Happy New Year pt.2
Jan 02I’m back as well, and like Matt the holidays went very well… then the sinus/chest cold combo hit. Had-oo-ken! Pow! I’m done for.
But that just means I have more of a chance to play with a couple of toys. Here are the nerdiest of the holiday highlights;
– Absolute DC: New Frontier. If you have haven’t picked this series up, the you should get the two TPB volumes. And if you can go just a little bit further, pick up this slipcased hardcover. The extras in it are as spectacular as the original story.
– Dead Rising. I keep missing the little side missions, but I don’t care. And the game doesn’t care. I can save or not save as many people as I want. And along the way, I get to beat the crap out of endless hordes of zombies.
– Guitar Hero. My band is called Beedwolf. We rock. Hard.
– World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. I blew through this book in about 36 hours, stop and go. I still disagree with the man, that a frozen zombie isn’t a dead zombie, but the rest of the book is exactly how the zombie apocalypse plays out in my nightmares.
– An Evening with Kevin Smith: Evening Harder. It’s Kevin Smith, talking about everything and nothing. Of particular interest is finding out that yes, indeed, Jen was mad at him for telling some of their stories on the first Evening With DVD.
Happy New Year
Jan 02So, we’re back. I think. I’m back.
Everyone have good holidaze? I had a fine, relaxing, fun time with family and friends. I think that’s what the season’s all about. That, and PWESENTS.
I rang in 2007 in style–spent a relaxing morning at Acme Superstore, a fine comics emporium, enjoying their 30% off New Year’s Day sale. Picked up my pull list, which was nice with the extra discount, and also found the first Bendis Daredevil trade and the first volume of Brubaker’s Sleeper–for FIVE DOLLARS APIECE.
With the discount, that means I got those two for $3.50 each.
That bodes well for ’07.
Pantastic!
Dec 22You have probably heard this already from people way more high profile than me (like, say, Stephen King), but on December 29, please drop whatever it is you are doing (unless you happen to be, say, cradling a sweet baby or a cute doggie or your freshly-Netflixed copy of Stick It) and run — run! — to your local whateverplex and purchase one over-priced ticket to see Pan’s Labyrinth. This is an amazing, beautiful movie, you guys. Easily my favorite of the year.
I should also mention, however, that they are not fucking around with that “R” rating. You might see a preview or a poster and think to yourself, “This looks like a cuddly fantasy and I am sure there’s not a scene where a guy gets his cheek cut open and then proceeds to STITCH IT BACK TOGETHER HIMSELF using a wee needle and thread.”
You would be so, so wrong. As Guillermo del Toro said at a recent screening, if you’re expecting Harry Potter, you just might have an aneurysm. (This of course led to speculation amongst my viewing companions that Guillermo might in fact be a great choice to direct one of the later, scarier Potter flicks.)
Pan, by the way, is a wondrous, kind of creepy faun character played by Doug Jones, who Guillermo previously used as Abe Sapien in Hellboy. And he’s also the Silver Surfer! He is thoroughly amazing here as both Pan and the uber-creepy Pale Man — he does all these movement-y things that make you forget there’s an actual human actor under all of the puppetry and prosthetics.
Anyway, I’m not sure if I can fully convey how awesome this movie is, but it really grabbed at my heart and guts and tear ducts in a way that no other movie has in…maybe years. Yes, I would say years!
Also, a few phrases that are sure to be used by like 99 percent of critics describing this flick:
“A fairy-tale for grownups”
“A beautiful re-imagining of Alice in Wonderland”
“Magical realism” (or, alternately, “real magic”)
That’s actually why I made up such a cheesy header. Pantastic, people!
(Addendum: I forgot to mention that Doug Jones previously freaked your shit out as one of the Gentlemen in Buffy‘s “Hush.” Eeeeeeeh!)
Slab THIS, Asshole
Dec 21One brave, intrepid fan shows us exactly what to do with a CGC graded book.
MM + EJO = Magic
Dec 20Here’s an article I just did for Back Stage featuring the conversational stylings of Admiral Adama and President Roslin. It was featured in the paper’s gigantic year-end awards season issue because I would really love it if JUST ONCE awards voters wouldn’t totally ignore genre. Come on! Show them some love, mysterious Academy/other voting bodies! We’re talkin’ about a frakkin’ Admiral and a President, goddammit.
