As a reminder, Chris Roberson's hotly anticipated new series Memorial starts on Wednesday. If you're in Austin, he'll be at Austin Books and Comics in the afternoon from 1-4 to sign copies (I'm getting my copy signed).
If'n you haven't read any of Chris' work, this is a great opportunity to jump on and see why I keep talking about this guy.
Some other stuff:
Tintin - Secret of the Unicorn: I'm the guy who keeps going "oooooooooh...!" at the trailer for the new Tintin movie, and so I read the book Secret of the Unicorn this week. Its a very manageable volume, but also, apparently, part 1 of the story. So, while I was a bit thrown by the fact that the story didn't actually end, I also just emailed Austin Books to see if they had a copy of the subsequent volumes.
As you know, I'm a Scrooge and Donald Duck fan, and this is in roughly the same sort of vein of high adventure, but with a lot of goofy stuff happening around the characters and our heroes being a bit off-kilter themselves. Its also amazing how much of a master of the form Hergé was as far back as these stories first appeared. Today's action strip artists could most certainly learn quite a bit about pacing and scene management from Tintin.
Incorruptible Volume 4: I've been a fan of Mark Waid's "superhero" work at Boom! with the pairing of Irredeemable and Incorruptible. I did fall a bit behind on my reading of these series, and I'm now trying to catch up, but I hadn't forgotten how much I like how Waid's exploring the central thesis in each book of the hero turned mad/ WMD, and the villain who, in a world gone crazy sees the only sensible thing to do is fight on the side of the angels, even if he has no idea how that works and the people around him are all terribly, humanly uneven in their own approaches to life.
Just a great series for the superhero fan who can't deal with another reboot, civil war, etc... Its some dark stuff, but its smartly done and is genuinely building a coherent storyline. Someting I'm not sure you can say about most of the New 52.
Film. Comics. Sci-Fi. Superheroes. Pulp. Noir. History. Superman. 20th Century Archaeology.
Monday, December 19, 2011
It is remarkably hard to write a non-trite Christmas story
I had an idea that I would try something new this year and try to write a Christmas story. It turns out that, in the short story format, this is very hard.
Of course, the short story format is an enormous challenge to begin with, but add in the complication of the sentiment and sentimentality of Christmas, you can either go sweet and twee, or you can go dark and maybe just end up wallowing in an obvious bit of cynicism or horror that really doesn't get anyone anywhere.
One of the challenges that Hollywood faces, that I've become acutely aware of, is that the message of Christmas is a generic "believe" or "fill yourself with the spirit of Christmas", but what one is to believe, or how one defines the spirit of Christmas (or what that spirit should then encourage one to do), is never really explored.
Of course, the short story format is an enormous challenge to begin with, but add in the complication of the sentiment and sentimentality of Christmas, you can either go sweet and twee, or you can go dark and maybe just end up wallowing in an obvious bit of cynicism or horror that really doesn't get anyone anywhere.
One of the challenges that Hollywood faces, that I've become acutely aware of, is that the message of Christmas is a generic "believe" or "fill yourself with the spirit of Christmas", but what one is to believe, or how one defines the spirit of Christmas (or what that spirit should then encourage one to do), is never really explored.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
To me, fashion is a mistur-ee
I recently saw this image online at the NY Times Magazines tumblr. This is the latest collection from designer Thakoon Panichugal.
This picture is the worst thing I have ever seen.
Call me kooky, but this outfit is a mishmash of clothes randomly pulled off the shelf from a box store and put on a really dumb person suffering from malnutrition. I am led to believe that this poor, sick girl has gotten lost on a tour of the house where James K. Polk spent his post-presidency golden years. She cannot see to the end of the room.
I do not understand fashion.
This picture is the worst thing I have ever seen.
Call me kooky, but this outfit is a mishmash of clothes randomly pulled off the shelf from a box store and put on a really dumb person suffering from malnutrition. I am led to believe that this poor, sick girl has gotten lost on a tour of the house where James K. Polk spent his post-presidency golden years. She cannot see to the end of the room.
I do not understand fashion.
San Fran in Jan(uary)
Heads up, Bay Area folks.
So, in January I'm headed for San Francisco.
I arrive on the 19th. I had originally planned to run around the city and whatnot the first night, but it turns out that its the first night of the San Francisco SketchFest. As part of the Sketchfest, the crew from RiffTrax is performing on night 1 of the SketchFest. So, while this means I may have a problem with the Alpha Plan of @#$%in' &%#@ up in San Francisco on the 19th, it does mean I get to go to SketchFest see the guys from RiffTrax do a bunch of shorts. And that is awesome! (and, no doubt, means extra time hangin' with The Dug and a more likely scenario of seeing MikeF and others)
Oddly, the event is at the Castro, where I will also be the following few days.
The schedule and tickets are now available for Noir City X, the tenth installment of the Eddie Muller-helmed Film Noir Fest.
I'm in and out of town fairly quickly as a man can only afford to stay in one place too long, and the fact that every time I leave work for a few days, some disaster is awaiting me on the other side.
I'm pretty darned excited. The line-up for both before and after I'm there features some great films I've seen and a long list of films I haven't seen. If you live in the area, take advantage.
I am a bit down that I'll miss Naked Alibi on Thursday, which features both Sterling Hayden and Gloria Grahame (and I've been trying to track it down for a while), and it seems this year they've moved the party to the second weekend, so I'm missing that. But they did add Angie Dickinson to talk Point Blank, which is a great movie, so I'll get to see her in person.
But I also will be looking to fill days while I'm around, so if you have helpful touristy hints for me that don't involve wandering The Tenderloin in a Batman costume, I'd like to hear them.
So, in January I'm headed for San Francisco.
I arrive on the 19th. I had originally planned to run around the city and whatnot the first night, but it turns out that its the first night of the San Francisco SketchFest. As part of the Sketchfest, the crew from RiffTrax is performing on night 1 of the SketchFest. So, while this means I may have a problem with the Alpha Plan of @#$%in' &%#@ up in San Francisco on the 19th, it does mean I get to go to SketchFest see the guys from RiffTrax do a bunch of shorts. And that is awesome! (and, no doubt, means extra time hangin' with The Dug and a more likely scenario of seeing MikeF and others)
Oddly, the event is at the Castro, where I will also be the following few days.
The schedule and tickets are now available for Noir City X, the tenth installment of the Eddie Muller-helmed Film Noir Fest.
I'm in and out of town fairly quickly as a man can only afford to stay in one place too long, and the fact that every time I leave work for a few days, some disaster is awaiting me on the other side.
I'm pretty darned excited. The line-up for both before and after I'm there features some great films I've seen and a long list of films I haven't seen. If you live in the area, take advantage.
I am a bit down that I'll miss Naked Alibi on Thursday, which features both Sterling Hayden and Gloria Grahame (and I've been trying to track it down for a while), and it seems this year they've moved the party to the second weekend, so I'm missing that. But they did add Angie Dickinson to talk Point Blank, which is a great movie, so I'll get to see her in person.
But I also will be looking to fill days while I'm around, so if you have helpful touristy hints for me that don't involve wandering The Tenderloin in a Batman costume, I'd like to hear them.
Happy Birthday, JimD
edit. Oh, hell. Apparently tomorrow is Jim's birthday. Just consider this an early present on Jim's B-Day Eve
we don't do birthdays around here much anymore. But it's Jim D's B-Day, and I remembered.
we don't do birthdays around here much anymore. But it's Jim D's B-Day, and I remembered.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
SW Advent Calendar December 17
You know, I just don't see this happening in a current issue of Batman or Detective Comics. But its nice to know that Batman and Robin, once upon a time, totally got into the Christmas spirit.
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