The Perfect Xmas Gift (For Me)
Nov 30My wife and I have agreed not to exchange gifts this year, because we need money more than crap in our house. Which is fine by me.
However, I believe someone somewhere may have me in a grab bag of sorts, and if so, may I submit…my dream gift?
With playful reverence to this entrancing icon and fascinating individual, Uppercase Gallery has published The Shatner Show book of artwork depicting William Shatner by artists and illustrators from Canada and the US. The exhibition was hosted in UPPERCASE from June 15 – August 31, 2007.
Genre TV Season Report Card
Nov 29It’s been an interesting season for genre TV watchers. Lots of geekly offerings, but I don’t know that any of them have taken root in the collective nerdly consciousness like, say, Heroes or Buffy or whatever. It took me a while to assess my liking for all these series. There’s at least one that definitely has me on the Unabashed Love Train, but I don’t know that any of them mirror my very soul in the way that, like, Battlestar Galactica does. Let’s take a look whilst crossing our fingers and hoping that the writers get a good deal and the strike comes to an end.
Pushing Daisies: This is the one I mentioned up there, the Love Train honoree. Yes, it’s cute and twee, but it earns that shit. There are real emotions behind the whimsy and it all comes together to present a very specific tone, a very specific world. It’s not like Garden State, where Zach Braff’s shirt matches the wallpaper just because. These last three episodes have been particularly brilliant (casting Molly Shannon and Mike White as candy store-owning siblings? Come on!), and I feel like the show is becoming better, funnier and more cohesive with each outing. Lee Pace and Anna Friel are both majorly crush-inspiring and it’s nice that they have Chi McBride and Swoosie Kurtz around to sort of roll their eyes at the cuteness once in a while. They give Daisies‘ sweetness a nice little zing.
Reaper: I loved the pilot and I still like the show very much, but it occasionally stalls. I think Matt was right on in dubbing it “lazy early Buffy.” The humor is pretty much right up my alley, but it could use a couple tweaks. Like, they should let Andi in on all the devil stuff. She’s the one major female character and right now she’s pretty much marginalized. Do not waste Missi Peregrym like that! Also, the soul-of-the-week plots could do with a few more twists and turns. I do like that they seem to be working towards building a mythology for the show, a continuing thread. And I think it could move from a solid B to an A if it’s allowed to stick around post-strike.
Journeyman: I thought this would be lame, but you know what? It’s pretty dang good. In a season where all the semi-serialized genre shows have some sort of procedural element, this one just might be the best at balancing that with the mythology elements. I also like that there are actual consequences and real dangers built into all the time-traveling — Dan isn’t automatically OK just cause he lands back in the present. And I really like the way they play the personal drama, Dan’s dealings with both his wife and his time-traveling lost love. And Kevin McKidd is hot. Um, anyway, the one thing I would fix is all the on-the-nose stuff they do to tell you what year it is. It’s sort of like that Sarah Silverman Program episode where Sarah’s reminiscing about all her abortions and the doctor has a flannel shirt tied around his waist to indicate that it’s the early ’90s.
Bionic Woman: Sigh. Bad. I’ve given this so many chances. It’s just…not good. Morose and a little dull. Also, I know she’s new to the whole spy game, but must they make Jaime Sommers so needlessly dumb and unprofessional? Like when she requested that one guy for the mission and it was totally because she liked him and he hadn’t called her back. You never saw Sydney Bristow pulling that shit. She knew how to compartmentalize! The one bright spot is, of course, Katee Sackhoff, who is so awesome she blows everyone else off the screen. I wish the show was just about her and the Asian guy from Witchblade.
The Depravity of Dan Didio
Nov 29Maybe it’s cause it’s pre-coffee for me, or maybe I’m just still cranky, but I am really unable to understand this.
And by “this,” I don’t mean Tim O’Neil’s reaction, which I share.
I mean the whole scene–everything it is, everything that led us to it, and everything that follows from it. It defies my comprehension, completely.
Indiana Jones and the Trials of Incontinence
Nov 28Hate to be Mr. Grumpy Pants AGAIN (I seem to be feeling that way a lot lately), but JEEBUS, does Harrison Ford look OLD in these new Indiana Jones pics.
Confirmed: Marvel Don't Get It
Nov 27It’s official: All Marvel torrents are off Z-Cult.
Legally, you can’t really argue with the move.
From pretty much every other perspective, it’s a clusterfucky act of idiocy. Especially this part:
We asked marvel if they wanted to say anything as the reason for the removal to our users and they mentioned they are doing it because of their new download site.
YOU FUCKING MORONS. Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited IS NOT A DOWNLOAD SITE. IT’S A “RENT COMICS TO READ, USING ONLY OUR INTERFACE, AS LONG AS YOU CONTINUE TO PAY US” SITE.
The fact that they believe they are even offering something that would compare to a “download service” means that they are probably the types who have old dusty Commodores sitting in the corner of their offices, which they use for computer chess when things are slow. Like I’ve said–what they’re offering today isn’t necessarily bad. It has the potential to be very bad, or very good; it’s definitely not very good right now.
BUT IT’S NOT A DOWNLOAD SITE, AND YOU ARE STUPID FOR SAYING IT IS.
Fuck you, Marvel.
