It’s a science fiction books aimed at teens and deals with the themes of growing up, think Degrassi meets Tron, as it is about a computer game that you literally get sucked into and play for real. Â Skymaze was I think a more well rounded story line and I read it when I was the same age as the kids in the book. Â The third one wasn’t as good if I remember because the author seemed obsessed with Japanese culture and focused on it more than the story. Â I can tell you though if she were to write another one where the teens are now middle aged I’d grab it in a second.
There are plenty of other books that could make the list, my first movie-tie-in novel Ghostbusters for example or The Never-ending Story, The Odyssey, the Rama novels, The Time Machine… it could go on.
So what books have made an imprint on you?
Next week we’re looking at music.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Categories: Top five |
Tags: fear and loathing in las vegas, Fight Club, Friday top five, hunter s thompson, kenneth grahame, raoul duke, Shatner, Skymaze, Space Demons, The Return, The Rum Diary, Top five, wind in the willows | 24 Comments
May 29th, 2008
Oh well unfortunately this scan is all that’s left of this drawing because I stuffed up inking it. Â I wanted to use a light brown pen to do all the actual shadow and I just completely ruined it, the pen was not very good at the same time which is still my fault as I didn’t test it before hand.
I should have drawn all the shading in pencil first but I was going for a much more natural feel.
It is a real shame actually because I really love the drawing, it is probably closest I feel to my natural style - Iron Man’s movement in it felt natural as I drew it and because it’s a chunky character thanks to the early armour it lends itself well to the style.
I may still try and resurrect the image on a different drawing.
Popularity: 10% [?]
Categories: Art, Comics |
Tags: drawing, iron man, pencils, Shellhead | 7 Comments
May 28th, 2008
A while ago Marvel comics ‘killed’ Captain America and had him replaced unsurprisingly with his former sidekick Bucky (I think that’s the character, I don’t really read Captain America, I’m an Avengers man and don’t follow his individual story lines really). Â Well what is even more unsurprising is that after a while and a new costume it appears that good ol Steve Rogers is back.
I don’t know, I think I’ll just be happy when the status quo is back and Steve is Captain America again (just in time for the movie too). Â Cool cover too.
The comic at the top is from I AM GEEK which is a really funny comic strip aimed at funnily enough, geeks.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Categories: Comics |
Tags: captain america, I AM GEEK, marvel comics, steve rogers | 3 Comments
May 28th, 2008
So I forgot to mention the other day that the book I was reading but mislaid has been found and I’ve started back in on it.
The book is Hidden Empire: Book One in the Saga of the Seven Suns and I’m about sixty pages in and it hasn’t stopped introducing new characters. Â It has a fantasy novel kind of feel to it, at least what I imagine a fantasy novel would be like. Â I’m not a big fantasy novel reader so I asked Tracey if it were normal for fantasy novels to spend such a long time introducing huge numbers of characters.
She told me sometimes.
Probably why I don’t read fantasy novels. Â The book is very well written and I’ve bought all six that have been released so I’ll definitely stick with it.
Popularity: 7% [?]
Categories: Books |
Tags: fantasy novels, hidden empire, Kevin J Anderson, saga of the seven suns | 6 Comments
May 27th, 2008
I know I said I’d avoid doing posts where I just point at something and leave it at that, but I mean seriously, this cat has a real Christina Ricci face on it!
It’s freaking me out slightly.
more cat pictures
Popularity: 7% [?]
Categories: Stuff |
Tags: cheezburger, Christina Ricci, lolcats | 9 Comments
May 26th, 2008
Whenever someone new happens to bid the highest on my ad space and they show up in my sidebar I make the effort to click on the link and have a look at their site.
I’m lucky I guess because a lot of advertisers happen to be comic book artists and so I’ve happened to see a couple of cool ideas floating around out there that have now become a constant read.
This brings me to the character Jenny Everywhere, a character who is open source, that is you are welcome to write about her and feature her in your stories as long as you acknowledge the open source status:
The character of Jenny Everywhere is available for use by anyone, with only one condition. This paragraph must be included in any publication involving Jenny Everywhere, in order that others may use this property as they wish. All rights reversed.
I think this is really clever and really interesting and I’m really inspired by the idea so I’m going to have to draw a picture of her! Â If Jenny is still in the sidebar click on her ad (go on click the other ads too!!!) Â or if not check out these links:
Popularity: 7% [?]
Categories: QYDJ |
Tags: comic book artists, Comics, Jenny Everywhere, open source character | 2 Comments
May 26th, 2008
I’m wondering what return the studios are expecting from the upcoming Sex and the City film. Â I think that it is going to be excellent and I’m actually really looking forward to it. Â I got hooked on the show after Tracey introduced me to it.
I think that it is very cool that the girls decided to go the movie route instead of the telemovie path but I’m interested what type of returns the studio is hoping for. Â How much of a box office share will the film take off Indy?
Completely different demographic I expect, very few gophers probably.
See I can’t imagine non fans going and seeing the film at the cinema, maybe they’ll be interested enough to give it a look, but again I can’t imagine the storyline will be as rewarding as it would had you seen the series?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m hoping and expecting it to be a success, I’m just wondering is all.
Popularity: 7% [?]
Categories: Movies |
Tags: Movies, sex and the city | 10 Comments
May 25th, 2008
I finally got about to watching Cloverfield and I know this will horrify Arjan but I actually really enjoyed it.
Like a Blair Witch Project with a much better budget.
Something that was a little freaky though was that they mentioned the date that the event was actually happening on and it was actually the date we were watching it!? Â It was just a little weird coincidence and we weren’t even going to watch it, we just happened to be up late and I thought why not watch it since there was nothing on telly except some skin care commercial.
So when the guy mentioned the date I didn’t even notice, Tracey sat up in bed and said “that’s weird, that’s today’s date”.
Cool.
What did you all think of Cloverfield?
Oh and did you see the object (I’m assuming it’s the monster) land in the ocean in the last scene?
Popularity: 5% [?]
Categories: Movies |
Tags: blair witch project, cloverfield | 14 Comments
May 24th, 2008
Me thinks that I spoke too soon with the top five movie let-downs because we have a new contender. Â Actually not a contender, we have a clear and present winner of the title.
I actually didn’t want to look forward to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in the first place, when it was announced my initial reaction was an issue about the age of Harrison Ford (which is completely unfounded I might add) tinged with memories of the new Star Wars and War of the Worlds.
But then the trailer came out and I began to slightly hold out hope that it was going to be as fun as the previous ones. Â Actually over the last week or so after coming down off the high that was Iron Man I was downright excited and rushed out to see the film this morning.
It’s not to say that there isn’t some great stuff in the film, it’s just really thin on the ground and outweighed by the other crap. Â The actors are all great with what they’ve got and I blame two men, Spielberg and Lucas.
Now there are going to be some spoilers, I’m not going to give the major plot out but I will elude to it, let me just say that the trailers for this film have completely ignored the plot and not focused one little second to the actual theme running through the film.
Now the spoilers will begin, if you are really excited to see this film and don’t wish to be tainted by my negative take then I suggest you come back tomorrow.
You see it is hard not to discuss plot points directly in order to explain the problems this film faces and how wrong it is. Â Please believe me when I say I desperately wanted to love this film!!!
Here goes…
Last chance…
Spoilers begin now…
- Unnecessary gophers. Â If you seen the film, you’ll know what I mean and if you like them I can’t help you.
- Unnecessary car sequence.
- Area 51 is guarded by five guys in total?
- Area 51 seems to store a lot of empty boxes, or boxes full of saw dust.
- Area 51 is a very unimpressive matte painting.
- Magnetism is not selective by object
- Where was the smoking man?
- Unnecessary nuclear explosion
- Completely bullshit way of surviving a nuclear explosion
- Unnecessary subplot about FBI that just goes away
- More effing gophers?!?!!?
- Forced introduction to Marcus Brody replacement
- Bad production stills from previous films being passed off as ‘photos’
- Statues heads don’t fall off so easily even for a joke
- Indy loses his hat! Â No he doesn’t go back and get it, he cold loses it and then it shows up again
- Bad Australian/Russian accent
- Wildly comic bookish main villain
- Indy trusts the guy who double crossed him again and then is double crossed again like an idiot
- Plot stolen from Chariots of the Gods and the X-Files
- Crystal skull obviously plastic as it seems to weigh nothing despite being supposedly solid crystal
- Forget the gophers we now have monkeys
- Unnecessary and stupid swinging on vines scene
- CGI ants that give up for no reason
- Completely and utterly ridiculous falls over waterfalls in car/boat three times
- Villains would be unable to follow heroes through to the end but did somehow, which was handy because otherwise they would have missed the;
- end of X-Files Fight the Future with less snow
- horribly done doors blowing open
- finally I was annoyed that the Close Encounters greeting tones weren’t played
Ok that list is longer than I expected and frankly I’m sure I can add some more to it but I’m kind of feeling a little betrayed because they took a character from my childhood and put him in an awful movie. Â And it didn’t have to be that way because like I mentioned the actors are all fine except for the villain and I have no idea what happened to her!!
It also makes me kind of sad that this is getting such good reviews that don’t address any of the problems, or the plot, like they’re being cautious because no one says bad things about Indiana Jones.
I hope they make a fifth and they make it better to wash the taste of this one out of my mouth.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Categories: Movies |
Tags: Indiana Jones, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull | 21 Comments
May 23rd, 2008
Sometimes there’s a movie that you don’t know anything about, or you’ve only heard bad things and then when you bring yourself to watch it you are really surprised, pleasantly surprised!
Well it’s Friday so it’s Friday Top Five time and here are my Top five surprising little gems of a film!
- From Dusk Till Dawn - I had no idea about this film, it came out in a time before widespread internet, actually I might not have even owned a computer at the time at all!  At any rate it was my birthday, I was intoxicated and wearing a very bright Hawaiian shirt.  “Hey we should go check out that new Tarantino film.”  “Tarantino has a new film?  Cool.” So up to the cinema we rock, somehow bought tickets and stumbled into the theatre.  Wall to wall Goths and I’m talking serious long haired, middle aged Charles Manson looking Goths.  I vaguely recall one of them commenting on my shirt and me thinking that I was going to die.  Anyway the movie comes up and it feels like a Tarantino flick, there are guns, crime and of course Tarantino is there.  Hey Clooney is cool, he holds a gun coolly and delivers one of my now favourite movie lines (Your best better get a hell of a lot effing  better or you’re going to feel a hell of lot effing worse).  OK the boys are now at some Mexican bar and Salma Hayek (my first introduction to her) is coming out to perform the dance of evil or whatever.  Fair enough, doesn’t seem that evil…  SWEET JESUS she just became a vampire and bit Tarantino!  Sober in three seconds.  Everyone is a vampire.  Damn I didn’t see that coming, how cool is this!?
- The Big Lebowski - I knew of it, I had already experienced the genius that is the Coen brothers but hadn’t really gotten around to checking the film out. Â Some Sunday afternoon, nothing else to do, watch what I now know as one of the most brilliant films ever and introduce myself to The Dude. Â What isn’t great about this film? Â Awesome, awesome, awesome.
- Jason X - Oh dear, they made it to Friday the 13th ten, who would have seen that? Â Probably the same people who made Police Academy Mission to Moscow (no that is not on this list!). Â Ok so it isn’t the greatest film on the planet, or any planet for that matter. Â But I really enjoyed it for some reason, it was dumb as these films are supposed to be but then Jason gets an upgrade and it gets even sillier. Â Actually maybe I’m mixing some of this up with Leprechaun in Space or maybe the Hellraiser set in space?
- Future Cop/Trancers - I honestly only got this out because there was nothing else on the shelves that I hadn’t already seen. Â You have no idea how glad I was too! Â It is a lot of fun, low budget silly fun with great one liners.
- Eurotrip - I pretty much figured that I had outgrown films like this despite still enjoying the American Pie films. Â This was on late one night and I thought why not as it started, apparently Scotty didn’t know and I didn’t look back! Â It is now one of my favourite comedies and I constantly find myself cracking up when I think about it. Â Tracey always laughs whenever we quote “you’re a very special boy“. Â I like the song of course and the French robot.
I actually found this list really hard to write, I couldn’t think of any apart from the first two at first and I’m not convinced on Jason X because I’m thinking I’ve merged it in my mind with those other films mentioned.
So what films have you been totally taken by surprise how good it was or how much you enjoyed it (the film doesn’t have to be good to enjoy it!)?
Popularity: 8% [?]
Categories: Top five |
Tags: big lebowski, eurotrip, Friday top five, from dusk till dawn, future cop, jason x, Top five, trancers | 16 Comments
