My comic shop can beat up your comic shop
May 27
I have a short, but slowly growing list of comic shops that I consider world class. I call the list, “Comic Ships That I Consider World Class.”
Meltdown Comics and Golden Apple Comics in LA would be good examples. I worked at another, way back when – Another Dimension Comics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada (you’ve heard of it – they had an Olympics there once.)
In Vancouver, I count two (with two near misses that I won’t name drop today) – Imperial Hobbies in Richmond, and my home base (home is where your account box resides), Elfsar comics.
In the four years they’ve been operating, they’ve been big advocates of Wizkids Clix games, hosting a couple of gaming nights a week. One of thier regulars went to LA a few months back and won the Hero Clix tournament – Ethan, Elfsar head honcho, took it upon himself, as a way to celebrate the victory, to build this awesome championship belt. In the middle are an excellent selection of hero clix figures, collaged together, and spraypainted gold.
Sweeeeeeet.
Got a digital camera? Like panoramas?
May 25Have I got an image processing application for you. AutoStitch was made by a couple of UBC academics and it’ll take any selection of photos you give it (of a scene) and stitch them together for you. If you’ve ever tried to do it manually, you’ll know how tough it is.
Go here for the utility. And if you’d like, go here to check out my first experiment.
Triple Threat – Ghost Rider trailer
May 24
And here you thought you’d have to wait until Friday, at X-Men 3, to see the Ghostrider trailer – not so! Apple has it available now. Interesting point – the High Definition trailer and the low definition trailers aren’t the same. Similar, but with a couple of shots different, and a different layout.
Chris – I liked it right up until the gun made out of chains. Shades of Constantine. A guy made of flame, who can drive his motorcycle – also made out of flame – anywhere… and he needs a gun. Bah. I asked, when they first announced it, how do you make a comic book movie where the actor doesn’t get to show his face in super hero-mode – what actor will agree to that? When they announced it would be Nick Cage, I said, “Oh, ok – Cage is one of us. He’ll play the game.” Now, it looks like maybe not, or at least they’re bending the rules – I’ll bet anyone a Happy Meal that the scene with the gun of chains, is a big, dramatic moment in the film, and so they wanted Cage’s face involved.
Matt – I think I’m down. I’m not a drooling Ghost Rider fanboy, but the visuals have sold me big-time. Then again, I didn’t bother to see Daredevil when it was at the show (for you non-midwestern types, “show” is our hunky-dory term for “movies”) so maybe this one will come and go without my involvement. I think Nicholas Cage looks cool, I think the FX kick my ass, I think Donal Logue is perfectly cast, as always. But more than anything else, ANYTHING, I will see this movie for the great Sam Elliott. I hope he asks Ghost Rider where he can get himself some good sasparilla.
Sarah – The flaming skull-head effect is pretty darn cool — ever since the project was announced, I’ve been doubtful that they could pull that off without being 100% Gouda-licious. They did and it works. So half the battle won there, but to be honest, I don’t like Nic much when he’s super, SUPER serious. I do LOVE Donal Logue no matter what he’s doing, though. I guess I’m semi-intrigued, but this isn’t quite X-Men/Superman-level for me.
Report, ensign.
May 24While my E3 2006 experiences were limited, Wil Weaton tread the pseudo-halls, and then wrote about it for The Onion’s AV Club – as I’m a big fan of “I’m just a nerd like you” attitude, I thought I’d point at it.
This is me pointing at it.
There's a sitcom in here somewhere
May 23I’m posting the links here, because I think it’s one of the more pointless, yet amusing things I’ve done in ages, and it seems a shame to leave it in the 1up ghetto.
