Ann Miller brings some Holiday Cheer

Hey!  Christmas Eve is in less than two weeks, so it's time to start panicking.  But not Ann Miller!  She's adorned her tree with a spear head for some reason, and she's already got a mess of presents ready to go.  It looks like she's standing in moss in an infinite void, so she's got that going for her, too.

I wonder why Jamie doesn't dress fancy like that for the holidays...

Man of Steel Trailer #2 - Because, really, what else are we going to talk about at this site?

A second trailer with greater plot detail has surfaced for the coming Superman movie, Man of Steel.

When I think of how superhero movies have traditionally been shot and edited, even recent Marvel event films that I quite liked, I have to tip my hat to the cinematographers and editors of Man of Steel.  While you can almost taste the filter effects, it at least doesn't feel like a disposable popcorn flick from jump that even the Iron Man films tilted toward.  The look and feel may not have been how I would have done things, but I can dig the "I saw a Terence Malick film once" vibe they're going for in an effort to make this film on what appears to be a scale more epic than Donner's Modern America Myth of Superman: The Movie.

I desperately want to fling myself on the alter of fandom and get excited.  I really, really do.  But...

To get it out of the way - the trailers for 300 and Watchmen were also amazing spectacles, but as movies, both based on works I knew very well, I found the actual product terribly disappointing.  And, as every nerdling knows, Zack Snyder directed both of those films as well as Man of Steel.



I gave up hope for an ideal Superman movie when I heard Snyder had been hired - a move I found shocking with Chris Nolan attached as producer.  But pretty clearly, Nolan is receiving a paycheck and isn't really involved.  The studio is just riding off his story treatment with Goyer and the good name 3 Batman films and an Inception earned WB and counting on the fact that John Q. Public has no idea what a producer actually does and how fungible that term becomes when money gets thrown around in Hollywood.

Man of Steel Trailer is GO

Pardon us as we deal with some new technology. I bought a new device/ laptop/ tablet.

One thing that I do that drives everyone I know absolutely crazy is:  be perfectly happy with Microsoft products.

Well, sort of.  A few years back I obtained a new laptop PC with Windows 7 to replace my dying Windows Vista desktop box.  Well, the Windows 7 laptop had been acting up for a while, and I have now upgraded to a Lenovo Yoga with Windows 8.  It's a sort of tablet and PC in one running a full version of Windows 8.

"But, Mr. Blogger, why do you stick with MS devices?"  I work in MS all day long, and it generally works fine.  Except when it doesn't.  And I'd rather eat my own hat than deal with someone called a "Genius" while getting my ankles nipped at by mall rats.

2012 - Hollywood Memorial from Turner Classic

Once again, Turner Classic remembers actors, directors, composers and so much of the talent that passed in 2012. Many names you'll know, even more you won't, but you'll be glad they took a moment for each of them.

Signal Watch Watches: I sort of watched "Hondo" and "The Mistle-Tones" and all of "The Blues Brothers"

I watched the movie Hondo, a John Wayne oater I hadn't seen since high school.

It's not my favorite movie, and if you're going to watch a western with John Wayne, this is one of them.  It also stars Geraldine Page, who was apparently the wife of Rip Torn and a well known Broadway star.  It's Apache v. the white folk with a bit more of a sentimental streak for the Apache, even as the movie ends with everyone agreeing "well, that's going to be about it for The Apaches."

By and large I recommend skipping this one and going straight to The Searchers.

I also watched parts of several Lifetime and Hallmark Channel holiday movies, but watched the better part of something called The Mistle-Tones, which was not very good.  It did check off the boxes of an over-worked single person finding romance, someone who loves Christmas too much, a dead relative who also loved Christmas, Tori Spelling and one of the girls from Sister, Sister.

This morning I got up from going out last night and having a drink called an "Orange Whip".  I was, of course, very excited about the Orange Whip, because for twenty years, thanks to this scene, I've wanted an Orange Whip.



Well, I drug myself out of my post-Orange Whip evening and found the 1980 classic The Blues Brothers playing on cable.

Blues Brothers is one of those movies that's probably not, technically, the best movie, but it's nonetheless a great movie.  Terrific walk-ons from legends of American music, great gags, and the best car chase to ever occur in any movie, ever...

The deadpan delivery by Aykroyd and Belushi is legendary, and it's a terrifically quotable film.  If you've not seen it, see it.  f you've seen it, you know of which I speak.

Saturday Round-Up

Yesterday I realized this week is going to be exceedingly nutty. We're finally seeing Lincoln on Tuesday, Thursday we've got tickets to see Louis CK, and Friday we head to San Antonio where, on Saturday, I'll be officiating a wedding.

Friday night we stayed in and didn't do much. I was tired, man. I wound up sleeping til very late in the morning. I did walk the dogs and then we headed down to where Northcross Mall used to be (I had no idea that place had just sort of disappeared).

We went down to go see Superman collector and purveyor of finer super-objects, Tim Gardner, at the Chemical Toy Fare.  I picked up a really cool Superman clock and a handful of nice prints from Tim.

There, I also met Batwoman:

and Jamie spied a pretty fancy Batmobile.

It was a small fare, but reminded me a LOT of the "comic conventions" that we used to see in town back in the mid-80's when I was getting into comics.  Two mid-sized rooms, tables set up and lots of people who know each other.  Friendly, but not particularly crazy.

Also, we inadvertently and briefly met the actor who played the voice of John Redcorn on TV's King of the Hill.  He's a very nice guy.

Last night we headed out for Violet Crown Social Club here in town for Mikey's birthday.  Part of the East 6th Street scene that I'm a little too old for, but is still pretty welcome.  If you're familiar with Austin's "6th Street", it's not really what it was 10-15 years ago.  It's worth seeing, but it's different from what it was and not as much of a destination for music fans or even for just going to get a drink.  East 6th doesn't really have a music scene, but it does have decent bars where you can get a seat and a cocktail.

Happy Hanukkah from The Signal Watch!

I can't source this image, but I dig it

It's the Winter Holiday Season, and now's where the rubber hits the road and Hanukkah arrives!

I may not be Jewish, but a whole line of people who brought Superman into existence and oversaw him as a character for decades were most certainly Jewish.  Joe, Jerry, Mort, Julie and many, many others.  Superman most definitely has a Jewish heritage.

So, Happy Hanukkah to all of you who plan to light the first candle on the menorah tonight!

Some Super Links

As Snyder's Man of Steel approaches, images are released and the pop-culture wheel has turned a little, it seems people may not be quite as ready to immediately dismiss our pal, Big Blue.  I'm beginning to wonder if the time might be right, and the approach of this movie resonant enough, that Superman could find a place in pop culture again.

I woke up this morning to two different articles about Superman on some favorite sites.

Cracked talks "5 Ways Superman is Shockingly Realistic According to Science".

IGN picks up on the thread Jake and I were discussing in "Hero Worship: Why the New 'Man of Steel' Poster Rules"

Here's Jake's post, "Man of Steel (of Nazareth)?"

On "Marvel NOW!"

I've had a few people write me and ask if I had thoughts on Marvel Now!, which I take as a good sign for Marvel since I don't remember anyone asking me any Marvel questions in, literally, years.  But a bad sign, because nobody seems to know what this thing is.

For those of you not in the know, Marvel Comics - home of The Avengers - is starting a lot of their series over with a new #1 without feeling the need to reboot their entire universe the way DC did with the New 52, about 16 months ago.

DC immediately took a dollar share lead with the New 52, and all of Marvel's attempts to stop the bleeding with events like "Avengers versus X-Men" didn't really help.  I still think a lot of DC's success had to do with slapping #1 on the covers more than any reboot, and their willingness to embrace digital delivery.