Consumed March 2010

March 9th, 2010 Graig

M9 - DVD - District 9 - I don’t know if District 9 is an Oscar-worthy film … which it obviously wasn’t given that it didn’t win any of the awards they were nominated for … but what I’m saying is I don’t know if it’s an Oscar-caliber film … but then again, I doubt that Avatar (a film I will never see, I pledge now, but will shit on at every opportunity) is any better a sci-fi movie or more deserving … so if a recent sci-fi film were to go up for an oscar, this isn’t a bad choice. It’s a damn entertaining film, a second, third or twentieth time around. I still have issues with how it’s constructed (the P.O.V. shifts far too often between documentary/found footage/talking heads and “story”) but it’s a minor quibble. The good news is the special features do mention a second film, which it absolutely needs. This story can’t be over. Lead actor Sharlto Copely is a brilliant find, and will be seen next as (aptly) Howling Mad Murdock in the A-Team movie.

PODCASTS - WTF #53 - The all-star pledge drive episode (Eugene Mirman, Lewis Black, Zach Galifianakis, Greg Guler, Louis CK’s answering machine and more).. Help support the WTF podcast by donating if you see fit.
Nerdist Podcast #5 - Jon Hamm stops in to talk Mad Men, SNL, Doctor Who, comedy, geek things and becoming a big handsome star.
Comedy Film Nerds #9 - a definitely nerdy but not all that comedic Oscar recap episode.

M8 - TV - 82nd Annual Academy Awards - A rather boring show, with much of the pomp and fanfare sucked out of it. The increase to ten best features were negligible (loved THanks’ no b.s. “and the winner is”…) but I did enjoy the serenading of the best actors/actresses. As for my predictions I went 12 for 24, so 50%. Woo.
Logorama - oscar winning animated short film.

BLU-RAY - Watchmen (Director’s Cut) - I liked this film quite enough from my first viewing, with reservations. The director’s cut sews in the animated Black Freighter into the rhythm of the film, adding the street-level view of the world of Watchmen that the cinematic cut omitted. The abstract but complimentary Black Freighter and the added scenes increase the film’s running time to over 3 and a half hours and it’s a better experience for it. Some of my reservations remain, but my satisfaction with the movie was increased. The 35-minute featurette, “Under The Hood”, which explores the background of the Minutemen and the dawn of the Watchmen was a great extension to the already elaborate world that Zack Snyder translates from the page. Over four hours of viewing but a rewarding experience.

DVD - UP - I really do love UP, a delightful adventure, funny and emotional, but preposterous. It’s not the conceit of a balloon house or Paradise Falls or talking dogs, but the physical limitations of Russell and Carl which are established early on are abandoned once the action starts. I can easily accept the fantasy element, but in-film continuity is weak and the more I see this film, the more it bothers me. As for best animated feature, I really think Fantastic Mr. Fox was the better film.

PODCASTS - Exploding Head Movies #7 - new New Pornographers and Broken Social Scene lead off the episode, the Oscar appeasement continues with songs from Crazy Heart, and the very blah soundtrack to Avatar. The show closes with “Long May You Run” (which Neil Young closed down the Olympics with).
Comedy Death Ray #43 - Tig Notaro acts bored (for good reason), Scott’s stalker (Casey Wilson) invades the studio and takes over, aspiring comedian Rory Scovel leads a discussion about the Oscars. Plus, like, the entire “Cracked Out” cd and that tedious “what am I thinking” game.
WTF #52 - Vanity Fair entertainment observer James Wolcott talks movies, theatre and state of entertainment today, while author Sam Lipsyte discusses being an author and a genius.
Doug Loves Movies (3/4/2010) - Craig Robinson explains the plot of Twilight: New Moon and David Feldman is unable to talk about the Oscars (he wrote for Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, and he bombs this podcast just as badly).

M6 - DVD - Zombieland - I flip-flopped so frequently on whether to see this movie or not, and ultimately used it as a test film for renting movies from iTunes to watch on the commute to and from work on the iPod touch. The result, I don’t mind watching movies broken up into 20 - 30 minute chunks (though I’d still rather watch them all the way through) and the obtaining and transferring of the movie isn’t difficult at all. What is annoying though is the limitations of the iTunes system (the “authorized machines” is a problem when I connect to multiple machines and the time limits on watching a video in full (you have 48 hours once you start watching to finish it) might prove to be not so good.

As for the movie itself, well, my first reservation - that zombies are so played out - is true. My second reservation - that I really dislike Jesse Eisenberg - is also true, but aside from that it’s a very well made and somewhat amusing film. The (SPOILER) guest appearance from Bill Murray, however, many have exclaimed as a highlight, but actually I found it dragged the film down, especially after Columbus kills him by accident and he and the rest of the crew don’t really seem to pay it no mind, as if killing a real person is just as shruggable as killing zombies. Considering Tallahassee’s affection for Bill Murray and Twinkies, and Columbus destroys them both, there’s a surprising lack of reaction from him in this regard. So in essence the whole third act seems kind of bullfecal. I get why people like it I just don’t understand why they liked it so much.

DVD - Where The Wild Things Are - I was thinking and hoping that I would love Spike Jonze’s adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s more than I actually did once I finally got to see it, but my reaction to it was pretty visceral. My stepson saw it in the theatre’s previously and when I asked him about it he said “it was good, but kind of sad” and he was right. It’s damn good, and achingly sad. It’s a strange and beautiful movie but not exactly enjoyable. Max is a difficult child, a deep well of emotions, and when he runs away from home he finds himself on an island amidst a group of fantastical monsters. Each of the wild things represents an aspect of Max’s own personality, with Carol being the wildest, most emotional but also the most creative. The film is metaphorical, Max becomes the king of his emotions, but realizes he still can’t always rule over them, that sometimes his emotions are going to get the better of him, but also that running away isn’t the answer. This isn’t a children’s movie, but a movie about childhood. Will kids respond well to it? I dunno, but every parent of an 8 year old should see it, and perhaps they’ll understand their kids a little better. Bravo Mr. Jonze for tapping into that.

DVD - A Perfect Getaway - A film by David Twohy, the writer-director of Pitch Black, Chronicles of Riddick and The Arrival. I’ve long admired Twohy’s ability to take genre material and twist it just enough to make it unique. This film is a suspense thriller about a newlywed couple, Cliff and Cydney, on their honeymoon in Hawaii. They set off on a remote trail which features a one day walk to a beautiful, secluded beach. However, they find out soon that there’s an island jumping couple that are murdering other couples. Early on in their trip, Cliff and Cyd meet Cleo and Cale, a ratty looking couple who startle them a little. Nick and Gina enter and pair up with them. So for the first half of the movie we’re left wondering who the murderous couple is. Have we met them already? Is it one of these three pairs or is it an unseen threat? Once it’s revealed the film starts delving more into the backgrounds of all the remaining key players, peering into the minds of the killers and their victims ala Kalifornia or Natural Born Killers. The closing act is naturally the race for survival. The pacing of the film is a little unconventional, as is governed by the reveal of the killers midway through, but Twohy manages it with skill. Cliff is a screenwriter, so there’s lots of in-script suggestions as to how things could play out were it to do so conventionally, which it both does and doesn’t. It’s a really fun film overall, and the threat of serial killers aside, makes me want to go to Hawaii even more.

M5 - TV - Lucky Louie - This was a sit-com created by Louis C.K. which aired on HBO briefly back in 2006. Yes, a sit-com, with a live studio audience and everything. On HBO. Take others in the working class comedy genre, like “Roseanne” or “All In The Family”, and that’s pretty much what this is, only with swearing and sexual dialogue. The pilot finds a sexually frustrated Louie resisting his wife’s come-ons because he knows she wants to get pregnant (and with a four-year-old already, they’re barely scraping by). Louie also offends his new black neighbour (Jerry Minor) and tries, and fails, to make amends. It’s funny, but it’s also painfully cheap-looking and the acting is quite stilted, and I have a difficult time telling if both are intentional or not. This isn’t a satire of a sit-com, though (not like “Get A Life”), but the real deal, like an uncensored “Everyone Loves Raymond”. I’m not sure what to think to be honest, I’m offended (by the format, not the comedy) yet I do laugh a lot.

Podcasts - WTF #50 - a live show in LA, Marc talks about ricotta cheesecake and discusses horrible relationships with Laurie Kilmartin while making a list of Jackie Kashian’s comedy-killing topics. Mort Mortensen reads a couple In Memoriums and Eddie Pepitone yells a lot.
WTF #51 - Marc sits with Canadian-come-London-based comedian Glen Wool to discuss what sent him packing and the differences in North American and British comedy. Sam Seder drops in to promote his limited release DVDs for “Who’s the Caboose” and “Pilot Season” and deny allegations of his past and present bullying ways.
Tim and Eric Podcast #1 - 4, 6 (apparently podcast #5 doesn’t exist anymore). Before “Awesome Show, Great Job”, Tim and Eric worked on the Adult Swim cartoon “Tom Goes To The Mayor”. This podcast was done in support of TGTTM’s second season and features the behind-the-scenes struggles wherein Eric takes complete control of the show and brings in Louis Anderson as head writer while Tim becomes Bob Oedenkirk’s assistant’s assistant. Plus sketches. Really the foundation of “Awesome Show” but not quite as good.

COMIC - G.I. Joe/Cobra II #2 The first series was an incredibly high-caliber yet understated espionage thriller, and quite unexpected particularly for the G.I. Joe brand which hasn’t ever been know for its clean storytelling. So this second series has much to live up to, and the creative team is up to the challenge. This is in all considerations a continuation rather than a sequel and it’s building more like an ongoing series than a contained mini-series (which hopefully bodes well for further continuation). This issue sports a variant Jonathan Hickman-inspired cover by series artist Antonio Fuso or the regular cover by Howard Chaykin.

COMIC - Detective Comics #862 - Even without J.H. Williams III on art chores, I still am quite infatuated with Batwoman and her balls-to-the-wall kick-ass sensibilities. That fill-in artist Jock has positioned himself as a master action sequencer with past works only helps move this along. This story is rather light in some respects, as all you really want to see is Batwoman beat cutter down, and beat him down hard, it still delivers some nice character moments and builds Kate Kane’s background and supporting case. Meanwhile, Huntress introduces the Question to Oracle (”Commissioner Gordon’s daughter?!?”) as they continue on the trail of whatever they’re on the trail of. I don’t remember, but it’s tonnes of fun.

COMIC - Chew #9 - Tony mounts a full-on assault (or rather a sneak attack) to retrieve his brother out of captivity, meanwhile his partner distracts his boss (didn’t see that one coming). Action, comedy, and the paranormal mingle deliciously.

COMIC - Milestone Forever #2 - Okay, I get it now, this isn’t supposed to be one big cohesive story but four separate stories with a framing sequence, each of which is supposed to cap a feather in the main stories from the Milestone line, with this issues’ stories showing Curtis Metcalf (Hardware) finally finding his peace, while we meet up with Static ten and twenty years later, and then Dharma destroys and rebuilds the universe. Not as satisfying as I had hoped, and knowing that DC is not likely to use these characters all that well (see recent Teen Titans issues), it’s all kind of sad. I’ll just be satisfied if Xombi lands a home at Vertigo, where he belongs.

Nemesis: The Imposters - to be honest, I don’t have any idea what’s going on here. Given the ending to “Final Crisis: Escape”, I’m actually a little disappointed in where Tom Tresser is right now and where he’s going. Plus, Batman’s now involved and it seems kind of gratuitous. Hopefully this works out better than I’m thinking it will.

Demo Vol.2 #2 - an errie tale of cannibalism and love. I had to read it through twice to get it, but it’s sad and disturbing at the same time. It’s like “Dexter” but without the humour and much more pathos…

M3 - DVD - Black Dynamite - When I was in high school, there was an almost legendary status that surrounded the Keenan Ivory Wayans film “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka”, and once I actually saw it (a decade and a half later) I found it to be a sub-par satire of blacksplotation films. The problem was, it just didn’t capture the essence of the era, it felt too much like a film from 1989. 20-years later “Black Dynamite” gets it right, so very right. The entire production works on two levels, the first as an extremely silly, often nonsensical ghetto revenge/cleaning-up-the-streets story, and the second that of a very low-budget endeavour, one that can’t afford to re-shoot scenes when boom mics come into shot, or when actors miss their cues. Created by Michael Jai White, Black Dynamite is an amalgam of Shaft, Superbad and Black Belt Jones - hard, mysterious, and badass, and a definite way with the ladies. The story involves the death of Black Dynamite’s brother and the uncovering of a nefarious scheme from the Man, but it’s less important than how it’s told. The pretense is that of a bunch of actors and a production crew hammering out what they think is a good film, but the errors, the many many errors get in the way. The deleted scenes show what was truncated and edited completely from the movie, about 15 minutes of very dry “story”, and it’s explained in the audio commentary how, wisely, Scott Sanders edited it all into a hysterical montage. Sanders, White and co-writer Byron Minns elaborate on all their reference points for the many gags in the film, the bulk of which come from blacksploitation cinema, but also kung-fu cinema, and pop-culture at large. Much of the humour is derived from the gaffes (some real and some intentional, in an almost “anything goes” production) but the story and characters also provide their own hysterical moments (the scene of Black Dynamite attempting to frolick in the park is brutally funny). What Tarantino and Rodriguez tried to do with “Grindhouse”, what the Wayans Brothers attempt with the “Scary Movie” series, what Mel Brooks has made his career out of, and even what the Zucker Bros. did with “Airplane” and “Naked Gun” seem humbled before “Black Dynamite”.

DVD - Gentlemen Broncos - Jared Hess’ third awkward comedy (following Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre) follows suit the tone of his previous films, with his typical cast of outcasts, this time centered around home-schooled Benjamin who likes to write science fiction stories. Benjamin is sent to a two-day writer’s camp where the notable (and full-of-himself) sci-fi author Chevalier is holding a class. He submits one of his stories into a contest, and a struggling Chevalier steals the manuscript and passes it off as his own. At the same time two other home-schoolers Benjamin has met decide they want to make his “Yeast Lords” story into a no-budget film. As things come to a head, Benjamin finds his own work taken out of his control, and the rest of his meager life spiralling around him. Inter-cut throughout are “interpretations” of the Yeast Lords, as seen through Benjamin and Chevalier’s eyes (as well as the no-budget film), with Sam Rockwell generously portraying the lead role amidst the absurdity. It’s a Michel Gondry-esque sensibility, and it works well, with the exception of how hackish the sci-fi story its telling is. While I appreciate the humour of the film, Hess fails to keep his story grounded, primarily in the importance paid to Chevalier. Career sci-fi writers, especially of the hack quality as portrayed in this film, don’t really exist outside the 1970’s and the level of attention they receive is paltry (large displays of their novels are right out, nevermind in small community book stores). Where Hess could have succeeded in generating more humour was in showing just how paltry the trashy sci-fi market is and how even more pathetic it is then that Chevalier would stoop to plagiarizing in such regard… as well, Benjamin’s reward at the end would be nothing more than fulfilling personally, but less than likely financially (a happy, if sobering, ending). In fact, I was half expecting the moral to be that you can’t beat the system, and Benjamin loses control of the Yeast Lords completely, so I was disappointed in the ending to begin with.

DVD - The Informant - (SPOILERS) Steven Soderbergh assembles a veritable cornucopia of character actors around Matt Damon for this light drama/white-collar crime story, based upon real events. A the story goes, Mark Whitacre tips off the FBI about international price fixing in the agri-business industry the company he’s vice-president is in. For over two years he works with agents to gather evidence of the price fix, all along with his own ideas about how it’s going to unfold. But once it starts to unfold, Mark’s altruism is called into question, as is his reliability. The truth begins to unfurl, and honestly it doesn’t stop until it fades to black. Mark is a brilliant man… he’s a bio-chemical engineer and vice-president of a fortune 500 company, of course he is. But Mark is also a compulsive liar, perhaps even bi-polar, and where the truth starts and stops with him perhaps only he knows. So the people who have invested in him, from his own bosses, to the FBI agents, to his lawyer and even his wife aren’t ever certain about him, except when they pretend to be. The commercials for “The Informant” play it off as a kind of goofy corporate comedy, which it isn’t. It’s got a decidedly light tone, in large part to the score from Marvin Hamlish, as well as with the non-sequitur overdub tangents that let us into Mark’s brain a little (an effect that plays out nicely in the end). It’s an enjoyable but marginal picture in the corporate espionage genre.

Podcasts - Doug Loves Movies (02/03/10) - Doug is joined by Hard’n'Phirm (Chris Hardwick and Mike Phirman), who do a live rendition of the opening and closing theme, as well as Garfunkle and Oates join them for the Leonard Maltin Game (in which an unprecedented -3 names is bid).
Nerdist Podcast #4 - Rob Huebel talks about the dog he found, apologizes to the director of “Frozen”,

M2 - NET - The Ed Hardy Boys 2 - is beyond ridiculous

The Ed Hardy Boyz 2: The Case of When That Hot Filipina Girl Lost Her Tramp Stamp At Mini-Golf from Jon Daly

M1 - COMIC - Green Lantern: Rage of the Red Lanterns HC and Green Lantern: Agent Orange HC - I could trade-wait no longer. With the Blackest Night epic coming to rather-affordable Hardcover collections in May, I needed to get the preludes in as soon as I possibly could. I have to admit, I wasn’t actually looking forward to the story of Blackest Night, but instead just satisfying curiosity, but after reading “Rage” and “Agent Orange” I’m invested fully in how this plays out. I’ve often not given Geoff Johns enough credit for his writing, but I have to say he’s really planned the hell out of Green Lantern since he took over the character. I feared his ideas for the “emotional spectrum lanterns” would dilute the conceit of the Green Lantern Corps, as has been unsuccessfully tried before with the Darkstars, but there’s a greater purpose and, moreover, delineation to each of the different coloured lanterns, and the discovery process of each, while rather sudden in the grand scheme of GL’s 40+ year publishing history, it’s flowing rather nicely, incorporating elements from the entire history (as that is Johns’ thing). But at this stage it feels literally like an entirely new, fresh and exciting idea. It’s not just a new spin on Green Lantern, but something entirely new, and it’s exciting to see. This title isn’t about Hal Jordan anymore, though it is centered on him, it’s about the universe, and it’s a grand and sweeping story Johns has crafted. I’m anxiously awaiting to read where he’s taken it to and almost lamenting the fact that I’ve not been following it all along.

TV - The Olympics (Feb 13 - 28) - Canada went into their homeland-held Olympics with a drastic increase in funding and the mantra of “Own The Podium”. With the pressures of never having won a gold medal on home soil, the poor performance in Calgary ‘88 (5 medals), and the looming weight of the Canadian-record 24 medals in 2006 Turin, we perhaps were overreaching with “owning the podium” in mind. Week one was disappointing with many of Canada’s medal favourites landing in the fourth-through-sixth place positions (in fact, if we gave ribbons for 4th-6th we’d most definitely be top ribbonists!).

We averaged a medal a day in the first week, with Alexandre Bilodeau popping Canada’s gold cherry first in Men’s moguls on day 3 (the previous day Jenn Heil was just barely edged out and won silver). But in week two the long-track and short-track speed skating medals, the ice dancing gold, the bobsleigh, the snowboard, curling, and hockey all started coming in fast and furious. Especially triumphant was the Canada 1-2 win in women’s 2-man bobsleigh (Kallie Humphries + Heather Moyes/ Helen Upperton + Shelley-Ann Brown).

Canadian men and women dominated Curling, however two narrowly missed throws in ends ten and eleven cost Cheryl Bernard gold, while Kevin Martin (and more notably some amazing throws from third John Morris throughout the tourney) went completely undefeated in the curling engagement.

Some notable ribbons go to Canadian biathlete Jean-Philippe Le Guellec who placed a highest-ever 6th and basically missed the podium by one shot. On the final day, reporters spoke to a tearful Devon Kershaw who wound up in 5th place (a mere 1.5 seconds behind the gold medalist) in the tightest-ever 50KM cross-country marathon.

For all the great work of our many athletes (as well as some exceptionally disappointing results on the hill from our downhill team), the stiff competition from the Koreans, Chinese and Americans on the oval, and the many narrow misses everywhere, we still had an amazing, record-breaking run. 26 medals, Canada’s best ever, third place behind Germany (30) and the US (37), but even more amazing was our center podium presence. 14 gold medals in total, an Olympic record, the most ever by any country in Olympics history.

This amazing accomplishment was feather-in-the-capped by the gold medal win, in overtime, by Team Canada late in the afternoon of the final day, with Jerome Iginla working the boards in a desperate battle for the puck, squeezing it out to Sidney Crosby who, ever the clutch performer, managed to slip the puck past tournament MVP Ryan Miller to beat out Team USA 3-2. Team Canada, with a rough start, and previously challenged and bested by Team USA in early rounds, showed their grit and finally gelling together, trouncing Germany and, surprisingly, besting the heavily armed Russians handily 7-3. It was hockey for the ages, and for everything else that went on this Olympics, for better or worse, that feather in the cap was one of the most glorious moments in sports I’ll ever witness. The Canada-US hockey rivalry is in full-bore now, especially after our loss in the Juniors earlier this year, and Canada’s third successive Olympics gold in women’s play. Sidney Crosby, who played a rather subdued game throughout the tournament (a shootout winner against Joseph Hiller, the incredible goalie on the Swiss team his only other big play), was looked at to make the big play this game and by the time the USA scored the equalizer with 24 seconds left in the 3rd, it looked like that wasn’t ever going to emerge. Ye of little faith. The near entirety of team Canada, by the end, looked incredible with Rick Nash, Jonathan Towes, Eric Staal, Scott Nedermeyer and Jerome Iginla each showing why their names are usually preceded with “superstar”.

The closing ceremonies were highlighted by a great speech, if stilted French, from VANOC chief executive officer John Furlong who really celebrated the games, but even more so Canadian pride, spirit and unity, all told with humility and humour - the Canadian way. The ceremonies featured a stunning presentation from the Sochi Olympic Committee, who had both an in-stadium and remote-feed component to their eight minute showcase. I skipped much of the ceremonies (knowing there would be Nickleback present), but Neil Young’s oddly beautiful, if ill-fitting rendition of “Long May You Run”, which shut down the flames, was a mirror to k.d. lang’s “Hallelujah” from the opening ceremonies. Shatner finally made an appearance with a “comedy” section which also featured pedestrian spots from Catherine O’Hara and Michael J. Fox. By the time a Mountie-garbed Michael Buble showed up, I knew it was time to tune out of these Canadian-base Olympics forever.

NET - Gorillaz - “Plastic Beach” - NPR hosted the full album in advance of its release, sweet. Kicking it off with a hazy, laid back Snoop Dogg-driven jam in “Welcome to the Plastic Beach”, it’s followed by “Rhinestone Eyes” a quintessential Albarn-driven Gorillaz track , and an 80’s synth pastiche with Stylo features Bobby Womack and Mos Def. “Superfast Jellyfish” sounds to be an Albarn + De La Soul revival talking ’bout a hypothetical breakfast cereal. “Glitterfreeze” is a super-crunchy homage to the Human League, while Lou Reed joins the band for the bouncy and infectious “Some Kind of Nature”. Halfway through the album and I’ve yet to cast an averse ear. The second half doesn’t tweak the ear in the same respect, the come-down after the build-up. With “Broken” being a bit of a plodding mess, “Sweepstakes” is innocuous but soothing, and the titular “Plastic Beach” is straight out quirk. “To Binge” is an oddity, a modernization of a 50’s-style sock-hop chant. Not as immediately hooking as the previous two albums but readily apparent most adventurous work yet.

NET - Broken Bells - “Broken Bells” - Honestly, my ears didn’t really perk up until the final track, “The Mall and the Misery”, but after it played, with its sweeping orchestral sounds leading into bubbly electronics and lush pop harmonies, I was immediately swayed. That track, with a very David Byrne-esque feel, made me immediately re-approach this, the first album of collaboration by Danger Mouse and the Shins’ James Mercer. The result, Mercer’s striving for his own Gorillaz-like project, and with ace producer DM on hand, he’s achieved a really enjoyable album which holds up as a simpler American cousin to the above “Plastic Beach”.

NET - Joanna Newsom - “Have One On Me” - In my recent, monolithic cd-trade-in extravaganza I picked up the 2006 Newsom album “Ys”, which was purported to be a much better album than her debut “Milk Eyed Mender”. I haven’t yet had the chance to listen to “Ys” but “Speak My Name” - the opening track of “Have One On Me”, her latest album - has me a little worried as Newsome seems to be treading Kate Bush/Fiona Apple/Tori Amos water, with grandiose orchestral accompaniment, and drawn out lyrical arrangements. Her once quirky, pinched vocals have smoothed out, and the equally quirky plucking of her full-sized harp has given room to pianos and cellos and violins to hold spotlight. “Have One On Me” is a triple album, clocking in at nearly 2.5 hours, and it’s a marathon. I can only think of one successful triple album - Magnetic Fields’ “69 Love Songs” - and its key to success was diversity and brevity. This is the opposite of that, rather long winded and somewhat redundant. Ambitious, yes. Successful, not so much. I was fairly close to blind buying this treble-album, and now am experiencing relief but also tentativeness about listening to what I’ve just acquired.

Podcasts - Nerdist Podcast ep.3 - Chris, Jonah and Matt sit with Adam Carolla and talk about his experiences with Kelly Osborne, Byron Allen and Podcasting, and discuss bad comedians, comedy movie trailers and work through their new products “Milkom X” chocolate milk and “Helloooo” the gay sports drink.
Comedy Death Ray #42 - Nick Thune joins Scott in studio to talk his new record and relate the case of the stolen guitar strings. Russian figure skaters (Matt Walsh, Ian Roberts, and Danielle Schneider) talk about the customs of figure skating, including all the celebratory orgies. Walsh, Roberts, Schneider and James Pumphrey talk their new Spike TV show called “The Players”.

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Consumed February ‘10

February 23rd, 2010 Graig

F25 - COMIC - Batman and Robin #9 - No joke, BATWOMAN DIES! And Dick, a severly wounded Damian and Alfred fight a resurrected Apokalyptian Batman clone. Awesomeness prevails.

COMIC - X-Factor #202 - The end to the “Invisible Woman is Missing” storyline and it’s really quite crazy (alternate universes and identity swaps play a part), slapstick almost. Highly enjoyable but abruptly concluded… or, rather, abruptly epilogued.

PODCASTS - The Nerdist podcast #2 - Chris and Jonah hang out at Drew Carey’s place and talk about the Second Life video game, robotic toilets, Johnny Carson’s career-making capability of yore and making joke.
Comedy Film Nerds #6 - Graham Elwood and Chris Mancini and Doug Benson talk about the oscar nominees. For film nerds only (so, me) but sound quality kinda sucks.
Exploding Head Movies #6 - The soundtrack to The Fantastic Mr. Fox gets the spotlight, plus more quirk than you can shake a stick at.

F23 - COMIC - GI Joe Classic vol.4 - An uneven collection from issue 30 - 41, but the final two issues set up a great premise (so great that it was ripped off for the film “Superman Returns”). The art is all over the map and dialogue goes from snappy to choppy to hyper-expository to nonsensical and back again, sometimes on the same page.

CD - Ratatat: “Classics” - If my ears could weep with joy, they would do so thanks to Ratatat. It’s been four long years that I’ve deprived myself of this great album, and after one listen to “Kennedy” and I was kicking myself.

COMIC - The Losers volume 1&2 - As far as Vertigo goes, the Losers isn’t as literate or as enthralling as say “the Sandman” or “Y: The Last Man”, but it presents crazy action with a somewhat political backstory involving government conspiracies, drugs and warmongering. It should make a really entertaining film (or series of films). I don’t crave more, but I will enjoy more.

COMIC - Captain America #603 - 50’s Cap has started his militia, and aughts-Cap is trying to infiltrate, but he’s only helped them with their nefarious scheme. Entertaining but the “A Girl Called Nomad” back-up feature isn’t for me.

PODCASTS - Comedy Death Ray #41 - Scott Aukerman and Aimee Mann talk the Winter Olympics, Kumail Nanjiani talks about his encounter with John Mayer: Stand-up Comedian and poet Maya Angelou (Drew Doege) comes to play “Would You Rather”.
Doug Loves Movies with Greg Proops and Ngiao Bealum talk movies they’ve appeared in and seen.
WTF #49 Marc Maron talks with Kumail Nanjiani about his immigrant experience, his life and culture in Pakistan, and how his comedy has impacted his life. Generally a fascinating, insightful discussion about heritage and humour.
WTF #26 Jon Benjamin tries out for the role of Marc Maron’s sidekick, meanwhile “comedian” Come On Now joins Marc in the garage. Plus “Googleheimers”.

F19 - Movie - Brothers of the Head - In the dawn of punk in the UK, conjoined teenaged twins Tom and Barry are, essentially, bought by a record mogul who wants them turned into the next big sensation, becoming underground punk stars with the requisite substance abuse problems and relationship issue. Told in a documentary style, the film presents “archival” documentary footage, talking heads interviews and excerpts from the modern Ken Russell biopic. Gritty and raw and yet it seems utterly, like Twin Falls Idaho was mixed with 24 Hour Party People. (from the directors of Lost in La Mancha)

F18 - PODCASTS- ExHM #4 - some crunchy funky dancey stuff plus the gritty stylings of film composer Marco Beltrami.
ExHM #5 - Hanz Zimmer’s Sherlock Holmes soundtrack takes focus and it’s super keen (reminiscent of the great s/t to Ravenous by Damon Albarn and Michael Nyman).
Doug Loves Movies - David Huntsberger and Brandon Walsh participate in talking about movies.
Comedy Death Ray Radio #40 - Harris Wittels returns to vindicate himself from his last performance with new (and refined comedy material), Christopher Hitchens (James Adomian) discusses his novel and disdain for Valentines Day, and director Gary Marshall (Paul F. Thompkins) calls in to promote his new film, also called “Valentines Day”. Meanwhile Doug Benson hangs out (delivering the now classic line of “I’m going to fill in your butthole so that I can tear you a new one”), and they play the best “Would You Rather” yet.
WTF # - Marc Maron tells his worst “bomb” story (”I got kicked out of country!”) and invites Brendan (Metalocalypse) Small into his garage for some excitable guitar-geek talk.

COMIC - The Shield #6 - Marco Rudy and Mick Gray are just frickin’ amazing. I can’t imagine they’ll be on this title much longer before they’re poached for a Batman or Justice League title. What never worked for me with Captain America, a soldier-turned-superhero, is corrected as the Shield isn’t a superhero, but rather a soldier in a “costume” (which, he notes, causes his enemies to underestimate him). Just terrific stuff.

F11 - COMIC - Batman and Robin #8 - The dead Batman rises from the Lazarus pit, but, uhoh something’s not right. Plus, Batwoman dies, already! Quick, stick her in the pit. Not Morrison’s best work, but still highly entertaining.

COMIC - Batgirl #7 - Batgirl teams up with Robin to save Batman from Roulette’s trap. Plus Batgirl gets herself a ride that’s like a cross between a light cycle from Tron and the Bat-pod from The Dark Knight. Groovy.

COMIC - Phonogram: The Singles Club #7 - An almost silent issue as Kid-With-Knives gets a song stuck in his head and goes on a manically glee-filled rampage through town. Gorgeously rendered and simplistically told, I’m most surprised that I’ve not heard the song the issue is named after “Wolf Like Me” by TV on the Radio. Boo on me. Boo on Gillen for skimping on the backmatter essays which has become as important to the series as the main stories. I’d rather more prose than the short stories. But that’s a minor complaint since it’s truly all good. Now, isn’t it time for Gillen to open up the PG universe to writers in other cities? Athens, LA, Toronto, NYC…

COMIC - Secret Six #18 - Good work team in handling the Black Lanterns, and Lawton is such a cad, but Amanda Waller is an even bigger one. The best issue of the storyline. I’ll be happy when Nicola Scott is back though, Califiore just isn’t doing it for me.

Podcasts - Comedy Death Ray #39 - Garfunkle and Oates join Scott Aukerman and his step-dad (played by ?) for conversation and sing-song (and Weirder Scott/Odderman Aukerman debuts his new parody of Beyonce’s “Halo” called “Hello“, surprising not even nearly as painful as his Lady Gaga parody)
Exploding Head Movies #4 - GAK dives into the Oscar nominees exploding head first
WTF with Marc Maron - various episodes. Unlike CDR which focuses more on sketches, characters, games and humour, WTF focuses more on conversation and insight from some of the best comedic voices in the game, plus a lot of Marc Maron ranting. A different change of pace, but still interesting for insight into the minds of comedians.

F9 - MOVIE - The White Ribbon - Michael Haneke does it again, and by “it” I mean he’s made a film that leaves you somewhat perplexed and unlikely to find any satisfactory resolution. Haneke constructs a pre-WWI German township and centers in on five of the town’s families: the beer baron, the doctor, the pastor, the farmer and the town steward. A series of mishaps - some perhaps happenstance others more likely the result of mischief - befall the town, leading to much questions about who, how, and why with nary an answer to be found. The story is narrated through the memory and hearsay of the schoolteacher, and as such it’s presented in a very stark, matter-of-fact manner, the sensibility further impressed by its black and white visuals, as well as the methodical pacing and minimalist editing. It’s a marvelous construct, absorbing even (if not entirely scintillating), one’s even prone to forget it’s a modern film. As usual, Haneke leaves the audience with a curious final shot, a town assembly minus our narrator that demands both further examination for details and significance. What is interesting is how the film establishes its characters as “of the time”, creating a certain nostalgic sensibility to the setting, and methodically dismantles it as the characters darker natures reveal themselves and in the background war looms overhead. Not for everyone, but a definite accomplishment.

F8 - TV - Smallville: Absolute Justice - Superstar comics scribe Geoff Johns does himself one better by thrusting gobs of DC Comics backstory into the Smallville universe, primarily the Justice Society of America, but also Amanda Waller (PAM GRIER!!!), Checkmate and the Suicide Squad. The story was fairly decent, more for what it was trying to say than for actual execution, and Stargirl and Icicle Jr. came off pretty damn well. Dr. Fate’s costume was adapted really well even if his powers weren’t really, and Hawkman worked well only on an emotional level but nothing else (visually, they tried hard, but it still didn’t work). The revision of the JSA as a 70’s team was actually a really nice touch as was the reasoning for their disappearance, and I’m glad the show is willing to distance itself from making every super-powered being a result of contact with kryptonite. The ideas in the show, the JSA’s new mission and Checkmate leave tremendous potential for future storylines, or spin-offs even, and actually are much more exciting than the central Clark/Lois, will he/when will he become Superman story.

TV - Green Lantern: First Flight - Credit due, they didn’t make this an origin story, since they broke the origin and got Hal Jordan off-planet before the opening credits. However, the liberties taken with the Green Lantern Corps, their powers and limitations were, well, far too liberal and seemed only in place to make Sinestro seem like a really bad dude right off the bat. Where’s the subtlety, the nuance? The Guardians literally interacted like the Smurfs do and seemed very unlikely to be protectors of the universe. Oh, and Hal Jordan, still the most boring of all Green Lanterns. Not bad, but I desperately hope the live action film fares far, far better.

COMIC - Demo Volume 2 #1 - The Brian Wood/Becky Cloonan series of done-in-ones returns, this issue stepping into Outer Limits/Twilight Zone land, finding a girl wakened by prophetic nightmares trying to figure out the source of them. The conclusion is rather plainly obvious. Wood didn’t bust out his best script here, but Cloonan is decidedly on-point with her art. Gorgeous in B&W.

PODCASTS - Doug Loves Movies:Feb 5 - Samm Levine and Graham Elwood appear but they make way for a surprise guest star: Leonard Maltin. Seriously, this is I Love Movies’ best episode ever. Not its funniest, but most definitely its best.
-Comedy Death Ray Radio #38 - Paul F. Thompkins fills-in as host, welcoming his Grandmothers Jonesy and Queenbee as well as their friend/instructor Janet (all played by the cast of the Superego podcast) and his old friend Kaitlin Olson. The Grandmothers sequence has some really off-beat funny moments, and Paul’s repartee with Kaitlin is a lot of fun. The show is a tad more self-indulgent than most (but not all) CDR episodes.

-Comedy Death Ray Radio BONUS EPISODE 3 - Live from UCB Theatre in NYC, this is an extra-length episode featuring Todd Barry sidekicking like a pro, David Cross taking his licks for being in the Alvin and the Chipmunks movies, Zach Galifianakis sounding as jovial as I’ve ever heard him, and an equally annoying/funny bit with “Winnie The Whiney Baby” (John Gemberling), plus Ted Leo performs solo.
-Exploding Head Movies #3 - An eclectic mix of sounds from electronic to Can-rock leads into a profile of Michael Giachinno’s soundtrack to “UP”.
-Superego #2:11 - a really funny sketch podcast. Sketches: Radio request line “Hartlines on the Shore”; country music antisocialite Shunt McGuppin; Rodney Morelli’s Cloud Registry ad; an interview with Nathan the talking Gorilla; the JC Penny End of Days Sale ad; Carl Sagan plus end credits that go on forever.

F5 - COMIC - Milestone Forever #1 - Dwayne McDuffie had a pretty unimpressive run on the Justice League of America recently, owing much to editorial interference, but my biggest problem with the issues that I read, at least, revolved around far too many large-teams-in-enclosed-spaces fight, and the fights were resoundingly dull. It’s unfortunate then that Milestone Forever, which is the swansong to a favourite universe of mine, winds up in the very same predicament, without necessarily the logic to back it up. It’s great to see the characters again, and to see Doc Bright and especially John Paul Leon back on the case, but the center story is lame, and disconnected from the more intriguing and purposeful bookends wherein Dharma foretells the destruction of the universe… at his own hands. (Also, Holocaust totally burns up here, but is the big bad in the DCU Dakota… go figure). Here’s hoping for a stronger finish
Rich Johnston number crunches this issue.

COMIC - Red Robin #8 - I found the first storyline to be so uninteresting that I stopped reading it after the fourth issue, but this one caught my attention again because… OMG… it’s the KILLER MOTH in his old Orange and Green Stripey Pants!!! Sweet sweetback, that’s some awesomeness right there. The rest of it, not all that bad, with a seemingly pointless scene between a resurrected Superboy and Tim tempered by a nice Tam Fox sequence and a genuinely decent set-up for forthcoming stories (though the dialogue on that last page? Ouches).

COMIC - Doom Patrol #7 - Doom Patrol receives a reprieve for another month, but I find it awfully suspect that the DP issue I enjoyed the most didn’t feature the main team at all. Uh oh. The Metal Men back-up was the best yet, but sadly it is no more.

COMIC - Blackest Night: The Question #37 - Denis O’Neil + Greg Rucka, Denys Cowan + Bill Seinkiewicz. The Question + Lady Shiva versus a resurrected and galactically powered Vic Sage. It turned out rather spectacular, which any Question reader of new or old would agree. Casual readers likely won’t give a crap tho. Also, of the Blackest Night tie-ins I’ve read, this had the absolute best solution on how to defeat them… don’t let them “see” you.

F3 - TV - Lost Season 6 eps 1&2 - *Spoilers*
So a rather tragic and beautiful ending to the Sawyer/Juliet relationship was spoiled with a “not dead yet, keep hope alive, oh, I’m dead” scenario which off the bat set the wrong tone for this final season. The constant replay of the final minute before the detonation flash was rather annoying as well. On the good side, I quite loved the “reset” timeline that they’re working with… it would be a much more intriguing show were it the sole focus. As it is, the whole Jacob vs. Black Smoke is of much less interest to me… to the point that I forgot about all the Jacob revelations entirely from last season. The Lazarus pit was an intriguing touch, as was the cast of “other Others” from the background of the plane… but the war that was coming seems to finally be here, and I guess I want to understand but I’m not as interested.

F3 - NET - Jack McBrayer’s Livin’ ‘neath The Law - Funny or Die you dun done it agin.

Jack McBrayer in Livin’ ‘Neath The Law: Episode 1 from Jack McBrayer

Livin’ ‘Neath the law with Jack McBrayer: Episode 2 from Jack McBrayer

Livin’ ‘Neath the Law with Jack McBrayer: Episode 3 from Jack McBrayer

F2 - DVD - Eric The Viking (the Director’s vSon’sv Cut) - Pythoner Terry Jones wrote a book for his son called Eric The Viking, which was barely adapted by Jones himself into this 1989 modestly-budgeted adventure film starring a young Tim Robbins as a nebbish marauder leading a group of fellow Norsemen on a quest to end the dark days of ragnarok. It’s not without it’s charms, but it’s also rather slight (the lopping of 21 minutes in “the director’s son’s cut” probably not helping any) and ultimately a forgettable side-note to the “Princess Bride”-style fantasy-comedy younger-audience films of the 1980s (though I should note the opening sequence surrounds the humorous investigation of raping and pillaging between Eric and his intended victim, so “younger-audiences” should be taken with a grain of salt).

DVD - Lost Season 1, “Pilot” - A revisiting of the pilot episode before the start of the final season of Lost was in the cards, and I so very quickly was sucked back into the mystery of the island again. The Pilot episode is incredible, visually quite stunning (great directorial work from JJ Abrams) and it’s remarkable how so much of the characters and plot is set up from the get go. There may be some quibbling over continuity regarding the smoke monster, but most of the episode gets away unscathed, and the addictiveness is just as catching the second time around. It’s brilliant TV, meant for TV. I don’t think it could work in any other medium.

TV - Human Target episodes 3 & 4 - While on the one hand it’s hardly what you’d call “must-see TV”, on the other “Human Target” returns to tv the 70’s and 80’s style episodic action/adventure drama ala Charlie’s Angels, MacGyver or The A*Team, but with a bit of a modern bent. Though little is done to jazz up the visual side of it, it’s a straight-forward one-man-action-squad kind of show with a big action sequence or two each episode and it does it fairly well.

F1 - DVD - Moon - I love enclosed-space/limited cast sci-fi films like this one, and this is up there amongst the best. It’s a quirky personal drama starring Sam Rockwell as the sole administrator and inhabitant of a moon harvesting operation. In the waning days of his three year stint Sam starts discovering some abnormalities about his situation and an early twist in plot redefines his entire sense of self. There’s great use of a robotic assistant, GERTY 3000 (voiced by Kevin Spacey) which nicely toys with the evil on-board computer cliche of HAL-9000. All in all a really smart, intriguing film with a phenomenal (and all too easily overlooked, it would seem) performance by Rockwell. A new fav and one of the (or perhaps the) best films of 2009.

DVD - The Hurt Locker - An overdue, glamourless look at the American occupation in Iraq, specifically following an Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit as they are called to action numerous times over their remaining 30 day tour. The situations in the film are intense, particularly when the enemy could quite literally be anyone, allies or civilians one day could be insurgents the next. There’s a perpetual sense of “fish out of water” that the three EOD team members must endure, and despite all their guns and armor, they know from experience how unsafe they really are. The characters themselves are almost secondary to their experiences, but they are similarly cogs in the machine and free-spinning at the same time. The film is overlong, and an easy 15 - 20 minutes could be trimmed, but even still, it’s never tedious. I wasn’t fond of the camerawork in the film, which aimed for the hand-held, first person observer perspective, I appreciated the more artful and cinematic sequences that Katherine Bigelow prepared and though the film could have benefitted from that refinement throughout. I suspect that since many countries chose not to participate in the Iraq war that this film will be a bit more potent for viewers in those countries that did (primarily Britain and the US).

COMIC - Secret Six #17 - Is Bronze Tiger a badass? Yes, yes he is. Some great and not-so-great moments in this comic (the art a serious let-down… when’s Nicola Scott back?).

COMIC - Captain America Reborn #6, Captain America: Who Will Wield The Shield one-shot, Captain America #602 - “CA: WWWTS”came out a week after “Reborn” #5 and #602 came out last week, a week before the finale of “Reborn” appeared. Frustrating but true. Also frustrating is how mediocre and almost comedically absurd the “Reborn” series turned out to be. It’s rare to see Ed Brubaker misstep but he’s done so here. Not fatally, mind, but still it’s not a great read. The unwieldy title of “Who Will Wield The Shield” actually provided a fairly decent epilogue to the abruptly ended “Reborn”, wherein Bucky and Steve Rogers hash out who should be Captain America, with Buck happily ready to return the mantle and Steve no so eager to pick it back up. In CA #602, exit Steve Rogers as Bucky’s back in control and on the trail of the rogue ’50’s Cap, whom they seem to refer to as “’50’s Cap” even in-comic. Plus, Nick Fury uses the word “asshat”. Not Bru’s best writing. #602 is backed up by an unwanted Nomad second feature, guest starring the horrendously designed Spider-Girl.

COMIC - Batman and Robin #7 - Batman hits jolly-olde London in the attempt to find a rumoured Lazarus pit so that he may resurrect Bruce Wayne. Morrison revels in a lot of Brit-heavy talk, and Batwoman guest stars, so it’s a winner.

COMIC - Detective Comics #861 - Without J.H. Williams III, Batwoman in “Detective Comics” is still quite good, but not as mind-blowing as it was. “The Losers” artist, Jock, fills in for the current storyline which finds Batman and Batwoman following different paths to the same serial killer, a macabre new villain named Cutter.

COMIC - Teen Titans #79 - bad writing, terrible art and an uninteresting back-up feature. Fail.

COMIC - X-Factor #201 - not sure I’m keen on Shatterstar and Longshot for the team (they seem almost too useful) but a Monet-centric storyline coming up makes me happy.

COMIC - Chew #8 I think I’m enjoying this storyline even more than the first.

COMIC - G.I. Joe/Cobra II #1 It would be amazing if this storyline were even more enjoyable than the first. But I doubt it. Still, off to an interesting start.

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Oscar Predictions

February 2nd, 2010 Graig

I had long heard about the puffing up of the best film category to 10 nominees but the surprise was the reduction from five noms to four in each of the acting categories. I don’t get the trade-off there. Seems to be shaking-up for shake-up’s sake.

Anyway, here’s the list and my personal vote (marked with a bold V), and whom I actually expect to win (with a bold X)

Best Picture
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
V A Serious Man
Up
X Up in the Air

Actor in a Leading Role
Jeff Bridges
VX George Clooney
Colin Firth
Morgan Freeman
Jeremy Renner

Actor in a Supporting Role
Matt Damon
Woody Harrelson
Christopher Plummer
Stanley Tucci
VX Christoph Waltz

Actress in a Leading Role (no personal vote)
X Sandra Bullock
Helen Mirren
Carey Mulligan
Gabourey Sidibe
Meryl Streep

Actress in a Supporting Role (no personal vote)
Penélope Cruz
Vera Farmiga
Anna Kendrick
X Mo’Nique
Maggie Gyllenhaal

Animated Feature Film
Coraline
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
VX Up

Art Direction
X Avatar
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

Cinematography
Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
X The Hurt Locker
V Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon

Costume Design (no personal vote)
Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria

Directing
Avatar
X The Hurt Locker
V Inglourious Basterds
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
Up In The Air

Documentary Feature
Burma VJ
X The Cove
Food, Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Which Way Home

Documentary Short (no personal vote)
China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
X The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
Music by Prudence
Rabbit à la Berlin

Film Editing
Avatar
V District 9
X The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire

Foreign Language Film (no personal vote)
Ajami
El Secreto de Sus Ojos
The Milk of Sorrow
Un Prophète
X The White Ribbon

Makeup
Il Divo
XV Star Trek
The Young Victoria

Music (Original Score)
Avatar
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Hurt Locker
Sherlock Holmes
XV Up

Music (Original Song) (no personal vote)
The Princess and the Frog
The Princess and the Frog
Paris 36
Nine
X Crazy Heart

Short Film (Animated) (no personal vote)
French Roast
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)
Logorama
A Matter of Loaf and Death

Short Film (Live Action)(no personal vote)
The Door
Instead of Abracadabra
Kavi
Miracle Fish
The New Tenants

Sound Editing
X Avatar
V The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Up

Sound Mixing
X Avatar
The Hurt Locker
V Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Visual Effects
X Avatar
V District 9
Star Trek

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)(no personal vote)
District 9
An Education
In the Loop
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
X Up in the Air

Writing (Original Screenplay)
X The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The Messenger
V A Serious Man
Up

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Consumption January ‘10

January 27th, 2010 Graig

J27 - NET - Acting With James Franco - Franco’s on an incredibly interesting career trajectory. From “Freaks and Geeks” to “Spider-Man” to “Milk” and “Pineapple Express” to “Saturday Night Live”, “General Hospital” and a killer appearance on “30 Rock”, the man has his own way about him. His “Funny Or Die” series on acting (with his brother Dave seemingly played by Natalie Portman) is hilarious… lots of respect for him.

Acting With James Franco Episode 1: “Sense Memory” from James Franco

J27 - COMIC - Blackest Night: Catwoman #83 - not a bad extension of the Catwoman series art and story wise, but it’s just not Will Pfeifer and David Lopez.

COMIC - Blackest Night: Starman #81 - Some fond memories stirred up of Opal City of yore, but James Robinson’s dialogue is rough, and for some reason I just don’t believe the romance between Hope O’Dare and The Shade. At. All.

COMIC - The Shield #5 - With my regular tights-n-capes reads dwindling, I find I’m getting more and more excited every month for this one. It’s not *that* different, but it just feels fresh and much more exciting than most spandex on the stand. Credit goes to Eric Trautmann for developing a different-headed character, and more credit goes to penciler Marco Rudy and embellisher Mick Gray (who’s got an equally good thing going as he did with JH Williams III). Just great stuff. The Inferno back-up by Jerwa and Scott isn’t half bad either.

COMIC - Batgirl #6 - “Smallville”’s Brian Q. Miller is actually really good at getting great characterization out of mundane situations, so this read is for fans of the character, not fans of action. It doesn’t help that Lee Garbett’s art is often difficult to read. His figures are clear but his sequencing and blocking are rough and sometimes hard to follow.

COMIC - Unwritten #9 - I didn’t like what happened at the end of this issue. I see the purpose, but I don’t like it. But then, I suspect, I’m not supposed to. This issue seemed to be missing all the subtle peripherals that previous issues had (like the page of media commentary).

J27 - Podcasts - Doug Loves Movies with Sarah Silverman and Steve Agee - not much exciting to report but noting weak either.
Comedy Death Ray Radio #37 - Todd Glass, Sarah Silverman and Hannibal Buress in the studio. A rather weak comedy-wise and unprepared episode, but I like it for the fact that it was really just a group of friends talking about whatever and being somewhat funny at it. Aukerman likes to say “let’s get real” and Glass tells as sweet (earnest) story of the death of his dog. I also like Glass and Gary Goldman’s Dangerfield routine. Brilliant.
Exploding Head Movies ep.2 (Radio Free GAK #100) - EXHM takes on DJ Shadow and the soundtrack to Black Dynamite. Quality abounds.

J26 - DVD - Taken - Liam Neeson kills some fuckers. There’s no grey area here. They are fuckers and you’re glad when they get killed. Liam Neeson as Hannibal in the A*Team movie? Okay.

J26 - DVD - JCVD - What a quirky little movie. It’s like the actor Jean-Claude Van Damme steps into the plot of one of his own films, only it wouldn’t be one of his films but more like a Denzel Washington heist drama. The hostage situation juxtaposed with the dramatic elements satirizing his own life make for a decidedly unique viewing experience. The revelation is that, at least when speaking French, JCVD can actually act and act well. Almost better than he can fake-fight.

J22 - PODCASTS - Comedy Death Ray:
Episode 35 - Patton Oswalt, Thomas Lennon (as Little Gary), and Brett Gelman appear. Gelman, more than a little perturbed by his 11th place finish in the “Comedy Death Ray Radio best of 2009 top 10″ has quit comedy in favour of short story writing. He reads his new story called “iBrain” which segues into a hilariously vile, graphically sexual encounter. Plus Conan vs Leno talk. Thomas Lennon’s Little Gary a little harder to decipher, but his song, with the chorus “I Did It Before, But Never Again, Never Never Never in two thousand and ten” is rather catchy.
Episode 36 - Cyberthug takes over once again, but the largely racist-based “Kanye East” makes it almost unlistenable. Plus more Conan/Leno talk.
BONUS Episode 2 - Following up Doug Loves Movies at Sketchfest in San Fran, Scott is joined by Doug Benson, Michael Ian Black, with stand-up from Dana Gould and “bandleader” Reggie Watts, but Paul F. Thompkins steals the entire show with a violently hilarious caricature of Andrew Lloyd Weber.
Doug Loves Movies
Jan 9 - Aziz Ansari and Maria Bamford guest, but auction winner Larry Zerner is special guest and what could have been painfully unfunny interjections from a non- or wanna-be comedian was actually the highlight, as Zerner is both an entertainment lawyer and star from Friday the 13th, Part 3, leading to some really funny stories and call-back jokes.
Jan 18 - At Sketchfest in San Fran, Doug is joined by Scott Auckerman, Dana Gould and Michael Ian Black for some film discussion and tomfoolery. Good times, especially MIB’s german officer impression.

J22 - MOVIE - Up In The Air - *SPOILERS* Jason Reitman has made two and 2/3 great movies. There’s Thank You For Smoking, Juno, and the first two acts of Up In The Air. Up In The Air builds a very intriguing, if quite depressing, character in George Clooney’s Ryan, a man proud of having no strings attached, living 320+ days a year on the road (or rather, in the air) and very adept at dealing with people, handy for a job in which he’s a for-hire ax-man (he fires people for a living). He makes no apologies for his life but as things change around him he finds it hard to adapt, his focus being on achieving some would say a meaningless goal of earning 10 million air miles. He meets a woman, make that two women, who start to change his perspective, if only slightly. But the third act instead makes it seem that these women have given him cause for an abrupt about-face, wherein he no longer cares about doing what had, until days before, really mattered to him, to the point where he ditches his high-profile seminar MID-SPEECH, to race to the airport to go profess his crush on some woman. Bullshit Hollywoodized tripe. Of course she turns out to be married and she gives him the most patronizing line “I’m an adult” which made me want to gouge my eyes out and stick them in my ears. Ryan achieves his goal but is too distracted by rethinking his own philosophies to enjoy it, as Sam Elliott revisits his “Stranger” role from Big Lebowski to provide some unnecessary vague pontifications. I don’t object to where the movie wound up, just to the un-subtle and brutally out-of-character(s) way in which it was handled. Not the worst 2009 movie I saw (Adventureland), just the most frustrating because it so easily could have been great.
Radio Free GAK ep#99 Exploding Head Movies #1 - Radio Free GAK becomes Exploding Head Movies, same show, different title. Still great stuff with another(?) Howard Shore profile (Videodrome).

J22 - TV - Kids in the Hall: Death Comes To Town (episodes 1 and 2 of 8) - I haven’t been this excited for a TV show in a long time, and at the same time I have also kept my expectations quite reserved… I mean, the Kids aren’t kids anymore and comedians don’t generally get funnier as they age. DCTT is a smart departure, more in line with Brain Candy than their sketch comedy of yore, maintaining a consistent story and tone, and allowing the members of the troupe to each develop at least three distinct characters over the 8-episode span. World building is a large part of the show, and they succeed at making Shuckton a distinctive and interesting place, populated with curious individuals. The comedy isn’t in peak form, as some of the gags fall flat or are too obvious, but the strength lies in the near-brilliant characters and the chameleonic way in which they inhabit them. I like, not love, which is better than both hate or disappointed.

J22 - COMIC - Green Lantern Corps: Sins of the Star Sapphire tpb - developing the “emotional spectrum” of lantern corps, expanding the roster of creepy-ass yellow lanterns, and initiating the sapphire lanterns, it’s entertaining, but the character moments (Guy’s date with Ice, the reaction to the “eyeball sequence”) were very ham-handed.

J9 - COMIC - X-Factor: Nation X - apparently there’s this thing going on in the rest of the X-titles that where all the remaining mutants have moved to a floating island and become an independent nation or some such. This book explains why the X-Factor crew isn’t there, as the team visits the island to meet up with old friends and to check out the environment. It’s 24 pages of random scenes of dialogue with a very minimal undercurrent of “history repeats itself” and some ties to previous X-Factor events. If you’re a regular reader of most X-books then this is probably essential for satiating curiousity, but if you only read X-Factor, wholly skippable.

J9 - BLU-RAY- Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs - Rewatchable? Yes. Am I less enamored with it than when I first watched it. I don’t think so. The cast of characters is great from Mr. T’s Earl Devereaux to Andy Samberg’s Baby Brent to Neil Patrick Harris’ Steve to even Will Forte’s City Guy the background character with a beard.

J9 - COMIC - Stumptown #1 & 2 - Greg Rucka’s new detective series is sharp and engaging, expertly rendered by Matthew Southworth. I actually thankful for the online advertising that Oni did for this otherwise I wouldn’t have even been aware. Rucka constructs yet another wonderful and distinctive female character for the medium (his latest from Tara Chase, to Renee Montoya, to Batwoman… it’s the man’s forte), in fact I’m more sold on Dex than I am with the mystery she’s found herself investigating.

J9 - DVD - Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season Seven - I really, really liked this season, as it gave a concerted effort to defining and redefining the core cast whilst also building an epic confrontation that actually has some scale to it. Buffy’s always been limited by budget to small-scale confrontations, but with the ever growing gaggle of potential slayers and the climactic vampire battle and Sunnydale implosion effects sequence it effectively built to a satisfying conclusion to the season and the series. Even my discomfort with the Buffy/Spike relationship actually played out rather well. That’s not to say that the characterization wasn’t frequently heavy handed, oft repetitive and at times the season dragged under by redundancy, but, especially knowing where it picked up in the Season 8 comics, it had direction and purpose.

J7 - WEB - The Onion interviews Gallagher - this is some, literally, crazy shit. Just don’t read the comments, or it will drive you crazy too.

J7 - COMIC - Suicide Squad #67 - If I were a casual comics reader, I’d be pretty annoyed with this whole “resurrected series” of Blackest Night tie-ins coming out this January. Were I a Secret Six reader, I’d be pissed since there’s no mention in the last Six issue or on the cover that this is the first part of the Six’s next storyline. If I were a casual reader enjoying Blackest Night I’d be kind of annoyed at the total lack of self-contained-ness of this issue. Were I an old-school Suicide Squad reader, well, I’d be more annoyed that this is a Secret Six story than a Suicide Squad one. To top it off, it’s wildly disjointed (likely due to split writing between Gail Simone and John Ostrander) with far too much happening and little sense of why we should care.

J7 - COMIC - Gigantic #5 - It’s been a bit of time between issue 4 and issue 5 and I don’t recall what happened previously and even the “previously” recap didn’t help out so much and this all just kind of went bonkers in the end. A bit disappointing actually.

J7 - COMIC - Doom Patrol #6 - Keith Giffen explains Larry Traynor/Negative Man who is also every other iteration of the Negative Man persona from Valeria Vostok to Rebis. It’s starts off being cleverly erratic, but persists in being erratic over 22 pages and loses its clever, becoming a bit of a muddle, like pretty much the entire series has been. I’m trying hard to like this series, but six issues in and it’s still not working for me. I think if Giffen reigned it in, took away the drama, and made it a contained, fun book about a team that takes on the mad-scientist-experiments-that-got-out-of-hand on Oolong Island it would be a really fun, accessible book. Still like the contained wackiness of the Metal Men back-up though. DP,you’ve got one more issue before drop city.

J5 - YOUTUBE - KG’s Top 40 for ‘09 - Phonogram’s Keiron Gillen lays down his erratic list of his, possibly, favourite 40 tracks from the past year. KG describes them in more detail here. I liked some of the videos more than the tracks themselves.
Interesting listening, with some standouts:

J5 - PDCAST - CBC Radio 3 Podcast #229 - Best of 2009 Grant Laurence’s list of best 10 songs of ‘09 was a bit more of an eclectic affair, mercifully, than the R330 top 10, and much easier to listen to. But still, there was very little within that really grabbed, despite Grant’s emphatic introductions. The Mountains and the Trees track was about the only one that really clicked for me.

J5 - MOVIE - Adventureland - While I was forewarned that this wasn’t a comedy, I wasn’t forewarned about how numbingly dull and boring it would be. The fatal flaw of the film lies in its casting, with two thoroughly uncharismatic leads in Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart playing two thoroughly unenjoyable characters, and a supporting cast of talent absolutely wasted. This film, labeled as a comedy, could have desperately used some humour.

J4 - PODCAST - CBC R330 Top 10 for 2009 - I realized now why I stopped regularly listening to the R330 over a year ago… the songs are of the generic, expected “indie” stylings and host Craig Norris is a little too full of bull and bluster for the rather boring lineup that’s typically laid out before him (I suppose that does make him good at his job). Top tens include AC Newman, Joe Plaskett and Metric. Yawn. I like indie music and think it needs support, but the R330 generally only represents a narrow section of what’s available (popularity contests are, naturally, governed by the masses and their generic sensibilities always seems to gravitate towards a mean). Bleh, need to wash this off.

J4 - MOVIE - Inglourious Basterds - Most good directors tend to focus on telling a story. Some good directors prefer to focus on style instead. Other less-good directors have agendas, like pushing the audience’s buttons through coarse language and/or grotesque visuals, or trying to get a ham-fisted message across. Some directors, good and bad, like to play within the trappings of a genre, others like to completely defy genre expectations. Some directors have their own style, some do not, and some borrow liberally (or flagrantly) from others. Quentin Tarantino I admire because he’s not any one of these directors, but instead all of them at once, a result of consuming and disseminating a steady diet of the good and the bad films for decades. What impresses me about Inglorious Basterds is how QT tells his WWII-set story using everything in his toolkit. His cinephilia comes through loud and clear, his influences coming from war films from every decade in cinema’s past, from different countries around the world. The subgenre of grindhouse still permeates his work, and his penchant for precision-paced, culturally referential dialogue is readily apparent. The fact that he could limit himself to referring to pop-culture that predates 1944 shows just how capable he is, though the soundtrack, I should note, is anachronistic, but pointedly so. QT doesn’t just stick to cinema, but the wartime comics of the 1940’s, the cartoonish Hitler draped in a swasitka cape is one of the few broad strokes in the film (the Basterds being the other). On the one hand, Basterds felt like a departure from QT’s previous films, perhaps because it was primarily subtitled (in German, French and, occasionally, Italian) and the dialogue was (comparatively) expletive-free. Structurally the story somewhat simpler too in comparison to past works, and yet, it’s more secure, more assured, more mature. Even though the events of the films are constantly being foreshadowed, every scene percolates with intensity as the masks of pretense are slowly shucked and their true purpose is revealed (this may be tedious for some, while others will revel in it). A Quentin Tarantino movie is a spectacle, it’s a carnival, it’s entertainment, but it does so on levels few (if any) other filmmakers dare… Do not just view it as a film, but as a part of, and commentary on, cinema and culture, past and present. It’s not for everyone, but I loved it… I felt strangely satiated after watching it… like I didn’t need to watch another film for a while (but did anyways and regretted it. See above)

J4 - MOVIE - Terminator: Salvation - After all the plentiful bad reviews, and even more plentiful negative fan reaction, I was expecting a crap-fest of “Rise of Cobra” proportions. Okay, maybe expectations weren’t *that* low, but they indeed were low. But, as it turns out, Salvation is a pretty decent film. There’s excitement and intensity, with some rather spectacular effects, and a nicely stylized world (if not always logical) for the characters to run around in. I’m not a Terminator franchise fan (in fact, my favourite Terminator to date was “The Sarah Connor Chronicles” and even that stopped holding my interest), so I don’t really care about all the nuances of the series and my expectations for what a continuation should be are nil. The characters are flimsy, the story relatively non-existent, but the cold action of man vs. machine is probably ’09’s best “turn your mind off and enjoy the ride” blockbuster.

J4 - MOVIE - Adventures in Babysitting - A not-quite-classic from the mid-80’s Chris Colombus, I always thought this was a kids movie but with all the swearing and Playboy references it’s much rather a teen flick. I always remember it for the little girl’s Thor obsession (and Vincent D’Onofrio as a Thor-esque repairman), but what I watched it for this time was the Toronto-as-Chicago backdrop and a foxy 24-year-old Elizabeth Shue, playing 17, but so obviously not.

J4 - MOVIE - 2010: The Year We Make Contact - Yes, this was played by Turner Classic Movies on New Year’s Day. I don’t think 2010 ever really got its due. Yes, it doesn’t compare to Kubrick’s masterpiece in virtually any respect, and what’s more it demystifies the story of 2001 somewhat, but it’s all part of Arthur C. Clarke’s sci-fi vision, so it’s not disingenuous. 2010 is a mystery-in-space, as a co-Russian/American space crew try to understand what happened to Hal, Dave and their mission, only to discover something greater happening in the process, while the cold war back on Earth escalates. Roy Scheider, John Lithgow, Helen Mirren, and Bob Balaban fill in the meaty roles quite nicely. The effects are as stunning today as they were in 1984, in general it’s a very entertaining film, if now operating on a completely different timeline than our own (which is part of the fun, I enjoy predictive futures in SF that don’t come to pass).

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Consumption December

December 31st, 2009 Graig

COMIC - Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #1 - This felt a lot more… slight than I though it should. Rucka doesn’t tend to do slight very often and it’s kind of disappointing. Then again, this is exactly what I expected out of the Blackest Night concept, so…

COMIC - Sweet Tooth #4 - there’s something percolating under the surface… it’s less “what happened” and more “who the hell is Mr. Geppert” and “what’s his deal?”. Curiously engaging.

COMIC - Batman: The Cat and The Bat tpb - Batgirl Barbara Gordon, early in her career, faces down a minxy Selina Kyle Catwoman, and each underestimates the other. Nude catfighting ensues. I’m not kidding. Kevin Maguire draws the hell out of this mildly average, and often preposterous story.

CD - The Duloks: Children of the Sea ep - a six-track ep so quick that it’s over before you’ve gotten into the groove, but it’s a good primer on the off-beat, beat-heavy, lyrically playful comedy-punk-pop of the Duloks.

PODCAST - Rock On London #17 - Another dose of Canadiana via London as Mar interviews the Japandroids and introduces me to Beach House.

PODCAST - Doug Loves Movies (12/4/09) - Yank Hard Son, the comedy trifecta of Weird Al Yankovic, Chris Hardwick and Doug Benson talk about twitter and movies. Includes the great “live twitter follow” experiment.
(12/11/09) - “The Jew episode” with Mark Maron and Andy Kindler. Goofy and punchy with perhaps the easiest Leonard Maltin Game yet.
(12/19/09) - David Koechner and Sean Cullen guest… it’s surprising how similar these two guests are, all part of Doug’s plan.

MOVIE - Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex* *But were afraid to ask - Starts off weak and ends with a bang, literally. A septet of sketches starting with the weakest “Do Aphrodesiacs Work” in which Allen’s bumbling court jester gets his hand caught in the proverbial cookie jar. “What Is Sodomy” is more about bestiality as physician Gene Wilder falls for an Armenian sheep, a tale pushed to the hysterical brink. “Why do some women have trouble reaching orgasm” permits Allen to flex his Italian tongue in a middling sketch, while “Are Transvestites Homosexuals” owes a debt of gratitude to Benny Hill. “What Are Sex Perverts” is a clever black-and-white emulation of a 50’s panel TV game show, while “Are the Findings of Doctors and Clinics Who Do Sexual Research and Experiments Accurate?” predates is like a sex-tinged bastardization of the Frankenstein monster gone awry (with credit to the Blob). The final sketch, “What Happens During Ejaculation” is the coup-de-gras and makes the other sketches seem kind of bumbling in comparison, as Tony Randall and Burt Reynolds are at the helm of spaceship man, leading the troops through their routine as their body tries to make it with a lady. It begs for a sequel from the other side.

MOVIE - The Mouse That Roared - A silly little British comedy from the late-50’s that was an early showcase for Peter Sellers’ multi-character capabilities. While generally humorous, it overplays it’s “Producers”-like concept (a tiny nation goes to war with America with the intention of losing, only to win). There’s a good sketch or two in the material, but it does get tedious. Its sequel, “The Mouse And The Moon” substitutes other actors for all of Sellers’ roles and completely misses the point.

COMIC - GI Joe Classic Vol 1 - 3 - The second volume especially is a damn fine spotlight on Larry Hama’s dense storytelling structure, playing an almost single thread over ten issues though changing the scene and the spotlight throughout. Juggling a cast of dozens never looked so easy. Volume 1 is a little dry and volume 3 suffers in the art department somewhat.

COMIC - Unwritten #8 - A diversion, spotlighting the warden, is a good enough read but frustrating as it delays the next part of the serial.

COMIC - Phonogram: The Singles Club #6 - I’m actually trying to decide if this is my most favourite or least favourite issue of the series.

COMIC - Batgirl #5 - Batgirl faces Batman and Robin. Grumbling ensues. Brian Q. Miller handles her interactions with Damian-Robin very well. It seems, actually, every issue Miller handles something very well, even if the main action tends to be exceptionally bland.

COMIC - DC Holiday Special 2009 - a mixed-bag of one-page and mid-length stories from a cast of mostly new talent. It’s 80% fluff but it did get me into the holiday mood. The best stories were the one-two war-story punch of Sgt. Rock by Billy Tucci and Enemy Ace by the Faheys and Howard Chaykin.

COMIC - Doom Patrol #5 - While I don’t really mind the dense history mine the Doom Patrol has fallen into, it’s just somewhat counter to Giffen’s proclamation that “every issue will be accessible to new readers”, and it’s hardly that. The Metal Men back-up, even without Maguire this month, still proved entertaining.

COMIC - Adventure Comics #5 - Superboy Prime throws down with black lanterns in the “real world” destroying the DC Comics office. It was actually quite fun.

COMIC - Secret Six #16 - Hopefully this doesn’t become part of the story because, so far, I’m not liking Black Alice much. Petulant teenagers are annoying and no fun to read, watch or listen to.

COMIC - Daytripper #1 - While I liked this issue, about a struggling writer stuck working the obituaries column in a Brazilian newspaper and now a little obsessed with death, I’m wondering if it’s stand-alone or the first part of a larger story. Next issue will tell, I suppose.

COMIC - The Shield #4 - The Shield is now on the bottom of the pile, which sounds bad but is actually a compliment. Basically, it means no matter what I read that week I know I’ll be getting a good story out of the Shield, so I save it for last. This issue, well, it’s mildly deceptive since the Great Ten, featured prominently on the cover, don’t arrive on scene until the last page, but we should get the more than cliche heroes vs. hero throw down with them next issue, which should be a nice spotlight for both the Shield’s capabilities and the Great Ten’s powers.

BOOK - Mr. Show: What Happened? - Bob met David, they made a sketch comedy show that got on television for a while. It was hard work, but a labor of love for all involved. They pulled the plug due to fading interest and lack of support from the network.

DVD - Mr. Show with Bob and David seasons 1, 2, 3 and 4 - I’ve always thought Mr. Show was conceptually funny more than it was laugh out loud funny and I still think I’m right. Though it does have plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, and about 90% the sketches are funny at the very least in premise, it for some reason always feels to have a cloud hanging over it that makes it feel like it’s held back, or not living up to its potential… I enjoy the commentaries and the behind-the-scenes of the aforementioned “What Happened?” as much as the show itself. Still, one of the top 5 sketch shows of all time.

DVD - The Dark Knight - Blu-Ray actually. If there’s a reason to go Blu-Ray, this is it. I’ve read more than my fair share of the the detractors’ comments on this film and I still say they’re wrong. This is the Godfather II of superhero films. Even forgetting the whole capes and body-armor angle it’s a gripping thriller, a kick-ass action film, and the bleakest of dark comedies. It makes “Batman Begins” look like a low-budget direct-to-video enterprise in comparison. It’s the biggest movie of all-time, and there’s a reason for it.

COMIC - Ex Machina #47 - The end of this issue was gratuitous and senseless, as the ends to so many issues have been. Vaughan is really exploiting shock value in this series, but he always makes good on it. Though with only 3 issues left, I don’t really see this shock-ending being explored to the level it deserves. It made me sad.

COMIC - Captain America Reborn #5 - Hitch and Guice dish out a gorgeously laid-out book, but the story in this one is exceptionally slight, so much so that I think it read it in under 5 minutes. The series was originally supposed to only be 5 issues long and this just feels like filler and kind of annoying.

COMIC - X-Factor #200 - A mammoth-sized issue featuring an extra-sized story, cover gallery, character bios/origins, and a reprint of Madrox #1 which launched this whole iteration of X-Factor (bless it).

COMIC - Authority: The Lost Year #4 - I like Giffen, quite a bit actually, but his economy of words is non-existent. Still, I’m quite enjoying the Lovecraftian angle that this story has taken.

COMIC - One Model Nation - A fictional graphic novel set in the real late-70’s kraut-rock scene should be a fascinating exploration of a specific time and culture but is hindered by some excruciating writing and disjointed dialogue from Dandy Warhols’ frontman Courtney Taylor. On the positive, Jim Rugg captures the scene with nice detail and a good design sense

DVD - Sesame Street: Follow That Bird - A throwback classic. Not as funny as a Muppets movie, but still very engaging for audiences of all ages. Big Bird is placed into a foster home with Dodo birds, but runs away to get back to Sesame Street. Olivia, Maria, Oscar, Bert, Ernie, Super Grover and much of the gang go off on a rescue mission to find him. Cameos from John Candy and Chevy Chase, with SCTV alum Joe Flaherty and Dave Thomas as the main bad guys, the Sleaze Brothers, owners of the travelling Funfair eying up the runaway bird as their next big attraction.

DVD - Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theatres - Really, a show whose average episode runs under 12 minutes that generally wallows in coarse and abstract humour shouldn’t logically be able to sustain a nearly 90-minute film. And it doesn’t. Its oblique forays into distraction deny the film a sense of unity (something which, actually, the original/”deleted film” restores and becomes the more entertaining film for it except that the “deleted film” uses unfinished footage). As far as ATHF goes, it’s a lesser effort. Though there are some entertaining ideas throughout, it’s tedious viewing at times. The best scene, which is oddly a deleted scene, involves the music group Cameo.

DVD - On Her Majesty’s Secret Service - I’ve never seen this before, can you believe it. I’m not really much of a Bond connoisseur, though I like Bond films quite a bit, and you know, this might just be one of my top three favourites. People like to piss on George Lazenby but he does a remarkably good job for a credit-less actor in his first film role. The chemistry between him and Diana Rigg is painfully lacking though, however it certainly sparks between him and Joanna Lumley (Rigg and Lumley in the same film, I must be dreaming). Curiously the rhythm of this film is not all that different from the recent Casino Royale.

Podcast - Comedy Death Ray Radio #32 - Brendan Small, Aziz Ansari and Stan Lee (Hal Rudnick) have much inane banter and mispronunciations. Hilarity ensues (until Small decides to get into character as Mr. Moustache, a brutally stagnant Neil Hamburger-esque “legendary” comedian)
#33 - Kyle Kinanane, Paul F. Thompkins and special guest Ray Romano (Scott Aukerman) count down Rolling Stone’s top 100 songs of the 00’s, or die trying.
#34 - Doug Benson, Jon Hamm, radio host El Chupacabra (Nick Kroll), Jesse Ventura (James Adomian), and John C. Reilley (Paul F. Thompkins). On the unfortunate side, Scott Aukerman sings a spoof/parody medley to close out the show.
“Best of 2009″ - As I fell behind in my podcast listening for this month I didn’t get a chance to vote, but by and large I’m okay with most of the results. Comments below. Guesting on this episode: Huell Howser (again as played by James Adomian), Ice-T (played by Paul F. Thompkins) and Bobby Bottleservice (Nick Kroll).
.10. Andy Daly’s “Life of the Party Inc.” - quite funny but not one of my favourites
.9. Andy Dick and Bob Odenkirk play “Would you rather” - like this one a lot
.8. Matt Besser’s Bjork impersonation - Absolutely brutal to listen to. Boo-urns.
.7. Jon Daly as Bill Cosby presenting “the Bill Cosby Remote Control Fart Machine” - surprisingly hilarious (featuring Paul F. Thompkins as John C. Reilley)
.6. Sarah Silverman and Andy Richter play “Would You Rather” - weak, I think there was another WYR they did that was much funnier.
.5. Nick Kroll as El Chupacabra with John Hamm - to me, this is top two (his El Chupacabra with John Hamm from last week was just as good).
.4. Tom Lennon as Little Gary - Apparently divisive, but I liked Little Gary a lot… Mott Skaukerman indeed.
.3. Jerry Minor sings “Poppin’ Bottles” - also top two for me. Catchy and so much fun.
.2. Huell Howser goes apeshit - and does again for a third time. It’s funny but getting overplayed, as he’s appeared three times in two months at this point.
.1. Ice-T plays “would you rather” - I like the interplay between Aukerman and Thompson but number 1?
So what was missing? The fact that Bobby Bottleservice didn’t get in the top ten is a shame, the Cyberthug/Bobby B “desert Island” chat with straight man Jerry O’Connell would be in there too, and even the Sklar Bros. Pizza Hut bit.

DVD - Sleeper - Another entry from my childhood book on Science Fiction movies checked off. This one a lesser Woody Allen feature that I liken to that era’s “Idiocracy”. I’m sure were I a more studious man I’d develop a deeper thesis of comparison, but I think just the blunt allusion is quite enough.

COMIC - Detective Comics #870 - Good thing for my wife that Batwoman is gay… not to mention fictitious, because I’m completely smitten. Just kidding beloved. I’m disappointed to hear that Batwoman will be leaving ‘Tec for her own series, as I think that’s kind of a demotion. ‘Tec is the tentpole series at DC (it’s what the company is named after, afterall) and it’s a testament to the strength of this new Batwoman iteration that for seemingly the first time since issue 27, another character other than Batman is carrying the book.

COMIC - Chew #7 - Oh? OH! oh… she’s dead? Darn. But still the best new series of 2009.

COMIC - Beasts of Burden #4 - And thus ends the second best new series of 2009. It should be an ongoing series… it really should. Because it’s amazing.

DVD - Extract - Mike Judge returns to the working world presenting Jason Bateman as the owner of an extract bottling factory whose life and good fortune are falling apart around him. It’s not as pop-culture-ready as Office Space or even Idiocracy but it’s a charming, subtle and entertaining comedy with a great cast (including Kristen Wiig, Mila Kunis, Ben Affleck, Gene Simmons and J.K. Simmons).

NET - Christmas Eve on Sesame Street - This special used to creep me out when I was a kid, especially towards the end when Big Bird is sleeping on the roof in the middle of snowstorm with icicles hanging off his nose and the haunting calls of the cast on the street below echoing around him, then the eerie shadow of, presumably Santa looms over him. Brr. Scary shit. Probably one of the most maudlin of Christmas specials, with a plethora of lilting, morose songs with the exception of the positively chipper Oscar-sung “I Hate Christmas”. The opening sequence of the “life sized” costumed Bert, Ernie, Oscar, Count and Cookie Monster bothered me even as a kid, and looks positively silly today.

NET - A Muppet Family Christmas - As a kid I used to love big event comic books that would feature as many characters as they could cram into the pages, even if most of them had no word balloons, their mere presence was enough to excite me. “A Muppet Family Christmas” is a “big event” for Muppets, featuring the bulk of the Muppet Show regulars, the majority of the Sesame Street cast, and even the Fraggles. Even better, there’s (surprisingly) no celebrity guest stars to age it, giving the special an almost timeless feel (although Piggy’s poodle hairdo does give it away as an ’80’s creation). Seeing Jim Henson at the end brings a tear to my eye. It’s bright, quite funny and really captures the feel of family for the festivities. It’s perfect for getting anyone into the Xmas spirit.

DVD - Funny People - Yes, it’s long, clocking in at about 150 minutes, but it’s not a straight comedy or a straight drama, but something in-between, but alternating between being more one than the other. The first third of the film deals with an Adam Sandler-esque stand-up turned superstar (played by Adam Sandler) discovering that he’s dying, and realizing how very alone he is. Taking a young, unrefined comedian (Seth Rogen) under his wing and as an assistant/best friend, there’s an excellent tour of the stand-up comedy process and community, but it sadly doesn’t last. The latter 2/3s find Sandler’s character reuniting with an old flame (Leslie Mann), now married with kids, and looking for something more meaningful. It’s not a diversion, as it really does become the centerpiece for the film, and it’s a well told story, but it’s not what’s interesting about the film, and it would seem that Judd Apatow really didn’t know which story he wanted to tell more and where to turn his focus. It’s an enjoyable movie (Eric Bana puts in a great performance, and Rogen shows some great depth) but not as good as it could have been were it two separate, more focussed films.

NET - Pee-Wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special - an absurd special that’s decidedly 80’s, with a 50’s twist. Plenty of guest stars (most of whom anyone born after 1980 won’t have a clue who they are) and lots of silliness.

BOOK - More Information Than You Require by John Hodgman - The Hodg-man is back with the second installment of his Almanack series of made-up information. This volume features a “fact-a-day” that seems obsessed with a strange weather competition between Milwaukee, WI and Richmond, VA. Also, gone are the hobos, in are the Mole men. And curious facts about every POTUSA in history, oh, and crystal skulls containing vodka (which isn’t made up). Useless but highly entertaining.

PODCAST - Radio Free GAK ep 93 - chillwave/glo-fi spotlight takes things blippy and downtempo. Quite of soothing, if you’re into that sort of thing… which I am.
ep 94 - year in review/The Road - some of GAK’s favourite tunes of the year, plus a spotlight on Nick Cave and Warren Ellis’ soundtrack to the Road, which is depressing, anxious listening indeed.
ep 95 - a honky Christmas - a semi-personal and absolutely fantastic stroll through the melancholy country Christmas tunes. Not quite what you need to get you into the spirit, but a decidedly different Christmas compilation.

Magazine - Empire Magazine December - the “Icons of the Decade” issue features a lot of jibber jabber about nothing particularly insightful (the “Fantastic Mr. Fox” press conference and the interview with the Coens on “A Serious Man” were, well, fluff… still need to read the story on “Where the Wild Things Are”). Still, I enjoy the Magazine’s geek slant and the many, many, many reviews of films I haven’t seen but want to keep tabs on.

DVD - Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 7 - Disc 1 - good thing my wife remembers what happened previously because, after a 3+ year hiatus between season 6 and 7 I couldn’t remember any of Dawn’s backstory, or who Willow killed, or how Spike got his soul back or why Xander left Anya. Even still, I have to say that season 7 has enraptured me like season 5 or 6 didn’t so much.

DVD - 500 Days of Summer - The best “guys’ chick flick” since High Fidelity. Some dudes may deepen their already deep crush on Zooey Deschanel, but me, I’m just further sinking into my admiration for Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Rise of Cobra forgiven and almost forgotten). What a wonderfully quirky, eccentric and enjoyable tale of love and loss.

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Movember Deleted Scene #3 - The Handsome Boy Modeling School

December 3rd, 2009 Graig

The Handsome Boy Modeling School

The Handsome Boy Modeling School


I wanted to keep fake moustaches to a minimum, but I couldn’t help but remember how the old lip service transformed Producers Prince Paul and Dan The Automator into Chest Rockwell and Nathaniel Merriweather, the operators of Handsome Boy Modeling School, the best $50 you ever spend. Satisfied graduates include such luminary moustaches as Father Guido Sarducci.

father_guido_sarducci

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Movember Deleted Scene #2 - The Hyneman

December 2nd, 2009 Graig

jamie-hyneman-1
The Mythbusters legend didn’t make it into Movember proper because it’s not just a moustache… he didn’t meet the criteria… but I dig this guy nonetheless.

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Movember Deleted Scene - The Cliff Clavin

December 1st, 2009 Graig

The Cliff Clavin

The Cliff Clavin


John Ratzenberger may be sporting a goatee these days, but the Cliff Claven lives on. Who says blonde men shouldn’t have moustaches?

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Consumption November

November 30th, 2009 Graig

COMIC - Supermarket tpb - I enjoy Brian Wood’s writing generally, as he has an often different, fluidly urbane style, but here his structure is a little to rapid fire. I’m not saying I’m a big fan of decompression, but the rhythm here was just off. Artist Kristian Donaldson is incredible, though. Absolutely lovely work. The story of an heiress to a mob fortune trapped in between two rival gangs is handled rather flippantly which both works and doesn’t work, but as I said, just feels truncated and not entirely fleshed out.

Last month we watched the story of Anvil, and while I may not absolutely love their music, I’m certainly a fan of the guys, and apparently the LA comedy scene is equally enamored with them:

Drum Master with Anvil from Anvil_The_Band

PODCAST - Comedy Death Ray #27 - Cyber Thug (Jerry Minor) bum-rushes the radio station and takes over the podcast, leaving special guest Jerry O’Connell bewildered and uncomfortable. Bobby Bottleservice (Nick Kroll) returns, and Miles Archer (?) guest host. Hilarious.

The Ed Hardy Boyz: The Case of the Missing Sick Belt Buckle from Jon Daly

#28 - Not so keen on the new game ScAukerman is playing.
#29 - PBS’ Huell Howser (James Adomian) pays a visit to the studio, a show-long character piece which escalates beautifully into a cathartic dose of excessive comedy mania.
#30 - Matt Walsh shows up and rags on “eggheads” and has a show and tell with his space capsule items, while Howard “Dragonboy Suede” Kremer provides the onion-like layers of deception with Disney radio child broadcaster “Sloppy” Timmy Slotsman.
#31 - An extra-length CDRR with Michael Cera, Harris Wittles, Jimmy Pardo, the return of Huell Howser, and call-in appearances from Ice-T (Paul F. Thompkins) and Bobby Bottleservice (Nick Kroll).

AUDIO COMMENTARY - Evil Dead II - Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell and Rob Tapert get together and talk at one another rapid fire commenting on their experiences and cracking much wise about the whole thing. Make a drinking game out every time Bruce say “Everything’s alright now.” Lots of fun.

TV - V episode 1 - I remember being a somewhat avid watcher of the show as a child, but I don’t really hold a lot of affinity for the series. The main reason I started watching this new series, frankly, was for Elizabeth (Juliet on Lost) Mitchell. The show is populated with other SF TV actors, like that guy from 4400 or the girl from Firefly and Supergirl from Smallville, and at times, especially early on, it comes off as unrefined and overt, trying to hard to get its point across, even clunky in its acting, editing and effect. After the mid-way point, with the “terrorist cell” introduced, and the introduction of “the plan” and its resisters, it actually fared nicely, executed well, hinting at some potentially meaty storytelling. It’s good to see that Scott Wolf’s character isn’t a Gyuss Baltar-like opportunist and actually has some savvy and conscience. I’ll give the next three episodes a go and decide during it’s break whether to continue watching.

DVD - G.I. Joe: Resolute - With all the semi-plausible technobabble and nu-science that’s introduced throughout the mini-movie, you can definitely tell Warren Ellis wrote it. Given virtually free reign to build and destroy, the story moves like few other Joe stories before it. The ammunition is no longer colorful, ineffective lasers, but hard ammo, with a real impact, and it’s by and large balls-to-the-wall action. There’s a ramping up of the intensity from the original cartoon, with the buffoonery eliminated (poor Bazooka) and the threat level extremely high (poor Moscow). Ellis also injects some deftly executed humourous moments (poor Destro) and in general the story is executed quite well. Originally a web serial in 5-minute chunks, it plays remarkably well in full form, though the last battle feels quite truncated. Still, next to the terrific IDW G.I. Joe/Cobra mini-series, this is the best I’ve ever seen the toy line handled. I want more.

COMIC - Beasts of Burden #2 - The final page of this book is absolutely heart-wrenching. Kudos to Mr. Dorkin and Ms. Thompson, you entertained, disturbed and touched me in a way few other comics have.

COMIC - Chew #5 - John Layman is kicking all sorts of ass on this series, and this issue is a brilliant capper to the current storyline. Is Tony Chu to be admired for his loyalty to his job and ethics, or admonished for his disloyalty to his partner? Are there shades of grey at play that Tony just can’t see and should he be willing to compromise? I’m just so pleased that “Chew” is ongoing. I can’t think of anyone who could do better with this material than Rob Guillory. It’s just captivating and highly entertaining stuff.

TV - Michael and Michael Have Issues - Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter can be hit or miss sometimes, but I quite enjoyed this, my first viewing of MMHI. Their Sweatpants Store sketch was brilliant.

Michael & Michael Have Issues: Sweatpants | Movies & TV | SPIKE.com

COMIC - Doom Patrol #4 - You know for four months in a row I’ve been trying to decide whether I like this new Doom Patrol or not and as of this issue I’m still totally undecided. I like the idea of the Doom Patrol and Challengers of the Unknown and WWII JSA heroes being part of linear time as opposed to the oft rebooted comic book time, so that Robotman and co. have been around longer than more prominent heroes like Superman and Batman. Giffen seems to be going for this approach but not committing fully to it (yet). Perhaps he’s just testing to see if he can get away with it?

COMIC - Captain America: Reborn #4 - Oooh, Brubaker stole the cliffhanger ending from season 2 of Twin Peaks…

COMIC - Secret Six #15 - John Ostrander knows Deadshot like the back of his hand. The story is a one-off trip down memory lane and is kind of hokey but decently executed. The art, however, was quite choppy.

MOVIE - A Serious Man - I was entertained but I’m not sure I get what the Coen Bros. are trying to say. Does my lack of Jewish background preclude me from understanding the film completely, or is this yet another tale of the bizarre from the Coen Bros. which just happens to be centered around a Minneapolis suburb and Jewish community in the 1970s (?). Fascinating, routinely funny, often absurd, and fully awkward as we witness the complete dismantling of Larry Gopnik’s life, and every time he’s thrown a bone or he steps outside of what’s perceived as “straight” something really bad happens. As with every Coen Bros. film, the cast of secondary characters are sheer delight, including the Parks, Sy Abelman, the three Rabbis, and, the neighbours, including the Korean war vet on one side encroaching on Larry’s property, and the sultry housewife on the other. And, oh, that ending…

MOVIE - Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs - Upon learning that the creators/writers of Clone High were also behind this, I understand now why I found it so funny (sharing the same sense of humour and all). An absolutely surprising delight, plus, hey, Mr. T and Bruce Campbell. How do you go wrong?

MOVIE - G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra - The depths of this film’s awfulness are too deep to explore without going mad, but let’s just say that aside from the many vehicles, the writers/director missed the point of G.I. Joe’s cast of characters completely. That Scarlett though… (and I was always a Baroness guy)

COMIC - Strange Tales #3 - This third volume (of three) of indie cartoonists approaching Marvel’s pantheon with their own skewed take is hands down the least engaging of the bunch. Stan Sakai shows little depth as he puts the Hulk in feudal Japan. Chris Chua produces an unreadable piece about what, I have no idea. Jonathan Jay Lee drops a hyperstylized Punisher story which not only doesn’t say anything new, it doesn’t say anything at all. Corey Lewis’ attempt at culture mashing feels five years out of date, and Peter Bagge’s Hulk story reaches its unimpressive conclusion. There are some nice bits from Max Cannon, Becky Cloonan,
and Jay Stephens, amongst a few others, but unlike previous issues, the entertainment to value ration is way out of whack.

COMIC - Sweet Tooth #3 -

COMIC - Criminal vol.3 - Three extra-length, stand-alone stories which weave into one another and into the series larger, like a hard-nosed, crime-filled, grindhouse/blacksploitation inspired version of Kieslowski’s “Three Colours” trilogy. Gritty and grim, but so well done. Brubaker has the knack, and Sean Phillips knows how to show it.

NET - Pirsencolinensinainciusol -

COMIC - Batgirl #4 - This issue is a 50/50 split between entertaining and annoying. I really want to like it but there are times, man, when it just rubs me the wrong way.

COMIC - Batman and Robin #6 - dammit, this is some fine comicbooking.

COMIC - WALL-E #0/JSA vs Kobra #6 - see the first Four-Color Frenzy… or not.

COMIC - The Outsiders: The Deep tpb - The one thing missing from this team book is team dynamics. Writer Pete Tomasi has a kick-ass story involving resurrections, longevity and meteor rocks, but the team never actually gels together, their purpose, hierarchy and structure never properly forms (or stays consistent at least) and by the end it feels like it’s over and done all too abruptly.

PODCAST - Radio Free GAK #88 - lots of boom for your boom
#89 - A crazy good celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall with krautrock a-plenty including a heavy dosage of Kraftwerk kovers.
#90 - the pledge drive episode to keep CITR well funded and in operation. A variety of sounds, all enjoyable.
#91 - A Star Trek themed pledge drive episode, surprisingly not as geeky as it sounds.

PODCAST - Laugh Out Loud presents the Cream of Comedy - Winner Calvin Storoschuk was easily the highlight of the show. She Said What produced a fun sketch. Mark Debonis was decent, though his opening schtick doesn’t translate to radio well. Craig Fay recieved a few painful, polite chuckles, while Kayla Lorette’s character piece was cute, amusing perhaps, but not “haha” funny.

TV - The Prisoner (2009 - AMC) - The primary folly of the show lies in direction and editing. It’s just not as clean as the original, and tries too hard (detrimentally) to be “stylized”.
I see Caviezel as less laid back and more doped up, like he’s on a steady stream of drugs that’s keeping his mind from acting as sharply as they’re trying to say it could. I think the show’s editing/direction is having a difficult time with displaying the mind games as cleanly as the original, however, which hiders/undermines the characterization of Six, his intellect and cunning… but I think you’re right in that Caviezel doesn’t have the same intensity (but from what I can gather, he’s a former desk jockey and not a former Secret Agent Man, which would explain the difference in attitude… to be devil’s advocate). 6 was kind of a prick in the original and I think Caviezel does a decent job of being standoffish and confused (but it’s in the editing that his confusion and apoplectic state doesn’t really come across all that clearly).
I liked the switch-up from espionage to third-party contractor paranoia (a true big brother state, 1984 mixed with Equilibrium?), and the change in Village culture to a more family setting. Also enjoying a view into 2’s life.
No way it could be as good as the original, and it’s not overwhelmingly fantastic, but it’s good enough to keep watching through to it’s conclusion (can’t believe AMC is tossing it all out there in 3 days).

I think the presentation from AMC, two shows a night, three nights in a row is hindering the show somewhat, as the episodes are given no time to sink in and reflect upon. These last two episodes really have more of a connection to the original series, in that they present 6 in two completely different situations, but in how AMC presents them they’re supposed to fit cohesively.
Their attempt to make it a “Lost” like mystery(”If you can figure out the connection between the pills and the holes, you’re one step closer to solving the mystery of the village”) also is somewhat undermining the series.
I’m enjoying it, but I think I will enjoy it more, the second time around, on blu-ray, at my own pace, in high-def and sans commercials.

The finale two episodes made me realize that this is its own entity and not a “modernization” or “adaptation” of the original. There are si…milar themes and even the odd story aspect or two, but the execution is by and large its own, with a different focus (it’s really more about No.2 than No.6 in the end). Even though I had mostly figured it out, I was still surprised by how much I liked the finale.

COMIC - The Unwritten #7 - Such a curious series, althought I’m already starting to get a strong inkling as to where this is heading (but if I’m wrong I’ll probably enjoy it more).

COMIC - Red Robin #6 - To be perfectly honest, even one day after reading it I don’t recall much at all about it except that the new artist doesn’t handle fight scenes all that well.

COMIC - The Shield #3 - Really and truly one of the best new superhero comics on the stands.

COMIC - The Authority #3 - somehow I think Giffen has come off far more verbose than Morrison would have in the same situation. Still not bad.

COMIC - Adventure Comics #4 - So how exactly did the Black Lanterns get to Earth Prime. And congrats to Johns and Gates for actually making me kind of like Superboy-Prime.

COMIC - Tiny Titans #19 - stretchy people! Aw yeah, Titans.

COMIC - Batman: Streets of Gotham #6 - A seriously decent fill-in by Chris Yost. Many have tried, but few have succeeded at making the Huntress an interesting character. Great job! Even this month’s Manhunter back-up was pretty good.

COMIC - Doctor Horrible One-Shot - while the singing is non-existent, the whimsy of the source is still in place with a fun story from Zach Whedon and cartoonish, but with good caricaturization of Fillion and NPH. Heartily enjoyable.

COMIC - Thunderbolts: Burning Down The House - new writer Andy Diggle (since departed) dismantled the old team in quick order and introduced a new team whose sole purpose was to protect Norman Osborn’s Green ass from getting found out by President Obama, hence permitting him to sally forth with his “H.A.M.M.E.R” project which grants him unprecedented control over the country and its super-humans. It’s an aggrivating story of the good-guy winning that is all action and no reflection. Not yet certain how I feel. The gap-issues (found in a T-bolts/Deadpool crossover) make for more frustrated reading.

DVD - Whatever Works - I’m not a Woody Allen fan, but I’m not a hater either. I see the appeal, but I also see the redundancy, the pitiable nuances that Allen is incapable of avoiding. With Whatever Works he takes on his muse of “old man/barely legal woman” romance once again, with curmudgeonly genius (200 IQ) Larry David taking in a homeless southern belle Evan Rachel Wood, and ultimately succumbing to her romantic overtures. It’s the appearance of Patricia Clarkson at the start of the second act that the film really takes off from predictable Allen-isms (plenty of talking heads waxing philosophic) to an almost absurd parody, disseminating his whole much toiled view on relationships to the coined phrase of “whatever works”. I’m enjoying curmudgeons as of late (Ricky Gervais in Ghost Town, Ed Asner in Up, Ed O’Neill in Modern Family) and Larry David’s sardonic demeanor carries the film with more of his own schtick which is a nice reprieve from the constant flood of Woody impersonators that adorn his films.

COMIC - War of Kings HC - 18 comics for $40 is actually quite the bargain. Not that all of the comic here are worth owning, but the main event made it absolutely worth the price of admission. The Inhumans take over the Kree empire and go to war with the Shi’ar, boom!

COMIC - Detective Comics #859 - Delving further into Kate Kane’s past and how she came to be Batwoman. Rucka tackles gay rights and romance without really being too blatant or preachy.

COMIC - Chew #6 - Best new comic series of 2009. Seriously.

COMIC - Beasts of Burden #3 - Love Dorkin’s creepy talking animal stories (the stories are creepy, not the talking animals), and even more love Jill Thompson’s illustrations. A fabulous variation on the paranormal investigator sub-genre.

COMIC - Incognito tpb - whilst I enjoyed it, it felt somewhat derivative of Brubaker/Phillips’ own “Sleeper” series.

CONCERT - Star Wars: In Concert @ ACC - a live orchestral presentation of John Williams’ rather brilliant scores for the sextet of films was completely undercut and overshadowed by the hack-edited montage sequences projected on the big screen behind them. Anthony Daniels “presented” the evening in a cheeky British manner that bordered on patronizing, and the ACC didn’t present the best of acoustics to listen in. Not absolutely horrendous, but could definitely have been better presented.

DVD - Paris je t’aime - 20 different directors, 18 different stories, all about Paris with “love” as theme. As with any anthology, there were good ones, and not so good ones, but very little were what I’d call memorable. Tom Tykwer puts in perhaps the most ambitious story, while the story from Oliver Schmitz is as much a knife stab to the gut as the story portrays. Vincenzo Natali presents a 30s inspires silent vampire tale, Wes Craven drops a lovely and amusing ghost story set at the grave of Oscar Wilde, and the Coen Bros. find Steve Buscemi playing tourist in the Paris subway. My favourite would likely be the tourist postcard of the 14e androissement by Alexander Payne, in which Carol (Margo Martindale) narrates in brutal American-french her lonely, yet wistful travails through Paris. Oh and Alfonso Cuaron directs Nick Nolte speaking French, and it’s just as hilariously awkward as you’d think.

MOVIE - The Fantastic Mr. Fox - Pixar finally has some serious competition for the best animated feature Oscar this year. Wes Anderson makes a kid-accessible stop-motion animated feature that doesn’t patronize in the least bit, and is wildly enjoyable on multiple levels from all ages. It’s got an old fashioned sensibility which made it feel like something that I’m only now getting the chance to see.

TV - Ben 10: Alien Swarm - This made-for-TV movie based on the cartoon was surprisingly not that bad. The effects were pretty solid and the acting equally so. If I were a kid and into Ben 10 I’d think this was pretty great.

COMIC - Daredevil: Lady Bullseye tpb - Matt Murdock’s private life continues to spiral downward, under both his own volition and his publicly-disavowed alter-ego. The Hand attacks him from all angles, led by mercenary Lady Bullseye, but Daredevil receives some assistance from a new blind master and Iron Fist.

DVD - Star Wars Episode 4 - Just discovered that the “original edition” “Bonus Disc” is formatted for 235:1 aspect ration on 4:3 TVs whereas the “special edition” disc is properly formatted for 235:1 on 16:9 TVs. George Lucas = fail, yet again. Grrr.

COMIC - Criminal vol 4: Bad Night - Easily my favourite of the Criminal stories so far. A former counterfeiter has reformed after being falsely accused of sabotaging his wife’s car, causing her death. Now a newspaper comic strip creator with insomnia, he gets by but is haunted by his past which rears its ugly head again when a chance encounter with a femme fatale puts him back into a life of forgery and murder.

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Movember #30 - The Cronkite

November 30th, 2009 Graig

The Cronkite

The Cronkite


Closing out the Moustache Party is the ultimate Grandpa moustache that belongs to a legend among newsmen, Walter Cronkite. His faint, almost-not-even-there silver lip mane is unique in that it doesn’t really stand out at all, and it takes a while to notice… but once you do, it just screams of integrity. To sport a moustache like this takes talent, class and a bag of Werther’s Orginals.

Thank you for visiting geekent’s Movember and thanks to those who supported GAK in his Movember challenge to raise money for Pancreatic Cancer research.

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Movember #29 - The Geraldo

November 29th, 2009 Graig

The Geraldo

The Geraldo


The Hitler may be the most evil moustache on the planet, the kind of moustache that makes you cringe and want to run in terror, but the Geraldo, made famous by one Geraldo Rivera, is the only moustache in the world that makes you want to aim your fist 1 inch above it. Seriously, you see this moustache and your fist just naturally gravitates towards it. Can’t be helped.

geraldo
See, it’s not just me.

(N.B. - for a brief time in the mid-1980s, the Geraldo was better known as “The Iron Shiek”)
iron-sheik

Support my friend GAK this Movember in raising funds for Prostate Cancer research.

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Movember #27/28 - The Grover/The Taft

November 27th, 2009 Graig

The Grover

The Grover


Not quite as wild as the Brimley, the Grover, here popularized by President Grover Cleveland is yet another popularized styling of “the walrus”.

There were four U.S. Presidents to sport moustaches: Chester A. Arthur, Teddy Roosevelt, The Grover, and, yes, William Taft:

The Taft

The Taft


The Taft combines elements of the Grover with that of the Dali to create his own unique signature.

Rip Taylor is a famous for sporting the Taft:
rip-taylor

Support my friend GAK this Movember in raising funds for Prostate Cancer research.

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Movember #26 - The Lemmy

November 26th, 2009 Graig

The Lemmy

The Lemmy


Not to be confused with the Lanny, the Lemmy comes complete with connecting chops and unsightly boils. The legend of metal, Motorhead frontman and awesomely-named Lemmy Kilmister (surprisingly, Lemmy is the made-up part of his name, not Kilmister) is as much about his music as his killer facial hair.

Support my friend GAK this Movember in raising funds for Prostate Cancer research.

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Movember #25 - The Oates

November 25th, 2009 Graig

The Oates

The Oates


Hall and Oates would be nothing without Daryl Hall’s immaculate voice and John Oates’ immaculate soup strainer. Seriously.

Support my friend GAK this Movember in raising funds for Prostate Cancer research.

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Movember #24 - The Hogan

November 24th, 2009 Graig

The Hogan

The Hogan


The bleach-blonde variation of the classic “Handlebar” moustache. Where do you think Orange County Chopper’s Paul Sr. got the idea?

paulsr

Support my friend GAK this Movember in raising funds for Prostate Cancer research.

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Movember #23 - The Silverman

November 23rd, 2009 Graig

The Silverman

The Silverman


You would almost think that “The Silverman” should be a gloriously thick, silver ’stache, but no! Sarah Silverman says why should men have all the fun and shoots the most earnest look to the crowd at the 2009 Emmy Awards. Classic.

Support my friend GAK this Movember in raising funds for Prostate Cancer research.

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Movember #22 - The Flanders

November 22nd, 2009 Graig

The Flanders

The Flanders


For the past 20 years, Ned Flanders has had one of the most recognizable moustaches on TV, and an impressive soup strainer it is.

Support my friend GAK this Movember in raising funds for Prostate Cancer research.

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Movember #21 - The Trebek

November 21st, 2009 Graig

The Trebek

The Trebek


Hands up, who misses Jeopardy host Alex Trebek’s debonair lip fuzz?
It was the king of salt-and-pepper ’staches, it was!

Support my friend GAK this Movember in raising funds for Prostate Cancer research.

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Movember #20 - The Lanny

November 20th, 2009 Graig

The Lanny

The Lanny


Probably the most famous moustache in sports history… Lanny MacDonald might also get the most famous red-stache, accentuated by years of adorning the vibrant red Calgary Flames colours.

Support my friend GAK this Movember in raising funds for Prostate Cancer research.

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Movember #19 - The Borat

November 19th, 2009 Graig

The Borat

The Borat


Sacha Baron Cohen’s perhaps played-out pop-cult phenomenon still yields one of the most impressive and impressionistic moustaches in recent history. The sheer breadth and density of the ’stache is what makes it so unique and impressive.
(Although it should be noted it was formerly, and, if the whole Borat thing finally plays out, it will once again be “The Freddie”)
the Freddie

the Freddie


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