I totally did not get the point of "Time Masters: Vanishing Point" (also: "Tales of the GL Corps Vol. 3")

En route to Florida and then in Florida, I read a few trades I'd had stacked up.  I purchased last year's Time Masters: Vanishing Point as solicitation copy suggested it filled in some gaps from Grant Morrison's Batman opus from Final Crisis to The Return of Bruce Wayne.  Moreover, it featured Booster Gold, Green Lantern, and Superman, and that's like DC insisting I give them money.

Ostensibly, this is a series about Superman and Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) teaming up with known time-traveler Rip Hunter and unknown-time-traveler Booster Gold to find Batman, whom they have realized isn't dead as believed, but lost in time.  Except that...  absolutely no Batman searching occurs after the first few pages of the series, and the rest is an odd-mish-mash of updating copyright placeholders on unpopular DC characters and reminding you that you're not reading other, better comics, including Booster Gold. 

Forward!  To utter nonsense and disappointment!

New GL Movie Trailer is Green Lantern Concept in a Nutshell

So, WB/ DC Entertainment released a new trailer for the upcoming Green Lantern movie.

I am not going to be gutsy enough to say "The Green Lantern isn't a superhero", because that's not really true. I spent an hour today reading a reprint of Green Lantern comics where a PACK of GL's were stopping a simple bank robbery in flashy costumes using powers.

But what I would say is that the definition of "superhero" in movie review terms has recently cycled back around to becoming immediately dismissive, and that in showing the beginnings of these character's stories in a movie, reviewers are (falsely, if you ask me) insisting that it's all the same story. Now, I'd be a pretty ridiculous blogger if I suggested that the screenplays aren't finding ways to distill those stories down to certain beats or a formula, but... isn't that just true by the nature of the beast when it comes to movie-making for big-budget pictures?  But I can see how reviewers with no dog in the fight are getting a bit worn out by all-origins, all-the-time with comic characters getting translated to the big screen.

Anyhow, what I do like is that WB/ DCE is savvy enough to see a need to explain to audiences prior to the GL's release that this will be more of a space-action movie with some action occurring on Earth, or at least find a new way to spin GL and how this movie is going to be different from Thor, Captain America and what else they've seen before (and how, honestly, GL fits into the pantheon of comic based characters).

I know the "recruit into a cosmic space-force" is what I find interesting about the Green Lantern on first blush*, and I think its a good call to make it crystal clear that, hey...  this is sort of a space-opera.  Especially as I suspect by a third movie, we'll be going full-on Sinestro Corps War. 




*enough so that I didn't find GL particularly compelling when DC decided to get RID of the Corps back in the 1980's and totally eliminate

Last Night on Earth at Downtown Disney

In college, I recall some friends and I worked on a piecemeal screenplay that took place on the last night on Earth. I don't really remember if anyone else turned their pages in or not. All I recall about one of my sections was that it was called "An Expotition to the North Pole" in honor of the Winnie-The-Pooh story by AA Milne. Memories are hazy, but it was intended to be a sort of cheerful tale of people deciding that they would decide they'd found enlightenment because they didn't have a lot of time and this was probably good enough, what with the world ending and nobody around to judge, anyway, come tomorrow.

So there's, of course, some small possibility that we aren't going to make it past tomorrow. Or whatever random date in 2012 the Mayans predicted some Q-named serpent sun god would come and invoke Ragnarok or whatever. I don't know. I suspect that the folks making the prediction are incorrect, and if they did stumble upon their onw Da Vinci Code, I confess that I hope The Rapture doesn't happen until after 1:00 PM Central Time, because I should be back in Austin by then. Should it happen between 12:00 AM and 9:25 AM Eastern, I shall still be in Florida, and Orlando seems like an odd place to try to find yourself as the angels are summoning seven-headed, ten-horned beasts. Forget about being at a Holiday Inn just outside the Gates of The Happiest Place on Earth.

This Dude Really, Really Enjoyed the Smallville Finale

So... this guy really, really enjoyed the Smallville finale.



And its probably the only time its okay to hear someone passionately shouting "show it! Show it!" at someone removing clothing and not get completely skeeved.

Well, honestly, I'm still a little skeeved.

Thanks to Jeff S for the link.

Oh, right. I have a blog.

Hey.  So...  I am at a conference in Orlando, right outside the gates of Disney World.  I am still unsure if I will have time, money or the inclination to actually go to Disney World while I am here.  I only have about 8 hours to do so, so it would be one park and done.  I keep thinking I really DO like The Magic Kingdom, and I haven't been in a decade.  And its also the most likely place I'd stumble into Donald Duck, so it might happen. 

The conference is actually very nice, and I had a lovely dinner out this evening with some folks from a vendor.  I have literally never seen a swordfish steak as big as the one I ate tonight.  Much like The Old Man and the Sea, in the end, the swordfish defeated me, only with a sad lack of poetry, symbolism or story.

Jamie and I now both have iPhone 4's, and so its been nice to do face-to-face video-conference-style chatting since we're not together.  Its nice to see her while we're talking since I won't be home until Saturday.

I am tired, and so that's all you'll get from me this evening. 

Oh, except this, which is for Nathan as he works his way through a few Sophia Loren movies as he's working on an article.

there's nothing that a little Sophia Loren can't make better

A Potpourri of Random Bits

Off to Sweet FLA

So, tomorrow I am off to Orlando, Florida.  I am attending a small, but nation-wide conference of folks interested in theses and dissertations.  Its a part of what we do at my office, this business of dealing with how universities accept electronic copies of theses and dissertations, process them and put them into internet repositories.

I am actually presenting, which is always fun.  If you people think I like shooting my mouth off here, give me a live audience that can't leave.  The conference is right next to Disney World, but I think its a little creepy for a guy in his mid-30's to spend time alone in the Magic Kingdom, so I will likely be taking a pass on all that.  That said, I LOVE Disney World.  I really do.  Space Mountain, The Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Hall of Presidents, Future World, Donald Duck, Mickey, Minnie, Pluto...  the whole shebang.  Very fond memories of going with my family as a kid, and very fond memories of going with Jamie about 11 years ago.  Wow.  Like, exactly 11 years ago.

So, I have no idea what my blogging schedule will be.

On the plane I'm taking two books:  1)  American Gods, which I've started but not finished, and 2) The Long Fall, which Jason read and it sounds exactly like something I'd enjoy, so...

Flashpoint

I hadn't planned to read DC's summer series, Flashpoint, as it was released, but its starting to sound like if you aren't up to speed when this thing ends, the DCU could be a confusing place for sometime.  I was planning to pick up the Lois Lane spin-off, so I might as well grab the main series.

Noir Watch: Pushover

Pushover isn't a top-flight flick, but its a nice study in building drama and tension and a chance to see Kim Novak in not just one of her first credited performances, but as a leading lady. And, of course, the always weird sight of Fred MacMurray in a noir role.

The story is a small-scale pot boiler about temptation, moral gray areas and what a great idea we can all find Kim Novak.  Novak plays the kept-girl of an on-the-lam bank robber (Lona McLane), and MacMurray a cop (Paul Sheridan) who picks her up awhen he's supposed to charm some information out of her, and see if she can tell the cops where her boyfriend is hiding out.  The two fall hard for each other, and suddenly everything is up for grabs. The two scheme a bit, and figure there's a way to hang onto the dough the boyfriend picked up in his latest robbery.  The cops are particularly hot to find him as, during the last robbery, someone got shot.

...and that was Smallville - 10 final things

This is all spoilery, so if you're way, way behind on the series or actually like the series, I'd suggest you click off to some other place on the internet.  Here, this puppy is very cute.  Look at this.

So, this last Friday (the 13th, no less), Smallville did wrap up.  And we've already talked about our feelings on the program here.  

The show did some things I wasn't sure I'd ever see.  Apokolips, the actual, entire planet, made it to TV, floating in from behind Saturn (the show wrestled with scale with the planet, but... whatever).  We briefly saw a CGI Darkseid, so Darkseid has now made it onto live TV, in a way.  Most importantly, we saw Clark fly.  The FX weren't great, and the first thing Clark did was get some speed in the air and straight up blow up a guy with HIS FISTS*, but he flew.

But...  but...

On the topic of Wonder Woman not getting picked up by NBC

There are many kinds of people in this world and these different people have different sets of tastes.  There are also many kinds of stories in this world, and many ways of telling stories.  Mass media, especially television and its model of "who is watching now (and please don't skip the ads)" doesn't deal with either of these facts particularly well.

don't fear, America.  You will never see the latex-clad Wonder Woman on your TV screens.

I am a fan of the Wonder Woman character (albeit, not as big a fan as some).  I am not a fan of much of the work of David E. Kelley, most famous for his role as the creator of Ally McBeal, but also creator of Boston Legal, Snoops, Girls Club, Boston Public, The Wedding Bells and a dozen other projects.  I will confess that I liked Lake Placid.  I always like movies about giant alligators.

Signal Watch Reads: Superman 711

Superman 711
Written by:  Chris Roberson (with nominal input via JMS)
Penciller:  Eddy Barrows
Inker:  JP Mayer
Colors:  Rod Reis
Letters:  John J Hill
Editors:  Wil Moss & Matt Idleson

insert "gets a real charge out of" or "finds this shocking" joke here

With each passing issue, you can only hope that DC realizes what they've got on their hands with Chris Roberson's Superman. I am certain editors Idleson and Moss know, and I can only cross my fingers and hope that after this Grounded storyline is in the rearview mirror, they have plans to let Roberson bring his magic back to Metropolis.