geekent’s stuff’n things

28/02/2006

Pish on it

Filed under: ramble — graigkent @ 11:45 am

I’ve never objected to paying my taxes, and I do not object to owing the government money at the end of a year (which I probably will this year). What I do object to is former employers submitting their taxes late, never giving me my T-4 slip, and claiming they paid me more than they actually did, causing my taxes to be reassessed with higher wages earned, lower taxes paid and then dropping a slew of interest charges on top of it, meaning I have to dispute with RevCan how much exactly I paid and got paid a few years back with no paperwork to back it up save for sketchy (and moldy, thanks to the basement flood) bank deposit records.
She’s screwed me again, my ex-boss has. For a year in which I survived by being in debt making a paltry allowance, I now have to pay even more for. There goes my England trip money. Sonuvabitch.
My only hope is that RevCan audits their books and sees that nothing is really very copacetic..

Last Call

In other equally unhappy news, local comics publisher Speakeasy Comics is closing its doors effective immediately.
As a comics fan, a Canadian, and a semi-pro comics reviewer, I certainly appreciated Toronto-based Speakeasy as a company and its output, even if I was mixed on the majority of the titles they published. What Publisher Adam Fortier was trying to do was admirable, respectable, but, invariably, somewhat flawed.
I got the chance to sit down with Adam for an interview last summer, and he’s an incredibly intelligent, personable and knowledgable man. We had a great conversation if it became only a relatively good published interview (which was pushed out the door a month later and a lot of information was already outdated). I kept on top of Speakeasy, and felt even a sort of allegience to the company, to try out the books even if I didn’t like them (which, to be honest, I rarely did).
Adam was running both Speakeasy and a production arm called “Hawkes Studios” which was responsible for the titles “The Grimoire”, “Beowulf” and “Spellgame”, and in late ‘05 he announced a deal with Adustry Entertainment that would change the face of Speakeasy’s operation as well as secure its future. The problem was that the deal never happened, unbeknownst to most until now.
It was this, coupled with low sales, too much output too soon, long delays between issues, and, as Warren Ellis pointed out on his “Bad Signal” mailing list, a sorry effort at marketing that combined to signal the end. The books, unless you were following closely, were rarely advertised or announced, and they hit the stands relatively undistinguished from all the other titles available.
It’s sad to me mostly because of my conversation with Adam. I have a pretty good sense of what he’s like as both a person and a businessman and they’re both top notch. Most other things I’ve read about him on-line confirm that (though some do have their druthers). I also knew what Adam was planning for Speakeasy and it would have marked a positive change for the industry, in terms of creator rights and equity, exposure, integration with digital distribution, and the potential for cross-media endeavours. I also knew a lot of projects in the pipeline that were leaps and bounds above the bulk of what Speakeasy had already published, which hopefully will find homes elsewhere.
Adam has stated he’s taking some time away from the industry (although I highly doubt he’s quitting it altogether), reverting to just being a fan again. It seems the progress he made in terms of creator’s rights were heaviest tax on him, which is unfortunate since they were ultimately philisophically positive, but will now be seen in a negative context by future independant publishers of creator-owned work.
I wish Adam the best and hope to see him around the shops sometime. Geek chat and beer (I’m buying) are a standing offer…

26/02/2006

Drawn and quartered

Filed under: Tele, hair (head, body and facial), love or something like it, the body human — graigkent @ 9:06 pm

Oh, that wasn’t the most brilliant thing I’ve ever done, but it certainly was worth it.
Y’see, ever since grade school, ever since I saw a picture of that dude atop a horse with both their skins peeled away, I’ve wanted to see Gunther von Hagens’ work. When I found out that the “Body World 2″ exhibit was coming to Toronto at the Ontario Science Center, I practically wet myself. When it started on September 30th, well, my life threw itself into a bit of turmoil around that time so I know why I didn’t exactly get to it, but then, late last year, my sister and I made a pact to go to it. We were supposed to see it before Christmas but schedules and whatnot didn’t work out, and they never really did since.
This weekend was the last weekend for it, so it really was do or die (well, that’s a little extreme, do or don’t time, I guess). CBC Metro Morning told me it was running 24 hours all weekend, and I was wondering who would bloody well go to the Ontario Science Center at 4:30 am.
Well, me, for one. My sister for two. Her partner for three. And the hundreds of others in the lineup that we saw there this morning (including Sloan’s Chris Murphy).
I went on-line yesterday to check out some info about the show only to find that it proclaimed limited tickets were available for midnight to 7:30 am viewings. Upon further exploration we found the only block of tickets open were 3:30, 4:00 and 4:30. Ouch. There was a bit of hemming and hawing about whether any of us would make it up and out that early, but with the alternative of missing the exhibit and feeling like asses as a result, we set the alarms for 3:30 and put in an appearance.
The place was packed, lineups were abundant, and the gross-out factor dissipated by the time you passed the third table display of plastinated organs, bisected, vivisected, sliced and peeled.
An utterly fascinating display. I appreciated the amount of work that must go into all the various exhibits as much as the exhibits themselves. My absolute favourite was the rows of jars containing only arteries, taking the shape of an arm or foot or face, red vessils floating in water. Visually beautiful.
I got tired of the posed bodies after a while, but some of the neater exhibits using full figures were the drawer man (with blocks of his body cut and pulled out, exposing the cross sections), the ringed man (with different depths of cylindrical sections removed from his body) and the cross section comparing an obese person to an average person, emphasizing the strained organs.
I would say go see it, but it’s over. Check the Body Worlds site for the next leg of the exhibits. Edumicational and morbidly entertaining.

Traveller’s Comfort

My mom came to town this weekend with my sister and her partner, which is always nice because she buys me things. Oh, and she’s my mom, that’s nice too… :)
She was heading out today to the Tournament of Hearts in London Ontario via Via Rail, and so I was escorting her to Union Station to make sure she found her way all right. Unfortunately, when we got there we were an hour early, and on top of that the train was delayed 40 minutes. So we found a bench and lounged.
Fine, we had some time to kill. But soon the 40 minute delay became an hour delay, and then a 2 hour delay. I enjoyed spending time with her, people watching and watching the pigeons freak out the people we were watching. The funny thing is my mom had an 8 hour delay the week before in Chicago for a transfer flight from Buffalo to Phoenix, and her luggage was lost for two days upon return (and mangled somewhat when returned). She’s got the travel jinx.
I left her in a very very long line for boarding. I’ve not taken the train myself ever, so I had no idea that all those delayed passengers would’ve stayed there, sitting on the floor, grumbling away. I don’t doubt she’s getting on the train, just she would have practically been first in line had we went to the boarding queue when we got there.
Meanwhile, I just got a call from the New Zealand travelling GAK who regailed me with elements of his lovely time in the land just North of Down Under. He too was waiting for a late passenger transport at the Christchurch airport. A surprise call but pleasant nonetheless. I still seethe with envy.

the most wonderful time of the year

I love winter because I love women in winter clothing. I love watching ladies roaming with their rosy cheeks and red noses, hair peering out from under toques, mittens and scarves concealing hands and neck. I think women are most beautiful in winter clothing, able to accessorize as much or as little as they like, able to hint at their strengths and hide any of their perceived flaws. Forget summer, where belly shirts and short skirts reveal waaay too much, I like the excessive tease of winter. What’s she hiding? Even doffing a hat or pulling off a glove is like an innocent, unsexualized strip tease. Intriguing, encouraging, fascinating. I love the face… back when I used to draw, I would most often just draw faces, and I would study faces. Winter clothing is built to accentuate and display the face. Toques, scarves, turtlenecks, collars, hoods are all there to frame the face, highlight it’s unique characters, and the brush of cold across the cheek, rashing it red or bronze and drawing lips brighter makes every face more beautiful. Oh Winter, why must you go?

In case you missed them

Filecloud has all 6 episodes of the great new BritCom the IT Crowd available for free download (not torrents either)

Beardo

Yes, I have me a beard.
Yes, I do look like GI Joe.
No, I’m not going to shave it because you don’t like it.
I’m in fact going to get it professionally shaved off in a week or so.
I can’t say I grew it for that exclusive purpose, although a professional straightrazor shave was one of the reasons I did grow it out (if you’re going to get it done, might as well go all out).
I also grew it because I wanted to see what I look like with a beard. The answer? Old school GI Joe.
Here’s what I learned though:
Men - other guys like the beard and are impressed with it and conversation almost always segues into shaving it into different facial hair formations (the fu-manchu or handlebar ’stache is most often mentioned)
Ladies - they don’t like it. They say beards are scratchy. They’re telling me, I itch like I gots fleas.
The other thing about beards is if you’re not going to keep it kempt, then you need to dress nicer and cleaner, t-shirts just make you look like a grubby basement dweller… hey, who you callin’ grubby?
(Separated at birth?)
joebeard.jpg
gjoebeard.jpg
more beard pics:::

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King Kong

Filed under: In Theatre — gkentetc @ 2:22 am

kingkong.jpg

d: Peter Jackson
w: Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh and Peter Jackson.

For a three hour movie whose general plot and progression I knew before going in, I was honestly surprised at how fully King Kong captivated my attention for the entire span of the movie. Jackson wisely spends the first hour of the movie establishing the characters and how they interact before upsetting the wistful little world he settled us into. The heartbeat of the film is carried in Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts), a down-on-her-luck New York actress in the 1930’s depression, and we yearn for her heart’s every contentment. Watts shows real range in the role, from Vaudvillian performer, to proud urchin, to romantic lead, to frightened captive, to nurturing and affectionate, to outrage and heartbreaking sadness. It’s a tough role and she stormtroops through it marvelously. If anyone doubted her acting ability or status as a leading lady this puts them to rest.
Another wise setup of Jackson is Jack Black as the shady and conniving filmmaker Carl Denham, but the director manages to evoke a fascinating and even semi-sympathetic character out of him as well. We feel his passion towards his craft early on and want nothing less but to see him make his film, and even as we find out what an opportunist and slimy character he is, Black has a particular charm infused in the character which still make you root for him regardless.
Aboard a rough and tumble freighter ship, the cast of Denham’s movie is off to Skull Island which only existed in legend, mostly because those that do find it never return. Their ship is damaged as it arrives in the fog, and they have a challenging encounter with the island natives. The natives skulk at night and kidnap Ann, sacrificing her to Kong, the giant gorilla who finds her more than just a toy, and in him she finds more than a rabid animal or scary monster. The crew of the ship and Ann’s new boyfriend, the shanghaied playwright Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody) mount a rescue mission, which moves them across the island, encountering dinosaurs and giant insects. Denham finds opportunity in Ann’s captor and sets up a plan to capture the beast.

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21/02/2006

snivilization

Filed under: Get A Life — graigkent @ 12:13 am

After a fairly full 10 days dogsitting (man, being a single uncle of an 11 month old lab is a lot of work) and trying to keep on top of work at the same time, I was a tired lad when the family returned from Phoenix today. Canada already had three goals against Sweden so I pretty much let my brain die. Fatigued, a little dizzy, and kind of itching to get back to normalcy, I spent a few more hours with the folks/siblings/dog before coming back. In my uncomfortable state, I had expected to pull a nap on the busride home, with the premonition that I would sit next to a really cute girl and that I’d embarass myself by drooling in my sleep.
Well, let’s just say only one of those two happened, and it didn’t involve a cute girl. Nothing like waking up with your chin buried in your collarbone and a drooly mcwetspot on your belly. Sexy.
Thankfully it was dark and I believed nobody noticed.

slo-mo lo-blow

Having just obtained the “family stereo” (that would be the stereo system that I grew up with, likely older than I am) I now have the means to listen to records. Can I humbly request a “what what” for outdated technology?
I also have the means to output the audio to my computer and record it, so expect some random out-of-print comedy selections coming your way to mp3.
Hoofa!

20/02/2006

lazy workday

Filed under: Tele — graigkent @ 2:23 pm

So yeah, I’m stuck in Barrie until Whistler’s folks arrive, and working remotely (thankfully due to American holiday, is slow day) but huzzah the Gold Medal women’s hockey game is on. Canada vs. Sweden. Shiver me tingles.
Meanwhile, I’m dowloading episode 5 of the IT Crowd. I loves it so.

19/02/2006

One mo day

Filed under: ad nauseum, random — graigkent @ 11:57 pm

more point form:
- went to sleep at 10:30 yesterday after Godzilla: Final Wars (see sidebar) and an Iron Maiden, which is the earliest I’ve gone to sleep that wasn’t a nap in years
- took me three hours to write one comic book review this morning/afternoon. I have excuses but, yeah, three hours.
- stuck in Barrie for another night, as the family needs to replace a flat tire and no place was open to accomodate them in Buffalo or Niagara Falls by the time they got there today. Guess that means I get to work from “home” again tomorrow, and I can also watch the Canada vs. Sweden hockey game in the afternoon. Woo.
- I’m enjoying the Olympics this year (got a speed skating and a bobsled silver today) but I’m not enjoying the commercials. Those pesky Bell beavers (voiced by Norm MacDonald and some Louie Anderson-sounding fella) are getting particularly grating, but it’s those fucking Yoplait Creamy yogurt commercials where annoying childish voices come out of the mouths of adults (one in a supermarket, the other in a boardroom… who serves yogurt in a board meeting?). Whats with the aggrivating yogurt commercials anyway. If Yoplait or Activia are trying to get me to remember their name with their commercials, it’s worked. If they want me to buy their product, sorry, you’re annoying commercials have put me off. You’d think they’d market test these things.

Godzilla: Final Wars

Filed under: DeeVee — gkentetc @ 11:35 pm

godz8.jpg

d: Ryuhei Kitamura
w: Isao Kiriyama, Ryuhei Kitamura, Wataru Mimura, Shogo Tomiyama

This 2004 daikaiju film celebrates the 50th anniversary of Gojira/Godzilla by completely overburdoning itself with plot and overstretching it’s meager budget.
Get this, the global divide has been broken down, so it’s an unprecedented time of harmony for humanity. The only problem is giant monsters keep popping up all over the place, so as a result the UN has established the Earth Defence Force, arming them with a whole buttload of advanced technology, and staffing them with the sudden upswing of mutants in the population. So far, so good. But wait, all of a sudden daikaiju have popped up across the globe, all at once. The EDF is dispatched and taking heavy losses while simultanously key officials go missing, then, just as abruptly the monsters disappear again. In their place emerges a giant UFO over Japan. Aliens appear along with the UN Secretary General, saying “Hey, we took care of those giant monsters, we’re your friends.” They tell the people of Earth that a meteor is heading towards their planet and if they don’t fire all their weapons at specific coordinates at once to destroy it, then it will destroy the planet.
You still following? Good, because that’s the first 20 minutes covered.
And then a pretty scientist, her reporter sister and the good mutant have an encounter with those squeaky little (and I mean little) girls that are Mothra’s personal assistants or something (before that the mutant and the scientist had a peek at a fossilized Gigan). They give the good mutant, Shin’ichi, a cross that tells him he’s a good guy and that Mothra will help him when the time comes. Shortly thereafter they figure out that the Secretary General doesn’t blink and therefore is an alien. They bust a cocky American EDF captain (played by legendary UFC champion, a bushy mustachioed Don Frye) out of jail, and set out to take on the aliens. They expose the Secretary General and some other key officials on tv, which results in the death of the imposters and one the aliens’ kills the head alien and takes control.

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Batman

Filed under: DeeVee — gkentetc @ 8:16 pm

bbats.jpg

d: Tim Burton
w: Sam Hamm, Warren Skaaren

I had just turned 13 in 1989 when Batman came out, and even before I saw the movie I already loved it. I had bought the movie adaptation comic book, I had read the novelization and I had more clothing with the Batman logo than anyone else in my class. More than loving the film, I was invested in it, I had bought into it. That’s a testament to the power of the film’s marketing, the push unprecedented and since unchallenged, except perhaps by The Phantom Menace.
Even in the pre-internet age, there were rumours and conrtovercies galore surrounding it, many nervous that the casting of Michael Keaton and director Tim Burton, both fresh off of the success of Beetlejuice, would make the film some goofy head-trip like the 60’s live-action camp vehicle on acid. The news of Jack Nicholson as the Joker lended it some more credibility, and when pictures and trailers appeared the fans and the public weren’t just appeased, they were salivating for more.
Eventually the film came to light in the summer of ‘89, made tonnes of money (and likely 5 times as much on merchandise) and spawned not just sequels, but really the whole idea of the summer blockbuster/it film. It’s dramatic design sense combined a 30’s and 40’s esthetic with flourishes of Berlin and London, it’s contrasted deep shadows with lights and colours, and its bombastic score by Danny Elfman were all deleriously good. The acting was top rank, it was funny, and exciting, and like nothing anyone had ever seen. I must have watched three or four times in theatre and countless times on videocassette later on. When I sit to watch it, I find myself repeating lines with the cast, and occassionally widening my eyes to take in some of the visuals. I can honestly say I enjoyed the experience of the film, still do, but it dawns on me now, over 15 years later, that I don’t really like the actual film all that much.

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18/02/2006

The Poopsmith

Filed under: Get A Life, the body human — graigkent @ 1:33 pm

After yesterday’s storm (started with thunder and lightning, then freezing rain, hail, snow, sleet, blizzard, whiteouts etc etc and sunshine late in the afternoon), it took only two hours this morning to clear off my sister’s driveway. Okay, 4/5 of the drive were cleared in about half an hour, it was the foot of the drive (where the city plow had left a two foot bank of dense, heavy, ice-filled snow) that took forever. Quite the workout though. And wouldn’t you know it, just as I finish… it bloody fookin started snowing again.
I don’t actually recall the last time I’ve had to shovel a driveway, having not lived anywhere with a driveway since 2001, and methinks I’m glad.

Waits and Measures

I don’t have a scale at home, so I rarely know my exact weight. I always just assume I’m floating around the buck-sixty mark, and I usually am. That’s been my stable weight for just over four years. Before that, since, oh, the late 80’s, I’d been hovering around the 150 lbs. point. It was all the routine biking that I did in Toronto that packed on the additional ten, five per leg.
When I got to Barrie last week, I checked myself out on the bathroom scale, and as I expected I was 161 lbs. Since then I’ve noticed a slow but steady increase over the past week to today’s 165.5 lbs., which is a new high for me. Is it all the bad food I’ve been eating (and I’ve been bored so I’ve eaten a lot) or is it all the exercise I’ve been doing (long walks with the dog, situps on the inversion table, chinups on the basement I-beam, the 30 minute jogs, and the 2 hour shovel)? A combo of both.
I know once I return to Toronto and my usual diet of late breakfast, small lunch, and lazy supper, not to forget my routine 10-6 intertness, I’ll be back to my normal weight in no time.

17/02/2006

Tonight, woah oh

Filed under: Get A Life — graigkent @ 10:56 pm

because i’m snowed in in barrie and kind of alone:
1) mixed myself an Iron Butterfly (kaluha, baileys, vodka neat)
2) plugged the ipod into computer speakers. on random have lucked into a nice mix of downtempo so far… some de la soul, local rabbits, black moth super rainbow, mc solaar, skalpel
3) discovered a bag of turtles hidden away. ate them all.
4) sat down and actually started editing the novel (working in reverse from last chapter to the first…) got through three chapters before i got antsy
5) ran an excessively hot bath with an excess of eucalyptus bubbles
6) hopped in with a glass of water, sweating profusely (damn hot)
7) read the first issue to paul pope’s batman: year 100. still trying to figure out my reaction to it
8) ran the jets in the tub until the bubbles got a little too thick and heady.
9) stood up and began fashioning myself bubble clothes.
10) eventually got bored of constructing new foamy wardrobes, deciding that large tubs and bubble baths are really best suited for lovers, and as much as i like whistler, you know, it’s platonic. the whole man-on-dog thing just aint my scene
11) rinsed off, partially clothed myself, let the dog out for a bathroom retreat, polished off the iron butterfly, find myself in an ‘i’m bored so i blog’ state again. think it’s time for samurai jack. perhaps another cointard. or not.

The Cointard

Filed under: Get A Life — graigkent @ 6:49 pm

Wnoodle writes in response to yesterday’s post:

Mustard and Cointreau: I DARE YOU! I DOUBLE DOG DARE YOU!

You asked for it.
thesetup.jpg
The familiars.
themustard.jpg
The mustard first, a healthy dropping.
thecointreau.jpg
The Coinreau filling the rest of the shot.
thestirring.jpg
The plastic fork, official stirring tool of the soon to be stirring tools.
thetoast.jpg
The cheers, y’all. Pretty drink, floaty mustard bits and all.
thedownthehatch.jpg
The glug. Tastes kinda like burning oranges.
I’m an idiot.
Welcome to it.

Headphone headache

Filed under: muse-sick, random — graigkent @ 2:40 pm

Here we go again.
After finding the perfect set of headphones (these ones right here) and subsequently ripping the cords out from the plug, I’m now on the hunt again for a new set of ear-speakers.
Why don’t I just buy another set of the “perfect pair”? Well, that would be because Sony fucking discontinued them, and I’ve been to three different Sony stores and no one has any. Batardes.
I bought a pair of these pieces of shite, but, well, they’re pieces of shite. What’s up with these headphones where one ear has a longer length of cord than the other. It.makes.no.sense.
Grrr.Argh.

Snowly shit!

Overnight it dropped about a foot of snow. Poor Whistler could barely keep his head above it when I took him to the park.

Sweet Sweden’s Badass Song

- I’m not the biggest hockey watcher, but the Sweden vs. USA ladies game was a lot of fun. 2 goals by USA in the first, 2 by Sweden in the second, and a very anxt-ridden, goalless third. A 10-minute overtime came and went, pretty hairy, but still tied. It went to shootout and Sweden picked off two points in four shots to USA’s nil in four (actually it was nil in five, as one player got to take her shot over since the goalie made her move too soon). Sweden’s goalie, Kim Martin, is flipping amazing, and really made the game. The rest of the Swedish team is a little disorganized and slow compared to the USA team, much better defensively than offensively. In fact the entire third period it seemed the US and Sweden were both just trying to keep the puck out of their end, rather than attempting to score. The overtime period was a messy scramble of desperation on both sides as well, just chaotic.
It’s a huge deal, since Canada and the U.S. have met at the final in all nine world championships and both Olympic Games in which women’s hockey was played. Canada vs. Finland happens now, to see who will meet Sweden in the gold medal game (which really isn’t in question now, is it?).
- I love the Snowboard Cross and the Speed Skating Chase. They’re two very interesting new sports, and fun to watch. It’s unique in that it’s determined by winning heats rather than based on times of races/runs. And Canada does quite well in both.
- Thanks to a 1,2 run in men’s skeleton, Canada’s now at 11 medals, and tied for second with Russia and Germany and Norway leads with 13. US is in 5th with 10.

Brokeback Mountain

Filed under: In Theatre — gkentetc @ 12:02 pm

brokebackmountain.jpg

d: Ang Lee
w: Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana

When the credits rolled I found I was sitting with my hand over my heart. After a moment, I turned to my friend who had accompanied me to the film and said, “My heart is beating really fucking fast.”
She said, “I’m glad you said that, because mine is too. I’m not usually so affected by these kinds of movies.”
By ‘these kinds of movies’ she meant love stories, not gay cowboy movies. Yes, there have been a plethora of jokes from late-night talk-show hosts, a number of parody skits from sketch-com shows, and is, next to George Bush, probably the easiest target of stand-up comedians. And yet, despite all the straight talk, the film not only remains strong, but is perhaps even stronger because of all the ridicule. I know I certainly wasn’t expecting what the film delivered.
It’s not that I ever doubted Ang Lee or the virtually unanimously positive praise of the critics, but still I didn’t have much drive to see the film until I read this post on Jim Emerson’s blog on rogerebert.com. The post, if you’re too lazy to click the link, deals with the phobia and ridicule that has surrounded the movie since the trailers hit the screen and the posters hit the theatre. It thoughtfully examines why many people are, in a sense, afraid to see the film. It was, on the one hand, a desire not to be one of “those people” that fuelled my desire to see the film, but even moreso it was Emerson’s revelation that it was a love story, and not a povocation. I’m a sucker for a truly good love story, and this is one of the best.

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16/02/2006

Battlestar Galactica: season 1

Filed under: televideodisc — gkentetc @ 10:10 pm

Battlestar_Galactica.jpg
Sci-fi, you’ve come a long way baby.
Were I to say that there’s never been anything like Battlestar Galactica on TV, I’d be lying, because what the show does so well is combine facets of other shows, as well as hone in on what has worked so well for other various sci-fi shows in the past. Really, it’s just that this Battlestar is the first to pull it all together into one tight package.
For starters, it’s a serialized show, in that each episode builds upon what’s occurred previous, and yet each hour stands alone quite nicely. Having been exposed to two or three random episodes previous to viewing the DVD set, I never felt lost or overwhelmed… perhaps just intrigued. It combines with an expert touch elements of interpersonal drama, melodrama, action, adventure, romance, sex, humour, politics, military procedural, future tech, religion and, naturally, fiction of the scientific nature, and it does so by design and with ease. It’s stunning how well the components mix, and surprising that it’s never been done to this extent before. (Thankfully it abandons the western motif that the original emulated)
Built upon the backs of shows like Star Trek in its various incarnations, Babylon 5, Space: Above and Beyond, Lexx and of course its original counterpart, this Battlestar pushes everything to the next level. Incorporating the political backbone of West Wing-style political manouevering, and relying hard upon the military angle which does it better than any war show that came before it. It’s a highly intelligent and fully engrossing show based on its commitment to detail, but it would be nowhere without a concept and characters to invest in.

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Random thoughts

Filed under: Tele, ad nauseum, blogwatch, catchy, random, writing — graigkent @ 8:38 pm

1) new favourite alcoholic drink involves chocolate milk, baileys and vodka
2) working on a list of favourite things. havn’t gotten very far. cause I keep forgetting. apparently working on a list of favourite things isn’t one of my favourite things.
3) i have new ’special features’ i’d like to enact on the blog, but i’m feeling especially lazy
4) ploughed through (reading, not writing) 60 reviews, many of the same book, as thor’s comic column is auditioning new writers. it’s not an easy decision because there are a lot of really solid entries (at least half weren’t easily dismissable) but invariably we had to shortlist to four, and I picked my four. we’ll see what the other lads come up with. i’m excited to have some fresh blood on the team, although a couple of the guys are so good i’m almost afraid.
5) where’d all that back hair come from. seriously. where? and what purpose does it serve.
6) i’m growing a beard this week. the last time (and only other time) i had a beard was when i was unemployed (and started blogging) back in ‘02. it was a hit with the ladies, more than the unemployment was, I’d say.
7) when cuddling up to your dog and going to sleep, is it unusual to have dreams where you think you’re cuddled up next to a real person?
8) eating pogos for lunch every day has got to stop
9) i’m just a little kinda slightly just a tad wee bit sorta maybe like so-so smidgum bored right now. i have plenty of movies at my avail, much i could be reading or writing about, or take the dog for a walk or even sleep, but seriously, motivation is nil. i don’t even want to be writing this. perhaps more booze would help. hmm, fresca + _____ = crazy delicious
10) i just remembered that there was a time where i’d drink anything mixed with anything unless beer or tequila was involved. i wonder if that’s still true.
hmmm, mustard plus cointreau? let’s give’er a whirl.
twogreattastes.jpg
11) i didn’t actually just do that. but i will if someone dares me. i’m an idiot
12) okay gross. this fresca is peach flavoured. since when is bloomin’ fresca peach flavoured? now it tastes like i’m drinking peach schnappes which is brining back horrid memories of the first time I got drunk (and then didn’t drink for another four years).
13) b.w.i
you figure it out
hmm, maybe this will be the next big blogging event. b.w.i night. yes, hear me now, the first annual b.w.i night is happening friday, april 7, 2006 hmmm, all i need now is to a) get a fancy graphic, b) get popular enough to spread the word around to legitimize this event so that people around the world will be choking back the booze and blogging all about it. perhaps i’ll also organize a party around it so that we can trade off blogging duties. for all i know there’s already an organized drunken blogging night that happens the first friday in april every year… well sod it… i’m doing it anyways as a call to arms or something.
the rules are simple: for every drink there must be a corresponding post
join me will you. or not. whatever. you’re your own person, your own worst enemy, your own relief pitcher if you catch my meaning which you probably don’t since i don’t even catch the meaning so if you do catch the meaning then cudo’s you’re officially a psychopath or genius or something.
14) psychopathy and genius are so easily confused, no?
15) welcome to barrie where dudes drive snowmobiles down the street and through your back yard. thanks assnut.
16) did i mention peach fresca is horrid. this dirnk won’t be over soon enoguh.
17) i left typing mistakes in there intentionally… more a sign of sloppy typing than drunkenness… perhaps also a sign of bad education and perpetual bedwetting, neither of which are afflictions of mine, just saying the perhapability is there is all.
18) made up word count this post to date: 6
19) i bought pants that accentuate my ass. it deserves it, my ass does. for all its hard work it deserves some attention
20) there’s a goddamn yogurt commercial for “activia” yogurt that implores you to “take the activa challenge” by eating their product every day for two weeks, the only thing is they don’t offer any benefits to actually eating their yogurt for two weeks. they just ask you to take the challenge. what the fuck!?
imagine if every commercial asked you to do that? take the ford challenge. just buy a ford and drive it until it wears out. it’s that easy.
take the subway franchise challenge. open up your own subway franchise and make a go of it for an undetermined length of time. it’s that easy.
take the do whatever commercials say challenge. for two weeks if a commercial asks you to do something, do it. it’s that easy.
hey, if you liked the activia challenge, the you’d love to take the geekent challenge. just read geekent.com every day for the rest of your life and if you aren’t satisfied, die unhappy. it’s that easy.
21) apparently “casino@mail.nu” thinks i have a “great site”. thanks casino@mail.nu for taking the geekent challenge. i’m sure you’ll maybe be happy-like
22) apparently all the cool cats are doing it. jowling. not recommended for those with sore necks.
jowling.jpg
23)i think i’ll watch the latest episodes of “the it crowd” again, because, damn, katherine parkinson is freakin hot
katherinep.jpg
ta
24) back. thunder and lightning in february, oh my.
25) was just looking over some early blog entries from ‘02 and found this

If I were writing a story like that one where Hugh Jackman comes back in time from the victorian era and woos Meg Ryan, I would write it in such a fashion that this 17th century “nobleman” doesn’t have a fucking clue how to survive in the 20th century, has his horse shot down by the police, he’s on the lam for some reason, and winds up wasting away in the gutter somewhere.

the odd thing is this is pretty much how Grant Morrison kicked off Seven Soldiers: Shining Knight. Weird.

15/02/2006

Short Rounds vol.1

Filed under: DeeVee, In Theatre — gkentetc @ 11:18 pm

Okay, I have to admit, I’m being lazy. I’ve got, seriously, a backlog of 16 movies to write reviews on that I probably won’t get to. Some of them deserve longer reviews, and some of them I just won’t think about much more than I have to. So I’m going to do my best to wrap up some of them here… I hate to do it this way, because it makes it harder look wade through the archives for a specific film, but c’est la (mo)vie.

Undertow

Written and directed by David Gordon Green, undertow is a wonderfully understated but suspenseful little film about the bonds and brutality of family. After the death of his wife a father isolates himself and his two troubled boys on a pig farm in the deep south. All things turn awful when his brother shows up and, not to spoil anything but… kills him. He then chases after the two boys across the countryside. It’s all very low key, and the performances are fantastic, the direction skilled, and the visuals quite powerful. Charming isn’t the word, perhaps effective?
4/5
Matador.jpg

The Matador

Written and directed by Richard Shepard. Pierce Brosnan is cast as the anti-Bond, a 50-something hitman named Julian who is having somewhat of an identity crisis, which is throwing off his game. Botching a job in Mexico and realizing he has no friends, he latches onto sadsack salesman Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear) at a Mexican bar, and his impact on Danny’s life is huge. Jump forward six months, Julian is screwing up as many jobs as he is accomplishing, which makes him a liability in the eyes of his employer. He goes to Danny’s house to hide out and finds that Danny has turned his life around. The surprising thing is from what I’ve written you would think you could figure out how the movie would play out, but it seriously works against convention, and not making it obvious that it’s working against convention (it’s not a hitman satire or anything). It plays out true to character as opposed to writers whims. It’s very fluid, organic, and highly entertaining. It’s just unfortunate that it’s also kind of forgettable as well. Don’t expect any action, it’s a character driven, intimate comedy.
3.5/5

Big Night

Directed by Campbell Scott and Stanley Tucci, written by Tucci with Joseph Tropiano.
My video store has thousands of films, but I don’t think the owner has expressed more enthusiasm about any other film… perhaps it was because Big Night wasn’t available on DVD for years, and its rarity enhanced its status in his mind, I dunno. But after years of his touting, finally getting a DVD copy and a “Our Highest Reccomendation” sticker on the shelf-box, I finally managed to see the movie and, well, it’s all right. Two Italian immigrant brothers in the 1960’s are finding their hopes and dreams quashed as their business begins to fail. Their competition across the street, another more successful immigrant restaraunteur, takes pity on them and says he can get singer Luis Prima to come to their restaurant to boost their exposure. The film follows the brothers Primo and Secondo (Tucci and a fantastic Tony Shalub) as they prepare for the big night, inviting anyone that they come across. There’s a huge build up to the event, and the last act of the film is the event itself. As I think about it, it’s a wonderful thing, the moment they captured on film of a huge, ornate, multi-course feast lasting from late evening until early morning. Wine, food, dancing… we should all be so lucky to have an evening like that. Well vicariously you can. The actual interpersonal drama is overshadowed by the event… Primo’s courting of Minnie Driver but sleeping with Isabella Rossolini and Secondo’s shy interest in Allison Janney is sweet but hardly the heart of the movie. The acting is solid, and it’s certainly an experience, but as a full bodied movie I’m not so sure.
3.5/5
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Possible Worlds

Directed by Robert LePage and written by John Mighton (based on his play)
In Possible Worlds, a man is discovered dead with his brain removed. Two detectives are on the case with relatively no leads. As we follow their trail, we are treated to “flashback” experiences of the dead man and his varied encounters with the same woman but on parallel dimensions. The man explains that he can see himself in every possible dimension, and therefore everything happens a little differently everywhere else. But in what dimension was he killed and his brain removed. The trails all seem to be dead ends and the parallel worlds are intriguing, but confusing, especially as it seems the man can no longer keep the worlds distict from one another. It’s a very methodical, ambiant film. It moves along at a turtle’s pace, but it’s intriguing enough to hold ones attention. Plus Tilda Swinton is in it and she gets to play a variety of personalities within the same character, which she handles exceptionally well. It’s a Canadian film, and it has the feel of Atom Egoyan circa Exotica or Dead Ringers era Cronenberg, and it’s got a nice visual and audio esthetic which goes a long way in carrying the mood of the piece. A nicely conceptual, although not mind-blowing, bit of work.
3/5

Insomnia

Directed by Erik Skjoldbj

Dropkick

Filed under: Sequential Art — gkentetc @ 9:40 pm

fantastic-fouriron4.jpg
My mind is slipping, as did another Thor’s comic column past me… but better later than never.
Tribute to Seth Fisher is paid while looking over the finale of Fantastic Four/Iron Man: Big In Japan #4.
New Keith Giffen as reviewed by *gasp* not me, Sean looks at Jeremiah Harm #1
Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #200 gets a nod from Russell
I scurry around with the Exterminators #2 for a while.
Charles Burnes’ Black Hole gets Russell’s approval.
The Sexy Chix anthology is perused by myself.
And we all take a some quick peeks with Boom Studios’ “10″ (yet another Giffen book not reviewed by me), Rex Libris #3, The Flying Friar, Marvel’s Ares #1, and the convoluted Infinite Crisis Special: Rann/Thanagar War #1.

Aside from Valentines Day, what other term does the acronym “VD” evoke?

Filed under: love or something like it — graigkent @ 1:08 pm

Ah yes, the first greeting card holiday of 2006. Is there anything more unromantic than a forced romantic holday? To tell you the truth I kind of forgot that yesterday was VD and spent it taking the dog for a 3 hour walk to my Mom’s aunt’s place (and back), putting in a visit and eating some cookies. Walking in Barrie is hazardous to one’s health, as there aren’t many sidewalks and the people here aren’t the best or most conscious of drivers. More stressful than relaxing, and with a pulling dog and stomping through soft snowbanks, it was quite the exhaustive and exhausting workout. My shoulders are actually the most sore.
Returning home (Whistler’s home, not mine) I had a hot bath, with a cool bath bomb (from the Faery’s Tub… it was a “Check Your Head”, and it was lovely except that the ground rosemary kinda got stuck in my leg hair, but that’s probably a pretty unique problem for only us hirsute gentlemen) for about 90 minutes, listening to some standup on the iPod and letting the jets run for a half hour. Soothing.
The evening was spent chatting at length with mi amigo, Ryan for around 4 hours, and VD didn’t even enter into the conversation… although women certainly did, and by the time we were off the phone it was a new day.

Olympiad

I don’t like to use “gay” as a descriptive term for anything, but man, figure skating is damn gay. All that glitter (one dude yesterday was doing a James Bond routine and had “007″ written on the back of his leotard in glitter… tell me that’s not gay) and those prancing manouevers… The two man luge isn’t nearly that gay… in fact the two man luge is kind of Brokeback Mountain gay, with manly men in intimate situations, while figure skating is Priscilla:Queen Of The Desert gay… you know… Abba and sparkly costumes.
Moguls: looks hard on the knees.
Women’s hockey: boring…not because they’re ladies, but because the Canadian team has no competition. 36 goals in three games…
Luge: aside from the 2-man being kinda hot, the Italian track has been brutal on the athletes… many injuries… some dude god knocked unconscious in the 2-man after a spill.
Speed skating: pure awesome superhero action… spandex costumes, super speed, big muscles… One of the speed skaters was Manli Wang, which I suppose is a fine, respectable name in China, but in our pervo western society, it’s just kind of unfortunate. Unless she went into porn. And had a manly wang.
Geez, the Olympics really bring out the offensive ass in me.

13/02/2006

What’s Up Fatlip

Filed under: Tele, the body human — graigkent @ 9:53 pm

Rule #1: We do not talk about Fight Club
or
The hazards of dog wrestling
or
Next on Montel: “My pet beats me”
fatlip.jpeg
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damnest brighton

The IT Crowd viewing has now been restricted to UK users only. But Lying In The Gutters has the direct download link to Episode 4. Intuitively, here’s the direct link to episode 3

10/02/2006

Caps off

Filed under: Tele — graigkent @ 10:31 pm

Arrested Development wrapped up their broadcasting run tonight with a 4-episode/2hour finale. When people say it is/was the funniest show on television, they’re not exaggerating. Each episode on its own is baffling, bizarre and yet straightforward enough to be enjoyable, but pull it together in its season sets and complete run and it’s brilliance is blinding. While I’ve only watched the series via its first two DVD sets, thus missing the majority of this third season, I still tuned in tonight (albeit only to the last 70 minutes, because I was preoccupied by Battlestar Galactica on DVD). The finale episode brought almost all the storylines that have been percolating for 52 episodes into one tight and hilarious bundle (while still leaving it open just enough for something else to develop should Showtime or HBO or another station decide to pick it up). I havn’t laughed that hard in… I can’t honestly remember the last time I laughed so hard.
“My nickname is ‘Hello’”
Genius.

bushfruit bound

I’m on “holiday”. Holiday in this case involves being logged into work, doing work, answering questions, making phonecalls and such, as well as looking after my sister’s puppy. The latter was my choice, the former wasn’t even an option.
Whistler and I are having a grand old time. We took a run out in the snow (unlike Toronto, the snow is knee deep out here) and I took Whistles to the groomer so he smells all purty. I pooped him out with a lot of running around so he’s been sleeping the majority of the evening, while I took a little time out in the tub (complete with one of the Freakgirl’s “Faerie’s Tub” Oatmeal Cookie bath bombs… lemme testify!)
I’m “off” for the next week, and the plan is to get some reading (1 graphic novel down), editing done, reviews, as well as plough through Battlestar Galactica season 1 DVD set (disc 1 finis). Of course the weekend is for fun, so I’m bringing some typically city-bound folks back up to the Shrubfruit Villa for some snow, puppy and hopefully relaxation.

picsville

The camphone archives:
chubbyfrogprince.jpg
Because Whistles seemed so depressed after his mom and pop left, I decided to get him a little something that showed him how I feel about him, in stuffed animal form. This “Chubby Frog Prince” had the bulbs pulled off his crown pretty rapidly… he’s also missing an eye now.
Sweet Valentine.
whistles.jpg
Out for a run in the snow. For some reason he wanted to keep attacking my pantcuffs.
sadpup.jpeg
From just after Christmas, this golden lab resides at the furrier up the street from work. He seemed pretty bummed out himself this day.
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Geekent and J-roomie. Hoodratz. WORD!
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Somebody’s acting like a wet noodle

SILLY THINGS TO DO

by me - 10.02.05
Take a holiday without giving up the stress of work. It’s magical. Try it.

tvdvdreleasenews

Kids In The Hall season 4 is now available from kidsinthehall.com, but hits retail May 31. I smell a birfday prezzie to self.
The Muppet Show season 2 has been delayed from delivery this month until this summer. Music clearances are the primary cause.
Scrubs season 3 comes May 9, feature details Usually Scrubs sets and Arrested Development sets come out within a month of one another, so hopefully we’ll see AD season three by the time summer starts.
The oft-forgotten Superboy series that aired on UPN in that channel’s early years is finally hitting home video on June 20. The first season (it ran 3 seasons in total) features 26 1/2 hour episodes. Yes, unlike the padded Lois and Clark or Smallville, they kept their show at a concise 24 minutes a week. Whether it’s any good or not… well, I’ve never actually seen it, so I’m kind of excited (the show used a lot of Superman’s villain roster, so it’ll be a little more satisfying for those that like fighting a costumes as opposed to teen angst and romcom)
Stella, the absurdist comedy troupe from Comedy Network gets a DVD release potentially this fall.
Superman the Animated Series: Volume 3 and Justice League: The Complete Second Season both are released simultaneously on June 20th, 2006. Yesss. Next up JLU.
And, to quote the Fresh Prince, “Do white people like Wings?” Of course we do. And now we can get The Sandman, the voice of Superman, Monk and the dude who thought starring in a 4-hour tv remake of the Shining was a good idea in the place that made them famous for a week or two on DVD May 23.

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