Just a note for the future - don't go to a theme park on Friday the 13th. It doesn't go well. We went to visit Pirates first as we've decided that's our tradition. Broke. Just as we were about to give up, it opened and we got to ride it. We were stuck at the top of Splash Mountain for at least a half-hour. And it just kept piling up. We had a running count of 'things not working' and it became a source of amusement. The 'creepy' Haunted Mansion was fine. That seemed oddly appropriate.
Walt Disney World Railroad - Once. You ride a train around the park seeing the sights as well as a few displays set up only for the railroad. The train stops at the main station at the front of the park, in Frontierland, and in ToonTown. I like trains. It is relaxing. If you're going to be at the parks for several days in a row, I'd recommend saving it for later in your trip as that's normally when you start to tire a bit. At that point, a brief ride on a train can be restful.
Swiss Family Treehouse - Once. You walk through the house that the Swiss Family Robinson set up. It looks like they just left it behind. Go through it at night and take in the view at the top. It's fun but it's not the sort of thing I'd visit a lot. There's just not that much going on.
The Enchanted Tiki Room Under New Management - Once. You sit in a room that has a South Sea type decor to it. Once the doors close, the room comes alive, filled with singing birds and tiki gods. The fact that you feel like you're in the middle of the show, as opposed to being separated by a stage or water or a ride car, adds to the show's appeal. It's fun. Iago and Zazu have been added to the original Tiki room and their presence makes the show move quickly. I dunno that I'd want to sit through it multiple times on a trip, but it's very enjoyable. There's also sitting, which is nice.
Jungle Cruise - Once. Classic. Silly. Fun. Do it at night when the animatronics don't look so obvious.
Pirates of the Caribbean - 6 times. Still good stuff. Yo ho!
Splash Mountain - Once. You ride a log through Chikapin Hill and observe the story of Brer Rabbit. The ride is fascinating as it's based on a movie that hasn't been legitimately released in America in over a decade. Very colorful, lots of ups and downs until you get thrown into the briar patch near the end and drop 5 stories! Yipes! You will get wet. I'm not sure I liked the drop (they scare me!) but the ride is outstanding from a story perspective. Good stuff.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - 3 times. Fun coaster. Nothing too extreme, fast but not too fast. Beautifully lit at night.
Haunted Mansion - 5 times, including once on my own. Creepy but not so scary. The song is great. Narration is great. Love this. It just works.
'it's a small world' - Once. The show from the 1964 World's Fair still exists. It's cute. The song will get stuck in your head. It never leaves...
Peter Pan's Flight - 3 times. Riding in a Spanish Galleon or Pirate Ship of some sort, you fly through the Darling children's bedroom, out of the house, and high over London! As you pass the moon, you see Peter and the children's shadow and find yourself in Neverland! You fly over that, taking 'fire' from Hook's ship. Soon, Wendy is about to walk the plank and all looks dire, but Peter defeats Hook and saves the day. As we leave, Smee is trying to rescue his Captain from the ticking Croc. Looks of fun. Moves quickly. Still not sure why the line runs to 50 minutes on a slow day but there you are. Popular.
Mickey's PhilharMagic - Once. Why did we do this only once? 3D movie that bounces through Disney history. Fun.
Snow White's Scary Adventures - Once (at least that's what I have written down, I believe it was actually three times). A speedy ride through the first animated feature film. One of my favorite but simple tricks is in this ride. You approach the Wicked Witch from behind, seeing her glamorous reflection in the mirror. As she turns to face you (the reflection spins as well), we see her in her scary old lady form. Nice! It's a quick fun ride.
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh - Twice. Another speedy ride through the events of the story. Lots of great touches make this ride fun. As you speed through Owl's house, you see a picture of him receiving a deed from Mr. Toad, as the Mr. Toad's Wild Ride was originally on this site. As you meet Tigger, the track is set up so that the car 'bounces' with him. The effect for Pooh's dream, as the animatronic falls asleep as its dream self floats away is impressive. The Heffalumps and Woozles that follow are suitably weird looking. I really enjoyed this ride.
Mad Tea Party - Once. Change places! We made it spin good. Lots of fun.
The Barnstormer at Goofy's Wiseacre Farm - Once. A speedy coaster similar in style to the Woody Woodpecker coaster at Universal. Fun but it's over too fast.
Tomorrowland Speedway - Once. You drive a 'slot car' around a track. Fun for kids, not so much for adults that can already drive.
Space Mountain - 3 times. It was in test mode after being fixed up. The updated lighting is nice. The ride itself is the same. When my eyes weren't adjusted to the dim lighting in the queue, it was great, a smooth ride with awesome lighting effects. When my eyes were adjusted, I could see the track like last time and became aware of the track. I tensed up and it made my back hurt. It is fun but it is what it is.
Tomorrowland Transit Authority - Once. A futuristic 'train' ride around Tomorrowland, going through the buildings. It's very much a smaller version of the Railroad as you get a great view and see things you can only see on the ride. Fun. Weird.
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin - Twice. Target shooting. Fun but nothing too special.
Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor - Once. An interactive show where the Monsters work to fill a canister with Laugh energy. The video screens show computer animation but much of it is set up to interact with the crowd in the theatre at the time. They quickly explain that you may get put on screen. So many people that wouldn't play along, so sad... until they put the camera on me. As they retold the story of the movie, I was cast as the bad guy, Randell. The only joke I remember was that they said I went invisible and, thinking quickly, I covered my face with my hands to order to be 'invisible'. I looked like I was playing Peek-a-boo. "Awww," the monster on screen noted, "aren't they cute at that age?" Another of those things I enjoyed but would probably only visit once a trip.
Pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044688&id=1353274305&l=f87259cb85
And that's the end of that chapter.
31 December 2009
30 December 2009
Briefly in Time
For the un-clever out there, and there do seem to be a lot of you, the end of 2009 does not bring with it the end of a decade. That is the job of 2010. As there was no year 0 (our calendar went from 1 BCE to 1 CE or AD however you like), we count decades from 1 to 10.
If someone asked you to start counting, would you start '0, 1, 2, 3'? I'm inclined to think you'd say '1, 2, 3, 4'.
This is not complicated. I understand that the Y2K bug may have confused you. Please get this figured out by 2019/2020.
Yours in Time,
-SMW
If someone asked you to start counting, would you start '0, 1, 2, 3'? I'm inclined to think you'd say '1, 2, 3, 4'.
This is not complicated. I understand that the Y2K bug may have confused you. Please get this figured out by 2019/2020.
Yours in Time,
-SMW
28 December 2009
Doctor Who - 'Fire and Ice' Review
Before I dig too deeply into this, I want to point out that it's a fan-made production. While this means the production should be given some leeway, I still intend to be honest with my opinion.
Story in brief:
Alice is a normal enough college student in the US. Running late for class, she drives through the rain, gets distracted by something running across the road, and almost runs over a man, a man who seems to stare right through her before running off. The event haunts her and she later investigates the area. She gets lost in the woods. She gets found by the 'watch dog' that ran across the road earlier and is saved from it by the man she almost hit, a man she will find later is called the Doctor. Life gets much less normal after that.
Thoughts:
Let me get one this out of the way: I liked this. It was a good show in general. Let me nit-pick a bit for a while.
The sound is solid. I believe much of the audio was re-recorded in post and this makes it generally easy to listen to and make out the words being spoken. Unfortunately, the music (yes, it's got music) was often mixed a bit loud during dialog sequences and drown out some of that good work. The music is in the style of the new series and, to be honest, I didn't care for all of it. I didn't always think the music worked for the scenes, sometimes being too 'spooky' for its own good. It's also of the 'woman vocalizing randomly' style which is not my favorite. There is also one sequence that appears to have had an encoding problem as the audio and video don't match. It's a brief problem.
There are special effects. Some of them are quite good. The 'watch dog' is really not. A couple of sequences near the end are a little awkward as well but all credit for trying. One scene has effects missing but it is a brief moment.
There is a LOT of good in the story. Alice and her friend feel very natural in reacting to each other (apart from a sequence or two that feels awkward but, again, minor). This is important as the bulk of the first half or so of the episode is these two characters interacting. This is good and bad. It is good because there is great effort made to make their reactions credible, to show why they would start to believe that weird things are happening. It's bad because we only see the Doctor in passing during this part of the episode and the show is only named after the character. It's well constructed but it's too long.
The pacing of the episode is a bit off. The episode runs to about 70 minutes and probably should be ten minutes shorter. There are a few early sequences that don't add much and could be shortened or eliminated. Once the Doctor and Alice meet to become companions, the story shifts into exposition mode and all the weird things we've seen hints of through the episode to that point are explained. This gets a bit tedious. As some of this information gets repeated during a later sequence, it becomes more annoying. I understand that the crew was trying to get across why Alice would decide to accompany the Doctor at this point, trying to make her seem realistic, but it doesn't flow well. There is too much sitting and talking at this point.
While trying not to give away the ending, it's different and not so good at the same time. The downside to spending all this time with Alice and seeing the story from her point of view is that the ending is a bit rushed. We don't get to spend much time with the antagonists. Their point of view is laid out in a couple of lines and it's over.
I'm not so sure about the Doctor. There are attempts to make him interesting and his 'faux-hawk' is different but I'm not sure I liked him. There's not enough of him to make a decision on. His reaction to the events of the ending is either meant to be a character note or it's just poorly written. I'm not sure which.
Alice seems to be named such in order to use one line at the end of the episode. There's also an 'alternate' title mentioned during the story that's better than the actual episode title.
Grouching over, the acting is solid. The production is excellent for a fan video. They appear to have a physical TARDIS prop. The physical events in general are solid. Alice's friend is very cute (not that Alice isn't pleasant looking herself). It looks and sounds good. It looks like they shot most of it around their college and house and the woods near it so the locations look good.
Despite all my 'complaints', I enjoyed watching this and would watch another. I'm curious to see if they can generate another planet or have a space for sets. I haven't gone looking for more information on the group yet because I didn't want to color my opinions at this point.
Available to be downloaded from the Internet. Recommended.
Story in brief:
Alice is a normal enough college student in the US. Running late for class, she drives through the rain, gets distracted by something running across the road, and almost runs over a man, a man who seems to stare right through her before running off. The event haunts her and she later investigates the area. She gets lost in the woods. She gets found by the 'watch dog' that ran across the road earlier and is saved from it by the man she almost hit, a man she will find later is called the Doctor. Life gets much less normal after that.
Thoughts:
Let me get one this out of the way: I liked this. It was a good show in general. Let me nit-pick a bit for a while.
The sound is solid. I believe much of the audio was re-recorded in post and this makes it generally easy to listen to and make out the words being spoken. Unfortunately, the music (yes, it's got music) was often mixed a bit loud during dialog sequences and drown out some of that good work. The music is in the style of the new series and, to be honest, I didn't care for all of it. I didn't always think the music worked for the scenes, sometimes being too 'spooky' for its own good. It's also of the 'woman vocalizing randomly' style which is not my favorite. There is also one sequence that appears to have had an encoding problem as the audio and video don't match. It's a brief problem.
There are special effects. Some of them are quite good. The 'watch dog' is really not. A couple of sequences near the end are a little awkward as well but all credit for trying. One scene has effects missing but it is a brief moment.
There is a LOT of good in the story. Alice and her friend feel very natural in reacting to each other (apart from a sequence or two that feels awkward but, again, minor). This is important as the bulk of the first half or so of the episode is these two characters interacting. This is good and bad. It is good because there is great effort made to make their reactions credible, to show why they would start to believe that weird things are happening. It's bad because we only see the Doctor in passing during this part of the episode and the show is only named after the character. It's well constructed but it's too long.
The pacing of the episode is a bit off. The episode runs to about 70 minutes and probably should be ten minutes shorter. There are a few early sequences that don't add much and could be shortened or eliminated. Once the Doctor and Alice meet to become companions, the story shifts into exposition mode and all the weird things we've seen hints of through the episode to that point are explained. This gets a bit tedious. As some of this information gets repeated during a later sequence, it becomes more annoying. I understand that the crew was trying to get across why Alice would decide to accompany the Doctor at this point, trying to make her seem realistic, but it doesn't flow well. There is too much sitting and talking at this point.
While trying not to give away the ending, it's different and not so good at the same time. The downside to spending all this time with Alice and seeing the story from her point of view is that the ending is a bit rushed. We don't get to spend much time with the antagonists. Their point of view is laid out in a couple of lines and it's over.
I'm not so sure about the Doctor. There are attempts to make him interesting and his 'faux-hawk' is different but I'm not sure I liked him. There's not enough of him to make a decision on. His reaction to the events of the ending is either meant to be a character note or it's just poorly written. I'm not sure which.
Alice seems to be named such in order to use one line at the end of the episode. There's also an 'alternate' title mentioned during the story that's better than the actual episode title.
Grouching over, the acting is solid. The production is excellent for a fan video. They appear to have a physical TARDIS prop. The physical events in general are solid. Alice's friend is very cute (not that Alice isn't pleasant looking herself). It looks and sounds good. It looks like they shot most of it around their college and house and the woods near it so the locations look good.
Despite all my 'complaints', I enjoyed watching this and would watch another. I'm curious to see if they can generate another planet or have a space for sets. I haven't gone looking for more information on the group yet because I didn't want to color my opinions at this point.
Available to be downloaded from the Internet. Recommended.
27 December 2009
Quiz Time
You are on a two lane highway. You are in the middle of nowhere. Traffic is light. You are in the right lane and are traveling at a pace you find comfortable. There is no inclement weather to hinder your progress.
About a mile down the road you see a work truck, not a semi, not a pickup, but something that might have a plow attached or be a garbage truck. As it quickly becomes larger, you realize that it is traveling at a much slower pace than you are traveling.
What will you do?
1) Verify that the left lane is clear using your mirrors and checking your blind spot. Signal the lane change and change lanes while still a significant distance away from the truck. Pass the truck with care. Once safely ahead of the truck, signal your lane change and return to the right lane. Continue on your trip.
or
2) Continue driving until you are tailgating the truck and have to slow down to avoid hitting it. You are now in the truck's blind spot but that does not concern you. Follow the truck for another mile, becoming irritated by the fact that the truck has not sped up to meet your desired pace. Signal briefly a lane change and swing around the work truck. Travel blissfully in the left lane for multiple further miles, only changing lanes when another vehicle 'suddenly' approaches you from behind while traveling at a high rate of speed and is forced to pass you using the right hand lane.
Man I hate people.
About a mile down the road you see a work truck, not a semi, not a pickup, but something that might have a plow attached or be a garbage truck. As it quickly becomes larger, you realize that it is traveling at a much slower pace than you are traveling.
What will you do?
1) Verify that the left lane is clear using your mirrors and checking your blind spot. Signal the lane change and change lanes while still a significant distance away from the truck. Pass the truck with care. Once safely ahead of the truck, signal your lane change and return to the right lane. Continue on your trip.
or
2) Continue driving until you are tailgating the truck and have to slow down to avoid hitting it. You are now in the truck's blind spot but that does not concern you. Follow the truck for another mile, becoming irritated by the fact that the truck has not sped up to meet your desired pace. Signal briefly a lane change and swing around the work truck. Travel blissfully in the left lane for multiple further miles, only changing lanes when another vehicle 'suddenly' approaches you from behind while traveling at a high rate of speed and is forced to pass you using the right hand lane.
Man I hate people.
26 December 2009
Doctor Who - 'The End of Time' Part One
Story teaser: The Doctor has been summoned by the Ood who warn him of many things, including the oncoming darkness that seems to be the End of Time. They also show him a face, a face that all humankind has been dreaming, the face of a man that is dead: the Master. The disciples of Harold Saxon attempt to put Humpty Dumpty back together again but all does not go well and the Master is incomplete. While the Doctor attempts to trace down and assist his former friend/enemy, he remains unaware of the full scope of the situation...
Thoughts:
This did not need to be an hour long for one. There's a lot of running around and yelling and jumping in the early sections of the episode that would look silly in a X-Men movie. Very disappointing. I started reflecting on the episode of 'Planet of the Spiders' that is one long chase scene.
Then the Doctor bumps into Wilf and it all begins to settle down. There's all this weird information that's being flung at us, goofy almost random events, then we start to see Wilf and Donna and the story starts to take shape. Russell is writing people talking and communicating normally and he's comfortable again. Unfortunately it takes about twenty minutes to get to this point, especially as the story only starts to gel at this point. This means the first half or so of the episode is Not Good.
While Russell has done some interesting things to explain and fill out the character of the Master, I wasn't all that fond of John Sims' Master when he first appeared. It's not completely fair to judge him here as he's not really playing the Master, he's playing this vampire-like Master, feeding to stay together. As such, more on the edge, he is a bit sympathetic. At some point in the future, I'd like to see a 'normal' Master again. The character was good, fun even, and this version has just been mental.
There are a couple bits to the cliffhanger, neither of which I will mention here. The first bit goes on a bit too long, kind of beats the 'joke' into submission to a point where it begins to get tedious. It's a good 'wow' moment but gets too dragged out.
The other bit of the cliffhanger? That's a big 'HOLY CRAP!' moment. I squeaked and covered my mouth with my hand like an old woman. It's awesome bit looks like a Bad Thing.
Can't wait until next week.
Thoughts:
This did not need to be an hour long for one. There's a lot of running around and yelling and jumping in the early sections of the episode that would look silly in a X-Men movie. Very disappointing. I started reflecting on the episode of 'Planet of the Spiders' that is one long chase scene.
Then the Doctor bumps into Wilf and it all begins to settle down. There's all this weird information that's being flung at us, goofy almost random events, then we start to see Wilf and Donna and the story starts to take shape. Russell is writing people talking and communicating normally and he's comfortable again. Unfortunately it takes about twenty minutes to get to this point, especially as the story only starts to gel at this point. This means the first half or so of the episode is Not Good.
While Russell has done some interesting things to explain and fill out the character of the Master, I wasn't all that fond of John Sims' Master when he first appeared. It's not completely fair to judge him here as he's not really playing the Master, he's playing this vampire-like Master, feeding to stay together. As such, more on the edge, he is a bit sympathetic. At some point in the future, I'd like to see a 'normal' Master again. The character was good, fun even, and this version has just been mental.
There are a couple bits to the cliffhanger, neither of which I will mention here. The first bit goes on a bit too long, kind of beats the 'joke' into submission to a point where it begins to get tedious. It's a good 'wow' moment but gets too dragged out.
The other bit of the cliffhanger? That's a big 'HOLY CRAP!' moment. I squeaked and covered my mouth with my hand like an old woman. It's awesome bit looks like a Bad Thing.
Can't wait until next week.
24 December 2009
Home Theatre Update
Tore apart my home entertainment center today looking for the point of failure. I unplugged this and plugged in that, then unplugged that and plugged in this. Quite the mess. After awhile I noticed that when my PS3 was connected to the television and was plugged into the power strip, I had feedback. When it was unplugged, no feedback.
This depressed me greatly. I haven't had the PS3 all that long and losing it would mean that I'd have limited or no access to my DVDs, video files, and the few blu-rays I own.
I kept testing. Unplugging the cable from the cable box into the television also removed the feedback. With it out, I could plug the PS3 in with no problems. Excellent! Except now I have no cable.
This opened a number of new questions. Was it the connector on the TV? The box? What? Luckily it's a nifty new type box with multiple input and output connections and I had a network cable running from the gateway to the area of the TV for the Mac mini that's also in that area. I still saw feedback using an alternate output method. Once I unplugged the cable coming into the box and replaced it with the network cable, I was good again.
So it looks like it's the input cable. Considering we didn't replace this cable when we changed cable providers earlier in the year, it's very possible that the cable just went bad. Or it could be another connector. I'll follow it back later. It took me most of the day to find this problem.
The best part about this is that I spent all this time working to improve my video quality and I'm using it to watch scratchy old video from the 1960s.
Yes, I am ridiculous.
This depressed me greatly. I haven't had the PS3 all that long and losing it would mean that I'd have limited or no access to my DVDs, video files, and the few blu-rays I own.
I kept testing. Unplugging the cable from the cable box into the television also removed the feedback. With it out, I could plug the PS3 in with no problems. Excellent! Except now I have no cable.
This opened a number of new questions. Was it the connector on the TV? The box? What? Luckily it's a nifty new type box with multiple input and output connections and I had a network cable running from the gateway to the area of the TV for the Mac mini that's also in that area. I still saw feedback using an alternate output method. Once I unplugged the cable coming into the box and replaced it with the network cable, I was good again.
So it looks like it's the input cable. Considering we didn't replace this cable when we changed cable providers earlier in the year, it's very possible that the cable just went bad. Or it could be another connector. I'll follow it back later. It took me most of the day to find this problem.
The best part about this is that I spent all this time working to improve my video quality and I'm using it to watch scratchy old video from the 1960s.
Yes, I am ridiculous.
23 December 2009
Brief grump
Hate complaining but I'm going to do so briefly to get it over and done with.
Determined that my right contact lens was in inside-out the other day and went to fix it yesterday. Intense pain that I mistook for my eye readjusting instead of foreign materials. When it just didn't go away, I eventually wised up and removed the contact. Went about a day only sort of being able to see. Got a new contact in there this afternoon and it went in all comfortable and smooth, like it should. Much better.
Unfortunately that makes it easier to see the problems with my TV. It has bands of visual interference that slowly climb and distort the picture. It's accompanied by audible feedback. It's worse on certain inputs. I'm wondering if there's a bad cable that's leaking back and forth. Another theory is that my recent use of the component input for the first time since getting the TV overloaded something inside the TV and it's blowing out. Maybe it's something crossing over with the old receiver I also have plugged into the TV. I'm hoping to have time tomorrow to tear the home theatre apart and see if I can uncover the problem. I'm really hoping it's just a cable. I really don't want to get a new TV at this time. Not if I can help it anyway.
Determined that my right contact lens was in inside-out the other day and went to fix it yesterday. Intense pain that I mistook for my eye readjusting instead of foreign materials. When it just didn't go away, I eventually wised up and removed the contact. Went about a day only sort of being able to see. Got a new contact in there this afternoon and it went in all comfortable and smooth, like it should. Much better.
Unfortunately that makes it easier to see the problems with my TV. It has bands of visual interference that slowly climb and distort the picture. It's accompanied by audible feedback. It's worse on certain inputs. I'm wondering if there's a bad cable that's leaking back and forth. Another theory is that my recent use of the component input for the first time since getting the TV overloaded something inside the TV and it's blowing out. Maybe it's something crossing over with the old receiver I also have plugged into the TV. I'm hoping to have time tomorrow to tear the home theatre apart and see if I can uncover the problem. I'm really hoping it's just a cable. I really don't want to get a new TV at this time. Not if I can help it anyway.
21 December 2009
Florida Trip Nov 2009 - Disney's Hollywood Studios
We spent a LOT of time here and that was reflected in the amount of pictures I took. I believe they are all posted now.
The Great Movie Ride - 3 times. You take a guided tour through movie history. The animatronics are of a generally high quality. The ones that are good (Gene Kelly, Julie Andrews, James Cagney, John Wayne, etc) are really good. The ones that aren't (Sigourney Weaver, Harrison Ford) aren't good but that's likely due to likeness rights and contracts and such. The highlight is the Wicked Witch of the West animatronic near the end of the ride. It's one of the higher level animatronics and moves impressively. It ends with a montage of clips from movie history in a 'theatre' of sorts. While there are some really fun sections to the ride, the tour guide script is very dull, intentionally so I believe. If you don't get into the classic old Hollywood scene, then there isn't much to see here. I enjoyed it a lot but I can see how others in my group got bored with it.
Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular - Once and we missed the beginning stunt. Doh. Fun, great look into how stuntwork works but it's a little long. Not sure I'd want to watch it over and over again on one trip. Highly impressive though.
Star Tours - 5 times. Chances are this version of the ride will be gone by the next time I go to Florida. It's getting refurbed and changed. While the hydraulics might need some work (or I just get queasy on simulator rides) I'm wondering how the update will go. I've heard rumours. Could be awesome or could be too much prequel stuff. That would lack cool.
MuppetVision 3D - 5 times. I still love this thing. It's getting remastered. I like that idea.
Studio Backlot Tour - Once. There's a brief show, some stuff to walk through, and a tram tour where you get to see a lot of old props. It's fun but another of those things that I'm not sure would be neat for multiple trips.
Toy Story Midway Mania - Once. Fun game. I won. :)
Walt Disney: One Man's Dream - Once. Lots of historical stuff regarding Uncle Walt. Props, photos, reconstructions of things, models, all sorts of neat stuff. I didn't watch the video at the end. This is a lot of fun for me. I think this works for me over the Backlot Tour because it's not a guided tour. I can pop in for a few minutes or linger, it's not that I'm locked into something for a half-hour.
The Magic of Disney Animation - Once. Got my picture taken with Sorcerer Mickey but the picture didn't turn out darn it.
Rock n Roller Coaster featuring Aerosmith - Once. It's a dark coaster inside a building. All I knew about it going in was that it launches at 60MPH and goes through two loops where you are upside-down. The going upside-down is what stopped me from going on it last time. This time I talked myself into it. You're latched in all sorts of tight and the first loop is right after you launch so you're through it so quick you don't even notice. The second one I noticed and it freaked me out to see the floor. When we got off the ride, my reaction was kinda like my reaction to the Mummy ride the first time: 'I dunno if I liked that.' I was giggling as we walked out. It was fun. Pity we did it after our days at Universal because it might have helped me talk myself into going on the Hulk. It's fun. I'd ride it again. I think.
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - 10 times. This also gives me hope that I'd like Rock n Roller Coaster more if I rode it a few more times. The first couple times I rode this during this trip I was still uncomfortable, like I was the first trip. Knowing we had more time to spend at Hollywood Studios than last time, I was inclined to ride it more. As I rode it, I got more comfortable with it. By the end of the trip, I went from clutching onto the handles with a deathgrip to having both hands in the air for the entire ride, hooting and hollering with excitement. This is good stuff.
Fantasmic! - Once. Laser, firework, water, fire, projection, and character show. Mickey falls asleep and his dream gets hijacked by Disney villains. He fights back and everything ends well. A fun show but more of it was video projected onto water than I expected. Now that I know what to expect, I'd see it again but the process to get into the theatre is a pain in the butt, especially when the group gets separated on the way inside. It's another of those things you have to set aside time to accomplish and I like keeping the days a little more loose than that. I know, I'm lazy.
Pictures, Pictures, Pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045438&id=1353274305&l=aed1d0bf37
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045580&id=1353274305&l=3fb2bd9827
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045416&id=1353274305&l=91863074c5
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045041&id=1353274305&l=6af1844553
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044910&id=1353274305&l=e870c31594
The Great Movie Ride - 3 times. You take a guided tour through movie history. The animatronics are of a generally high quality. The ones that are good (Gene Kelly, Julie Andrews, James Cagney, John Wayne, etc) are really good. The ones that aren't (Sigourney Weaver, Harrison Ford) aren't good but that's likely due to likeness rights and contracts and such. The highlight is the Wicked Witch of the West animatronic near the end of the ride. It's one of the higher level animatronics and moves impressively. It ends with a montage of clips from movie history in a 'theatre' of sorts. While there are some really fun sections to the ride, the tour guide script is very dull, intentionally so I believe. If you don't get into the classic old Hollywood scene, then there isn't much to see here. I enjoyed it a lot but I can see how others in my group got bored with it.
Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular - Once and we missed the beginning stunt. Doh. Fun, great look into how stuntwork works but it's a little long. Not sure I'd want to watch it over and over again on one trip. Highly impressive though.
Star Tours - 5 times. Chances are this version of the ride will be gone by the next time I go to Florida. It's getting refurbed and changed. While the hydraulics might need some work (or I just get queasy on simulator rides) I'm wondering how the update will go. I've heard rumours. Could be awesome or could be too much prequel stuff. That would lack cool.
MuppetVision 3D - 5 times. I still love this thing. It's getting remastered. I like that idea.
Studio Backlot Tour - Once. There's a brief show, some stuff to walk through, and a tram tour where you get to see a lot of old props. It's fun but another of those things that I'm not sure would be neat for multiple trips.
Toy Story Midway Mania - Once. Fun game. I won. :)
Walt Disney: One Man's Dream - Once. Lots of historical stuff regarding Uncle Walt. Props, photos, reconstructions of things, models, all sorts of neat stuff. I didn't watch the video at the end. This is a lot of fun for me. I think this works for me over the Backlot Tour because it's not a guided tour. I can pop in for a few minutes or linger, it's not that I'm locked into something for a half-hour.
The Magic of Disney Animation - Once. Got my picture taken with Sorcerer Mickey but the picture didn't turn out darn it.
Rock n Roller Coaster featuring Aerosmith - Once. It's a dark coaster inside a building. All I knew about it going in was that it launches at 60MPH and goes through two loops where you are upside-down. The going upside-down is what stopped me from going on it last time. This time I talked myself into it. You're latched in all sorts of tight and the first loop is right after you launch so you're through it so quick you don't even notice. The second one I noticed and it freaked me out to see the floor. When we got off the ride, my reaction was kinda like my reaction to the Mummy ride the first time: 'I dunno if I liked that.' I was giggling as we walked out. It was fun. Pity we did it after our days at Universal because it might have helped me talk myself into going on the Hulk. It's fun. I'd ride it again. I think.
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - 10 times. This also gives me hope that I'd like Rock n Roller Coaster more if I rode it a few more times. The first couple times I rode this during this trip I was still uncomfortable, like I was the first trip. Knowing we had more time to spend at Hollywood Studios than last time, I was inclined to ride it more. As I rode it, I got more comfortable with it. By the end of the trip, I went from clutching onto the handles with a deathgrip to having both hands in the air for the entire ride, hooting and hollering with excitement. This is good stuff.
Fantasmic! - Once. Laser, firework, water, fire, projection, and character show. Mickey falls asleep and his dream gets hijacked by Disney villains. He fights back and everything ends well. A fun show but more of it was video projected onto water than I expected. Now that I know what to expect, I'd see it again but the process to get into the theatre is a pain in the butt, especially when the group gets separated on the way inside. It's another of those things you have to set aside time to accomplish and I like keeping the days a little more loose than that. I know, I'm lazy.
Pictures, Pictures, Pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045438&id=1353274305&l=aed1d0bf37
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045580&id=1353274305&l=3fb2bd9827
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045416&id=1353274305&l=91863074c5
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045041&id=1353274305&l=6af1844553
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044910&id=1353274305&l=e870c31594
18 December 2009
'The Princess and the Frog' Review
Story in brief:
Young Tiana is a hard worker in 1920s (?) New Orleans, struggling to see her late Daddy's dream of a restaurant come to life. Her rich friend Charlotte has none of her concerns, only working to meet and marry Prince Naveen so that she can be the royalty she dreams of being. Prince Naveen is a happy go lucky sort of Prince, fascinated with the music surrounding him, but fails to mention to others that his royal folks have cut him off and he's broke. This pocketbook failure leaves him vulnerable to the slick talk of the Shadowman who promises him a lot of green and provides it in Naveen's skin, as he's turned into a frog. Bumping into Tiana at a masquerade ball and mistaking her for a princess, he talks her into kissing him and the spell backfires, turning her into a frog as well. Their quest to regain their humanity begins!
Thoughts:
The basic plot of the film is no great surprise. Two people on a quest grow a group around them as they search for the way to reach their goal. On the way, they learn something about themselves and the others around them, leaving them better people at the end. There are a few twists in the way the story is told here and therein lies the fun. Having established the rules of this world, the story remains logical within those rules, with resolution of the problems coming in clever ways.
The music is good, fitting itself in the jazzy, zydeco style of the city and period in which the movie is set. The second song comes a bit quickly after the first but, in large, the timing of the songs is fine, not overwhelming the story nor feeling repetitive. The movie is also funny, sweet, tender, and occasionally sad, playing all the emotional notes you'd expect from a Disney film.
The visual style is impressive. This movie is Disney's return to 2D hand drawn animation but also features computer assisted art. The backgrounds look painted in a fine art style and appear to have some depth to them. A dream sequence during the first song is in a style totally different to the rest of the film as well as different to the standard Disney style. This experiment was interesting and fascinating. I hope this is the start of something.
The characters all have motivation for their actions, even if some of them are very subtle. The only real villain is the Shadowman and he is spooky. Some of the Shadowman related sequences, while cool to me, could be rather terrifying for the younger set so, be warned.
Is this the best thing ever? No. Is this a good film, a solid return to Disney film-making? Yes, I think this is a good film and a good sign for further movies to come.
Recommended.
Young Tiana is a hard worker in 1920s (?) New Orleans, struggling to see her late Daddy's dream of a restaurant come to life. Her rich friend Charlotte has none of her concerns, only working to meet and marry Prince Naveen so that she can be the royalty she dreams of being. Prince Naveen is a happy go lucky sort of Prince, fascinated with the music surrounding him, but fails to mention to others that his royal folks have cut him off and he's broke. This pocketbook failure leaves him vulnerable to the slick talk of the Shadowman who promises him a lot of green and provides it in Naveen's skin, as he's turned into a frog. Bumping into Tiana at a masquerade ball and mistaking her for a princess, he talks her into kissing him and the spell backfires, turning her into a frog as well. Their quest to regain their humanity begins!
Thoughts:
The basic plot of the film is no great surprise. Two people on a quest grow a group around them as they search for the way to reach their goal. On the way, they learn something about themselves and the others around them, leaving them better people at the end. There are a few twists in the way the story is told here and therein lies the fun. Having established the rules of this world, the story remains logical within those rules, with resolution of the problems coming in clever ways.
The music is good, fitting itself in the jazzy, zydeco style of the city and period in which the movie is set. The second song comes a bit quickly after the first but, in large, the timing of the songs is fine, not overwhelming the story nor feeling repetitive. The movie is also funny, sweet, tender, and occasionally sad, playing all the emotional notes you'd expect from a Disney film.
The visual style is impressive. This movie is Disney's return to 2D hand drawn animation but also features computer assisted art. The backgrounds look painted in a fine art style and appear to have some depth to them. A dream sequence during the first song is in a style totally different to the rest of the film as well as different to the standard Disney style. This experiment was interesting and fascinating. I hope this is the start of something.
The characters all have motivation for their actions, even if some of them are very subtle. The only real villain is the Shadowman and he is spooky. Some of the Shadowman related sequences, while cool to me, could be rather terrifying for the younger set so, be warned.
Is this the best thing ever? No. Is this a good film, a solid return to Disney film-making? Yes, I think this is a good film and a good sign for further movies to come.
Recommended.
16 December 2009
Rest Well Roy
A few months ago while talking about Disney buying Marvel, I mentioned signing up for Roy Disney's 'Save Disney' anti-Eisner campaign some years back. I was getting email from Walt's nephew and that felt cool. Sure I was part of a big mailing list but that's not the point.
The point is that Roy Disney died today at the age of 79. I can say nothing of him as a person but, as a representative of his uncle, I think he did a fine job of representing his interests.
Thanks Roy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_E._Disney
The point is that Roy Disney died today at the age of 79. I can say nothing of him as a person but, as a representative of his uncle, I think he did a fine job of representing his interests.
Thanks Roy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_E._Disney
14 December 2009
The Scariest Band in the World
In the beginning, there was rockabilly. And it was good. It may not have been complicated in style but it was energetic and the perfect accompaniment for a little hell raising.
What if the band sounded like it had been ... raised from hell? It may sound like the darkest surf music in the world, a bass so low it sounded like the depths below. Add in lyrics inspired by horror and crime films, then stir until stiff. Then we would call it... voodoobilly.
Maybe they didn't reinvent the wheel. Maybe they didn't create a new style. I've yet to hear any other band sound like Deadbolt. Maybe you will think that's a good thing.
But if you tell them they aren't the scariest band in the world... well, there's no maybe about the butt-whuppin' they'll lay down on ya...
What if the band sounded like it had been ... raised from hell? It may sound like the darkest surf music in the world, a bass so low it sounded like the depths below. Add in lyrics inspired by horror and crime films, then stir until stiff. Then we would call it... voodoobilly.
Maybe they didn't reinvent the wheel. Maybe they didn't create a new style. I've yet to hear any other band sound like Deadbolt. Maybe you will think that's a good thing.
But if you tell them they aren't the scariest band in the world... well, there's no maybe about the butt-whuppin' they'll lay down on ya...
13 December 2009
'Fat Albert' (2004)
Synopsis:
Despite the presence of her foster sister, Doris feels alone. Her parents are often gone on business, her grandfather died recently, and she doesn't really have friends as she's been slowly pulling away from people. Emotionally overwhelmed, she cries while watching a rerun of 'Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids'. Somehow, Fat Albert hears her and uses her tears as a portal from his cartoon version of the 1970s to cross into the real world of the 2000s. Doris has a problem and Fat Albert seeks to do what he does best: fix a problem.
Review:
As a kid, Bill Cosby was everywhere. He was HUGE. We had some of his records. He was on 'Captain Kangaroo' with his Picture Pages and the pen that made noise. His sitcom launched. 'Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids' cartoon was still being repeated. I enjoyed it all.
I've also watched a number of movies that seek to remake old television shows. The majority of them are dire, mocking the original work rather than trying to reimagine them. As Mr. Cosby was involved in the making of this film, it does a fine job of updating the original text without mocking it.
Fat Albert and the rest of his crew are from the 1970s. Our technology fascinates them (subtle lesson: we have it pretty good). One of Doris' schoolmates decides that Rudy's style is cool and pieces together a replica of his outfit (subtle lesson: dress styles come and go in fashion). The original show and the time period it was set in are never mocked for being different.
At the same time, the current styles are not dismissed as bad. The Kids watch a rap video. 'This is singing?' 'No, this is talking.' 'Whatever it is, I like it.' (Subtle lesson: old or new things aren't necessarily bad in and of themselves.) Even in our world, the Cosby Kids retain their ability to adapt and can rap after this.
Since this is the crossing of the 'real' world and a television world, the movie should be treated as a fantasy. Viewed in this way, the movie works very well. It does some little things that I beg other movies to do; it provides some reasons why these special events are occurring. You may watch the film and go 'Really? That's a dumb reason' but at least it bothers to give you a reason why, say, of all the crying people in the world, Fat Albert hears this one girl.
The movie is amusing and occasionally funny. I think kids might be more amused by some of the physical comedy than I was. I like physical comedy but the way it played out here was only okay to me. Most of the effects are good but one sequence is not. You'll know it when you see it. It's early in the film and looks awkward.
The ending is as it should be, with a surprisingly quiet moment at the end with a cameo I never expected.
Was this a great movie? I don't know about that. Really enjoyable film? Yes. (Subtle lesson: I may have learned something before it was all through. Hey hey hey!)
Despite the presence of her foster sister, Doris feels alone. Her parents are often gone on business, her grandfather died recently, and she doesn't really have friends as she's been slowly pulling away from people. Emotionally overwhelmed, she cries while watching a rerun of 'Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids'. Somehow, Fat Albert hears her and uses her tears as a portal from his cartoon version of the 1970s to cross into the real world of the 2000s. Doris has a problem and Fat Albert seeks to do what he does best: fix a problem.
Review:
As a kid, Bill Cosby was everywhere. He was HUGE. We had some of his records. He was on 'Captain Kangaroo' with his Picture Pages and the pen that made noise. His sitcom launched. 'Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids' cartoon was still being repeated. I enjoyed it all.
I've also watched a number of movies that seek to remake old television shows. The majority of them are dire, mocking the original work rather than trying to reimagine them. As Mr. Cosby was involved in the making of this film, it does a fine job of updating the original text without mocking it.
Fat Albert and the rest of his crew are from the 1970s. Our technology fascinates them (subtle lesson: we have it pretty good). One of Doris' schoolmates decides that Rudy's style is cool and pieces together a replica of his outfit (subtle lesson: dress styles come and go in fashion). The original show and the time period it was set in are never mocked for being different.
At the same time, the current styles are not dismissed as bad. The Kids watch a rap video. 'This is singing?' 'No, this is talking.' 'Whatever it is, I like it.' (Subtle lesson: old or new things aren't necessarily bad in and of themselves.) Even in our world, the Cosby Kids retain their ability to adapt and can rap after this.
Since this is the crossing of the 'real' world and a television world, the movie should be treated as a fantasy. Viewed in this way, the movie works very well. It does some little things that I beg other movies to do; it provides some reasons why these special events are occurring. You may watch the film and go 'Really? That's a dumb reason' but at least it bothers to give you a reason why, say, of all the crying people in the world, Fat Albert hears this one girl.
The movie is amusing and occasionally funny. I think kids might be more amused by some of the physical comedy than I was. I like physical comedy but the way it played out here was only okay to me. Most of the effects are good but one sequence is not. You'll know it when you see it. It's early in the film and looks awkward.
The ending is as it should be, with a surprisingly quiet moment at the end with a cameo I never expected.
Was this a great movie? I don't know about that. Really enjoyable film? Yes. (Subtle lesson: I may have learned something before it was all through. Hey hey hey!)
12 December 2009
Florida Trip Nov 2009 - EPCOT
Finally got a number of pictures loaded up so it's time to continue the review of last month's trip. I've gotten through all the pictures but still have a number to upload. Anyway, this is what we did in our two trips to EPCOT.
Spaceship Earth - Three Times. The linchpin of the park still holds an appeal for me. Many long-term fans will argue that the current version of this ride pales in comparison to some of it's previous versions but I still love this ride and it's edutainment qualities.
Test Track - Test Track is an attempt to marry education (how cars are tested before they are mass produced) with a thrill ride (doing about 65 in a NASCAR like turn). In principal, this is the right way to approach the concept at EPCOT. You can't just fling a coaster in EPCOT and have it fit the theming. Test Track makes you the test 'dummy' in a car. You ride around in the main building going through rough road tests, heat tests, cold tests, brake tests, etc. The final test tries to trick you into thinking you're going to crash but the wall opens and you're outside the main building, whipping through a mighty curve at a high rate of speed. It's like riding in a full sized slot car. It's fun but there's no real adventure to be found. We walked through the queue and immediately got on the ride. Once we'd finished the ride, there was a slight queue. That was enough to keep us from riding again. It's just not that fun. Besides, we were going faster during the car ride to and from Orlando. There are rumors that a couple of the not in use pavilions will be removed in order to put up a thrill ride at EPCOT. If they can marry education and thrill ride more successfully than this, it may be the greatest thing ever. Otherwise, blah.
The Seas with Nemo and Friends - Twice. It's not that long, it's fun, and there was no line for it. Win - win.
Turtle Talk with Crush - a show where the computer animated Crush interacts with the audience. The interaction is impressive. It's a fun show. Kids ask questions of the figure on the screen and he answers them. Recommended.
Soarin' - Once. Hang glide over bits of country. Very nice.
Living with the Land - Once. Boat ride through a number of experimental greenhouses. More interesting than it sounds. Seeing things grow without being planted in dirt and receiving no water is impressive.
The Circle of Life - Once. Short movie about ecology with the main characters from The Lion King. A bit dated but nice.
Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros - Twice. Boat ride. Jose Carioca and Panchito are to appear with Donald Duck but, where is Donald? The birds search Mexico to find their friend, always being one step behind the famous Duck until the end. It's an entertaining way to 'tour' Mexico while still having a story to follow as well as using some lesser known Disney characters. Brief and fun.
Maelstrom - Twice. Boat ride. You float through Norway's history and myth. This is brief but fun as all heck. You see some vikings and such before approaching a troll who casts a spell on you and flings your boat away from him, backwards! You rocket past polar bears and things, your boat almost 'falls' from the building (there's a hole in the front of the building where your boat readjusts back to traveling forward), you go down a waterfall, and float past a oil platform in the North Sea. You finally dock in the middle of a normal looking town in wherever Norway. There's a lot going on in this ride. Lots of fun to be had in its way. As much as I enjoyed the ride in Mexico, the going backwards and the drop make this much more fun. Most of the other countries in the World Showcase have a film to watch about the country, which is fine, but if they all had a ride like this, it would be so much more awesome in general.
The UK area has a Pub and a Fish n Chip shop. They warm the heart to think of them. I don't care much for seafood but I can do the occasional fish n chips drown in malt vinegar, especially with a pint of lager to go with it. Mmmm...
Pictures on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044181&id=1353274305&l=fd4714be13
Spaceship Earth - Three Times. The linchpin of the park still holds an appeal for me. Many long-term fans will argue that the current version of this ride pales in comparison to some of it's previous versions but I still love this ride and it's edutainment qualities.
Test Track - Test Track is an attempt to marry education (how cars are tested before they are mass produced) with a thrill ride (doing about 65 in a NASCAR like turn). In principal, this is the right way to approach the concept at EPCOT. You can't just fling a coaster in EPCOT and have it fit the theming. Test Track makes you the test 'dummy' in a car. You ride around in the main building going through rough road tests, heat tests, cold tests, brake tests, etc. The final test tries to trick you into thinking you're going to crash but the wall opens and you're outside the main building, whipping through a mighty curve at a high rate of speed. It's like riding in a full sized slot car. It's fun but there's no real adventure to be found. We walked through the queue and immediately got on the ride. Once we'd finished the ride, there was a slight queue. That was enough to keep us from riding again. It's just not that fun. Besides, we were going faster during the car ride to and from Orlando. There are rumors that a couple of the not in use pavilions will be removed in order to put up a thrill ride at EPCOT. If they can marry education and thrill ride more successfully than this, it may be the greatest thing ever. Otherwise, blah.
The Seas with Nemo and Friends - Twice. It's not that long, it's fun, and there was no line for it. Win - win.
Turtle Talk with Crush - a show where the computer animated Crush interacts with the audience. The interaction is impressive. It's a fun show. Kids ask questions of the figure on the screen and he answers them. Recommended.
Soarin' - Once. Hang glide over bits of country. Very nice.
Living with the Land - Once. Boat ride through a number of experimental greenhouses. More interesting than it sounds. Seeing things grow without being planted in dirt and receiving no water is impressive.
The Circle of Life - Once. Short movie about ecology with the main characters from The Lion King. A bit dated but nice.
Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros - Twice. Boat ride. Jose Carioca and Panchito are to appear with Donald Duck but, where is Donald? The birds search Mexico to find their friend, always being one step behind the famous Duck until the end. It's an entertaining way to 'tour' Mexico while still having a story to follow as well as using some lesser known Disney characters. Brief and fun.
Maelstrom - Twice. Boat ride. You float through Norway's history and myth. This is brief but fun as all heck. You see some vikings and such before approaching a troll who casts a spell on you and flings your boat away from him, backwards! You rocket past polar bears and things, your boat almost 'falls' from the building (there's a hole in the front of the building where your boat readjusts back to traveling forward), you go down a waterfall, and float past a oil platform in the North Sea. You finally dock in the middle of a normal looking town in wherever Norway. There's a lot going on in this ride. Lots of fun to be had in its way. As much as I enjoyed the ride in Mexico, the going backwards and the drop make this much more fun. Most of the other countries in the World Showcase have a film to watch about the country, which is fine, but if they all had a ride like this, it would be so much more awesome in general.
The UK area has a Pub and a Fish n Chip shop. They warm the heart to think of them. I don't care much for seafood but I can do the occasional fish n chips drown in malt vinegar, especially with a pint of lager to go with it. Mmmm...
Pictures on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044181&id=1353274305&l=fd4714be13
11 December 2009
A Few Thoughts on Comics from The Past Couple Weeks
Dark Avengers Annual #1 gives us a whiz-bang blowout of a fight as well as a new heir to the name: Captain Marvel. Interesting.
The Marvels Project #4 shows us the origin of the original Captain America, Steve Rogers, but from the point-of-view of the Nazi agent assigned to kill the 'traitor' scientist working on the project. Interesting.
In Thor #604, the hammer wielding hero finds out that Doctor Doom has been experimenting on Asgardians. A beat-down is about to be delivered. Interesting.
Vincent Price Presents #13 features the return of one of my favorite Price characters: Dr. Phibes! The art style is a bit odd, darkly inked like Jae Lee, but still with enough detail and character to communicate the story well. The story shows it's links to the two movies and continues the story in a way that allows for further sequels. The characters are written well enough to what we've already seen. The story seems a bit over the top but, really, the best Vincent Price movies all are a bit over the top. I liked this but I'm not sure I loved it, mostly because the art style was a bit too weird at times.
Siege: The Cabal shows the beginnings of the end of Norman Osborn's reign of darkness over the Marvel Universe. We see Loki's influence on him is strong, stronger than I expected. I'm hoping that we don't get a 'everything that has gone on in the past seven years our time has all been Loki's fault' but it is nice to see Loki messing with the Avengers as that type of story tends to go well for the reader.
Invincible Iron Man #21 further details Tony's plan to have his friends 'reboot' him. All these bits and pieces from storylines from the past couple years come together as one big master plan. Excellent. Even better is an appearance by Captain America. Captain Americas maybe? Oh yeah, Steve Rogers is back and his shield is a big part of the plan!
New Avengers Annual #3 is also a big piece of the 'beginning of the end' puzzle for Norman Osborn's reign. The New Avengers (hopefully to just be The Avengers again soon) lose their hideout but may gain a new leader at the end. Mike Mayhew's art is beautiful, looking like it's tightly drawn pencils that have been colored. Very wow!
The Muppet Show Comic Book #0, the first of the ongoing Muppet Show Comic, was a bit of a let-down for me, the first Muppet Comic in the new line that left me a bit cold. It's not the style of the new artist throwing me off, that I didn't mind. Link Hogthrob had a few lines that just didn't sound like him and threw me off. The construction of the story was a bit odd as well. The 'Pigs in Space' storyline is supposed to be a movie pitch, which could explain the odd phrasing from Link, but the ending would seem to negate that concept. The movie execs being Statler and Waldorf is obvious from the beginning of the book and is either stupid, because its too easy a joke to have them turn something down, or is awesome, as that's been their job this entire time and explains why they're used to hating. The story just seemed a little lazy. That said, it does earn a point for Bunsen Honeydew making a sonic screwdriver comment.
The Marvels Project #4 shows us the origin of the original Captain America, Steve Rogers, but from the point-of-view of the Nazi agent assigned to kill the 'traitor' scientist working on the project. Interesting.
In Thor #604, the hammer wielding hero finds out that Doctor Doom has been experimenting on Asgardians. A beat-down is about to be delivered. Interesting.
Vincent Price Presents #13 features the return of one of my favorite Price characters: Dr. Phibes! The art style is a bit odd, darkly inked like Jae Lee, but still with enough detail and character to communicate the story well. The story shows it's links to the two movies and continues the story in a way that allows for further sequels. The characters are written well enough to what we've already seen. The story seems a bit over the top but, really, the best Vincent Price movies all are a bit over the top. I liked this but I'm not sure I loved it, mostly because the art style was a bit too weird at times.
Siege: The Cabal shows the beginnings of the end of Norman Osborn's reign of darkness over the Marvel Universe. We see Loki's influence on him is strong, stronger than I expected. I'm hoping that we don't get a 'everything that has gone on in the past seven years our time has all been Loki's fault' but it is nice to see Loki messing with the Avengers as that type of story tends to go well for the reader.
Invincible Iron Man #21 further details Tony's plan to have his friends 'reboot' him. All these bits and pieces from storylines from the past couple years come together as one big master plan. Excellent. Even better is an appearance by Captain America. Captain Americas maybe? Oh yeah, Steve Rogers is back and his shield is a big part of the plan!
New Avengers Annual #3 is also a big piece of the 'beginning of the end' puzzle for Norman Osborn's reign. The New Avengers (hopefully to just be The Avengers again soon) lose their hideout but may gain a new leader at the end. Mike Mayhew's art is beautiful, looking like it's tightly drawn pencils that have been colored. Very wow!
The Muppet Show Comic Book #0, the first of the ongoing Muppet Show Comic, was a bit of a let-down for me, the first Muppet Comic in the new line that left me a bit cold. It's not the style of the new artist throwing me off, that I didn't mind. Link Hogthrob had a few lines that just didn't sound like him and threw me off. The construction of the story was a bit odd as well. The 'Pigs in Space' storyline is supposed to be a movie pitch, which could explain the odd phrasing from Link, but the ending would seem to negate that concept. The movie execs being Statler and Waldorf is obvious from the beginning of the book and is either stupid, because its too easy a joke to have them turn something down, or is awesome, as that's been their job this entire time and explains why they're used to hating. The story just seemed a little lazy. That said, it does earn a point for Bunsen Honeydew making a sonic screwdriver comment.
09 December 2009
Snow Day
Last night was supposed to be the unholiest of snowstorms. Milwaukee did get snow but wasn't as badly hit as some of the surrounding area. If it had just been a bit a snow, today would have been fine. We lost power overnight and it didn't come back on until early evening. The bits of routine were lost today. No morning coffee, no causal puttering online, no tidying as I listen to podcasts. Nothing. I wanted to write but the chill and lack of coffee got to me. Not an outstanding day of days.
08 December 2009
A Haunted Tale
In advance we had decided to attend one of the occurrences of the 'Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party' that would be held at the Magic Kingdom. Gaining access was simple; you just bought a ticket. The only catch was that the number of available tickets were limited. This turned out to be a non-factor as we all got in.
At about 8pm, anyone not wearing a wristband indicating they'd paid for the party was asked to leave. The party ran until midnight. During this time lines were almost non-existent. It was about as close as you could get to having a park to yourself. For example, earlier in the week the line for 'Peter Pan's Flight' had been 40-50 minutes. During the party, I rode 'Flight' three times in about 15 minutes. It was great. For rides that tended to not have much of a line anyway during this relatively quiet time, it meant you could pretty much just walk on and ride.
Some of the gang was going back on Peter Pan. Some were going on 'its a small world'. I'd had my fill of both and declared my intention to go to the Haunted Mansion. By myself. But it's haunted! Spooky!
The Haunted Mansion is a fun ride, a little creepy, a little spooky, but mostly fun. Still, I don't think I'd ever ridden anything completely by myself and this dark ride would be an odd choice to start with if it wasn't so fun. My imagination is just too good sometimes in the dark. I scare myself.
The queue area was silent for the ride as I approached it, meaning that the creepy started immediately. I zipped through the lack of line and headed for the entrance to the Mansion. There's a sudden right turn just before the door. As I rounded the corner, the door slammed shut. Until the room cycled and the Castmembers opened the door, I'd be outside. I was alone.
A small cemetery rests just outside the Mansion, sitting in tribute to the major Imagineers that worked on its design. Thankfully, I knew what the trick was and waited.
At about 8pm, anyone not wearing a wristband indicating they'd paid for the party was asked to leave. The party ran until midnight. During this time lines were almost non-existent. It was about as close as you could get to having a park to yourself. For example, earlier in the week the line for 'Peter Pan's Flight' had been 40-50 minutes. During the party, I rode 'Flight' three times in about 15 minutes. It was great. For rides that tended to not have much of a line anyway during this relatively quiet time, it meant you could pretty much just walk on and ride.
Some of the gang was going back on Peter Pan. Some were going on 'its a small world'. I'd had my fill of both and declared my intention to go to the Haunted Mansion. By myself. But it's haunted! Spooky!
The Haunted Mansion is a fun ride, a little creepy, a little spooky, but mostly fun. Still, I don't think I'd ever ridden anything completely by myself and this dark ride would be an odd choice to start with if it wasn't so fun. My imagination is just too good sometimes in the dark. I scare myself.
The queue area was silent for the ride as I approached it, meaning that the creepy started immediately. I zipped through the lack of line and headed for the entrance to the Mansion. There's a sudden right turn just before the door. As I rounded the corner, the door slammed shut. Until the room cycled and the Castmembers opened the door, I'd be outside. I was alone.
A small cemetery rests just outside the Mansion, sitting in tribute to the major Imagineers that worked on its design. Thankfully, I knew what the trick was and waited.
Madame Leota is the spirit trapped in the crystal ball, the room that signals the switch between the 'creepy' rooms and the more fun rooms. While I sat alone for a couple minutes, I watched her memorial stone.
And it moved! Having read up on many things Disney since my last trip, I knew this would happen and waited on the picture (which kinda turned out). The carved head opens its eyes and moves around a bit before resetting to 'stone'. I was glad I knew about this because, otherwise, it would have freaked me out a bit.
Soon enough, other people arrived and lined up. Some of them didn't know and soon there was a nervous 'did it move?' comment. Then there was excited giggling as everyone sought to watch. Disney is full of little things like this, attentions to detail that add so much to the experience.
I survived the Haunted Mansion riding in a Doombuggy all by myself. I had fun, even when the ride paused twice. After the moment of 'oh man it's stopping' came the 'I got to hear the breakdown spiel!' which then turned into 'why couldn't I have stopped in front of something I could take a picture of?'
There are more general Park stories to tell. I just finished going through all my pictures tonight and am still uploading them to Facebook. I took almost 600 in one day, about a third of those being Muppet related. It's a work in progress.
07 December 2009
Music Monday - Sloan
There's something about rock/pop bands that sing harmonies. The Beatles? Awesome. The Hollies? Awesome. Sloan? Awesome.
Sloan's a bit like Weezer without being quite so comical. Sloan seems to understand that rock music can be many things but it should be fun most of all. That's why I've picked two of their songs from the same album, 'Pretty Together'. One is clearly a fun hands in the air rocker while the other is more maudlin, thoughtful. Variety, I also love variety in a band. This is good stuff.
Sloan's a bit like Weezer without being quite so comical. Sloan seems to understand that rock music can be many things but it should be fun most of all. That's why I've picked two of their songs from the same album, 'Pretty Together'. One is clearly a fun hands in the air rocker while the other is more maudlin, thoughtful. Variety, I also love variety in a band. This is good stuff.
06 December 2009
A Passing Review of Blizzard Brawl 5
I'm not trying to do a blow-by-blow review of last night's show. I just want to cover the highlights, the memories as I have them before they disappear and get muddled. It was a busy and fun time.
Normally I meet and get a picture with a wrestler or two. I bumped into some friends I haven't seen in way too long and chose to catch up with them rather than get a picture with Bobby Heenan. Tough decision, honestly.
Pre-show: Ten bell salute for Eddie 'Umaga' Fata who passed away on Friday at far too young an age.
First Match: Dakota Darsow vs Tony Scarpone (?)
Dakota we've seen once before, put on a good show, and was really nice. He's the son of Barry Darsow aka Demolition Smash (amongst other ring names). Dakota was billed as being from Minnesota and Tony as from Chicago, causing me to lean over to my buddy Brian and ponder 'I had this problem while watching football last week. When Chicago plays Minnesota, who do you cheer for?' Dakota had a cockiness to him that was new. Tony played the big tough guy. Dakota got the win.
Second Match: Headbanger Mosh vs Ryan Rogue
Late 90s WWF wrestler vs local boy. Nice match, both guys worked hard, some high flying, some bumping to the outside, but something weird happened with the finish and the match ended on what appeared to be a blown spot. Everyone seemed okay though.
Third Match: The 'Gun Show' Retirement Gauntlet.
Local tv reporter Lance Allen is 3-0 at Blizzard Brawl and announced he intended to retire after tonight undefeated. His manager, wrestling legend King Kong Bundy, would insure success. GLCW commissioner Armando Estrada announced he had searched high and low in Wisconsin to find three opponents, one of which had to defeat Lance. Opponent one, Bobby V, wore black briefs barely covered by a weird fuzzy pink singlet that appeared to be for a female. (Bundy's comment to Bobby V was 'I've taken dumps bigger than you and they were better looking!') Bobby V was quickly defeated. Opponent two, 'El Vato' Jose Guerrero, was more of a challenge but Lance managed a victory. Opponent three was Eric Freedom and the dirty hippie caused the tired Lance problems. King Kong Bundy assisted and Lance got the victory, able to retire undefeated.
Bobby 'The Brain' Heenan tribute. Bobby was presented with a lifetime achievement award by the local wrestling talk show as well as the proclamation that December 5th, 2009 was Bobby 'the Brain' Heenan Day in Milwaukee. Bobby wondered if there was a cash reward as well. King Kong Bundy did an introduction for his former manager. The crowd chanted 'Bobby', 'Thank you Bobby', and, briefly, 'Weasel'. Bobby is a throat cancer survivor and the crowd went totally silent when the man grabbed the microphone. 'Thank you. Very much.' This was a wonderfully sweet moment.
Footage of such:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYxhyo2uFt4&feature=player_embedded
Intermission. More talking with my buddies that I haven't seen in ages. Entertainment value increased as I said hello to the passing Jose Guerrero, he came to politely shake hands, and then realized that I was with the Milkman and started chatting about old times to him. Very nice.
Match Four: GLCW Tag Team Championship Defense - Demolition vs Matt 'Love Machine' Longtime and Ryan (?) McCoy
It was supposed to be a team of McCoys so one must be hurt. Another solid tag match. Demolition move good in the ring for being such big fellows. After the Demos get the win to retain their belts, some long haired blond fella and Dakota Darsow hit the ring and attack Demolition with Longtime and McCoy. Road Warrior Animal flies from the back to defend Demolition, setting up a handicap tag match at the next show. Demolition teaming with a Road Warrior? Wow!
Match Five: Women's Title Defense - Sparky (w/Eric Freedom) vs ODB
Womens matches in GLCW tend to be comedy matches and this was no different. Sparky is a thin guy and doesn't pretend to be a female. He insisted that ODB was a man and had Eric Freedom face 'him'. Haystacks Ross came to be defense. In the end, ODB won by DQ, winning the match but not the belt. Fun for the brief time it ran. More fun because it was brief.
Match Six: Armando Estrada vs Mr. Ken Anderson (formerly Ken Kennedy in WWE)
Anderson is the local boy that made good but couldn't stay healthy enough up in the 'big leagues'. Being from Green Bay, he got cheered. He and Estrada did some funny back-and-forth stuff before the match. The match started hot. A few minutes in, Commissioner Estrada made the match no count-out, no DQ. Anderson immediately slugged him with a chair. They fought through the crowd like we were in Memphis, passing by our seats to return to the ring. After a high energy, high impact match, Anderson hit his 'kenton bomb' to win.
After the match, the opponents got together to salute their friend Umaga (Estrada was Umaga's manager in WWE). Anderson brought Estrada an Umaga shirt, Estrada did his Umaga introduction one more time, and had a few sad words to say to a (mostly) silent and respectful audience. It was another very nice moment.
Match Seven: Al Snow vs Billy Gunn vs Road Dogg Jesse James with Mick Foley as special referee.
Foley warned them to behave before the match or he'd have to get involved. As Gunn and Dogg are a tag team, they turned the match into a handicap match rather than an actual three-way type match. After Gunn put his hands on Foley, Mick threw some fists around. Having had enough, Mick stopped the match and turned it into a tag match: Snow and Foley (reuniting the 'Best Friends') vs the New Age Outlaws. A ref slid in the ring and it was on! Al Snow wrestled most of the match. Once he tagged in Foley, punches were thrown, Mr Socko arrived, the Mandible Claw was applied to both members of the NAOs at once, and Snow hit Billy Gunn with Head for the pin.
Fun show. Lots of guests to celebrate the anniversary show. I got some old AWA footage and have been soaking in classic Bobby Heenan interviews today.
Normally I meet and get a picture with a wrestler or two. I bumped into some friends I haven't seen in way too long and chose to catch up with them rather than get a picture with Bobby Heenan. Tough decision, honestly.
Pre-show: Ten bell salute for Eddie 'Umaga' Fata who passed away on Friday at far too young an age.
First Match: Dakota Darsow vs Tony Scarpone (?)
Dakota we've seen once before, put on a good show, and was really nice. He's the son of Barry Darsow aka Demolition Smash (amongst other ring names). Dakota was billed as being from Minnesota and Tony as from Chicago, causing me to lean over to my buddy Brian and ponder 'I had this problem while watching football last week. When Chicago plays Minnesota, who do you cheer for?' Dakota had a cockiness to him that was new. Tony played the big tough guy. Dakota got the win.
Second Match: Headbanger Mosh vs Ryan Rogue
Late 90s WWF wrestler vs local boy. Nice match, both guys worked hard, some high flying, some bumping to the outside, but something weird happened with the finish and the match ended on what appeared to be a blown spot. Everyone seemed okay though.
Third Match: The 'Gun Show' Retirement Gauntlet.
Local tv reporter Lance Allen is 3-0 at Blizzard Brawl and announced he intended to retire after tonight undefeated. His manager, wrestling legend King Kong Bundy, would insure success. GLCW commissioner Armando Estrada announced he had searched high and low in Wisconsin to find three opponents, one of which had to defeat Lance. Opponent one, Bobby V, wore black briefs barely covered by a weird fuzzy pink singlet that appeared to be for a female. (Bundy's comment to Bobby V was 'I've taken dumps bigger than you and they were better looking!') Bobby V was quickly defeated. Opponent two, 'El Vato' Jose Guerrero, was more of a challenge but Lance managed a victory. Opponent three was Eric Freedom and the dirty hippie caused the tired Lance problems. King Kong Bundy assisted and Lance got the victory, able to retire undefeated.
Bobby 'The Brain' Heenan tribute. Bobby was presented with a lifetime achievement award by the local wrestling talk show as well as the proclamation that December 5th, 2009 was Bobby 'the Brain' Heenan Day in Milwaukee. Bobby wondered if there was a cash reward as well. King Kong Bundy did an introduction for his former manager. The crowd chanted 'Bobby', 'Thank you Bobby', and, briefly, 'Weasel'. Bobby is a throat cancer survivor and the crowd went totally silent when the man grabbed the microphone. 'Thank you. Very much.' This was a wonderfully sweet moment.
Footage of such:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYxhyo2uFt4&feature=player_embedded
Intermission. More talking with my buddies that I haven't seen in ages. Entertainment value increased as I said hello to the passing Jose Guerrero, he came to politely shake hands, and then realized that I was with the Milkman and started chatting about old times to him. Very nice.
Match Four: GLCW Tag Team Championship Defense - Demolition vs Matt 'Love Machine' Longtime and Ryan (?) McCoy
It was supposed to be a team of McCoys so one must be hurt. Another solid tag match. Demolition move good in the ring for being such big fellows. After the Demos get the win to retain their belts, some long haired blond fella and Dakota Darsow hit the ring and attack Demolition with Longtime and McCoy. Road Warrior Animal flies from the back to defend Demolition, setting up a handicap tag match at the next show. Demolition teaming with a Road Warrior? Wow!
Match Five: Women's Title Defense - Sparky (w/Eric Freedom) vs ODB
Womens matches in GLCW tend to be comedy matches and this was no different. Sparky is a thin guy and doesn't pretend to be a female. He insisted that ODB was a man and had Eric Freedom face 'him'. Haystacks Ross came to be defense. In the end, ODB won by DQ, winning the match but not the belt. Fun for the brief time it ran. More fun because it was brief.
Match Six: Armando Estrada vs Mr. Ken Anderson (formerly Ken Kennedy in WWE)
Anderson is the local boy that made good but couldn't stay healthy enough up in the 'big leagues'. Being from Green Bay, he got cheered. He and Estrada did some funny back-and-forth stuff before the match. The match started hot. A few minutes in, Commissioner Estrada made the match no count-out, no DQ. Anderson immediately slugged him with a chair. They fought through the crowd like we were in Memphis, passing by our seats to return to the ring. After a high energy, high impact match, Anderson hit his 'kenton bomb' to win.
After the match, the opponents got together to salute their friend Umaga (Estrada was Umaga's manager in WWE). Anderson brought Estrada an Umaga shirt, Estrada did his Umaga introduction one more time, and had a few sad words to say to a (mostly) silent and respectful audience. It was another very nice moment.
Match Seven: Al Snow vs Billy Gunn vs Road Dogg Jesse James with Mick Foley as special referee.
Foley warned them to behave before the match or he'd have to get involved. As Gunn and Dogg are a tag team, they turned the match into a handicap match rather than an actual three-way type match. After Gunn put his hands on Foley, Mick threw some fists around. Having had enough, Mick stopped the match and turned it into a tag match: Snow and Foley (reuniting the 'Best Friends') vs the New Age Outlaws. A ref slid in the ring and it was on! Al Snow wrestled most of the match. Once he tagged in Foley, punches were thrown, Mr Socko arrived, the Mandible Claw was applied to both members of the NAOs at once, and Snow hit Billy Gunn with Head for the pin.
Fun show. Lots of guests to celebrate the anniversary show. I got some old AWA footage and have been soaking in classic Bobby Heenan interviews today.
04 December 2009
'Planet of the Dead'/'The Waters of Mars'
Am current on my Doctor Who watching again and enjoyed both specials. Some thoughts follow.
-Both stories separated the Doctor from the TARDIS for some period of time. I like this as many critics like to ask 'When things get bad, why doesn't the Doctor just leave?' These times he couldn't. It's not that every story needs to do this but it's nice to have plotted out at times.
-I really liked the way 'Planet of the Dead' built. There's a mystery and an event, but it seems like a small story. As it progresses, it gets bigger and bigger, until it gets huge.
-It's nice to see a creature vulnerable to bullets and bombs for a change.
-Some great characters in this story, Malcolm especially. I'm not sure what I thought of the fate of the Countess. It makes sense but, at the same time, I'm not sure I liked it.
-'The Waters of Mars' reminded me a lot of the Patrick Troughton story 'Fury from the Deep'. There's a weird force that transforms humans into its servants and uses those servants to infect others. It takes place in a 'base' set aside from the bulk of humanity. 'Fury' just has a happier ending.
-The Doctor separates himself a bit from humanity and quickly (quickly seems like an odd choice of terms because who know how many adventures he had between the two stories) he starts becoming very alien again. He swings heavily towards 'crazy Time Lord' instead of 'fun loving adventurer' and that choice costs him big time. He knows he does something wrong and immediately regrets it.
-I've been referring to 'The Waters of Mars' as 'delightfully depressing'. It's a creepy story and well told but it's very sad for most of the running.
'The End of Time' is not far off...
-Both stories separated the Doctor from the TARDIS for some period of time. I like this as many critics like to ask 'When things get bad, why doesn't the Doctor just leave?' These times he couldn't. It's not that every story needs to do this but it's nice to have plotted out at times.
-I really liked the way 'Planet of the Dead' built. There's a mystery and an event, but it seems like a small story. As it progresses, it gets bigger and bigger, until it gets huge.
-It's nice to see a creature vulnerable to bullets and bombs for a change.
-Some great characters in this story, Malcolm especially. I'm not sure what I thought of the fate of the Countess. It makes sense but, at the same time, I'm not sure I liked it.
-'The Waters of Mars' reminded me a lot of the Patrick Troughton story 'Fury from the Deep'. There's a weird force that transforms humans into its servants and uses those servants to infect others. It takes place in a 'base' set aside from the bulk of humanity. 'Fury' just has a happier ending.
-The Doctor separates himself a bit from humanity and quickly (quickly seems like an odd choice of terms because who know how many adventures he had between the two stories) he starts becoming very alien again. He swings heavily towards 'crazy Time Lord' instead of 'fun loving adventurer' and that choice costs him big time. He knows he does something wrong and immediately regrets it.
-I've been referring to 'The Waters of Mars' as 'delightfully depressing'. It's a creepy story and well told but it's very sad for most of the running.
'The End of Time' is not far off...
03 December 2009
A Few Thoughts on Comics from The Past Few Weeks
Vincent Price Presents The Tinglers #2 (of 2) completes this sequel to an old Vincent Price film. Solid art, an interesting story, some pretty evil stuff, and a good ending make this work for me. Please note that when I use the term 'good ending' I mean 'the sort of ending that this might have if it was a movie from the late 50s/early 60s'. Nice.
Comic Book Comics #4 continues the book's fun view of the history of comics, focusing mostly on the early history of Marvel Comics and the Underground Comix of the 60s/70s. This is fun yet educational stuff with a clever art style. It's got a hint of parody to it, a bit like something from Mad Magazine. It helps keep things from getting too serious. The idea that the Star Wars comic adaptation may have saved Marvel and yet lead to things like Epic Illustrated (Marvel's attempt to compete with Heavy Metal) was a new thought for me. I feel not enough people are reading this book and it is very interesting. I hope they collect it in trade as that would make for an easy recommendation.
Doctor Who #5 continues the story of the Doctor being on the run. I am really enjoying the story now as the idea that the Doctor has 'dismissed' certain races over the years because they were 'bad' has consequences. While the Doctor might have done the right thing at the time, he may not have followed up enough to make everything as right as he could. It's an interesting thought that raises up what might be an otherwise simple story. That said, this thread gets raised often so it could be seen as a bit heavy handed as well. I'm not liking the art. The artist seems to have issues with humanoid faces. Details are rendered in a scraggly way. It's just off a bit. It doesn't flow correctly to me and my eye.
After a few years of miniseries, the Transformers have a new monthly ongoing title. It has been a couple years since the events of 'All Hail Megatron' and the Transformers still on Earth are all in hiding as humans are hunting them. It's an interesting development that makes sense considering the previous events. A early wave Transformer bites the dust and Optimus Prime makes a difficult decision. The art here is clean but a bit too detailed for my tastes. The Generation One Transformers have a 'blockiness' to them that the artist has captured but there's a lot of extra detail as well, as if the movie style Transformer faces were added. It makes familiar characters look weird. I'm not sure I care for that. I'm interested in seeing where this is going.
Last, but definitely not least, Muppet Peter Pan #3. I've said many things about the Muppet comics since they started and, as much as I enjoy them all, this may well be the best of the bunch so far. The art is excellent, with the characters looking like themselves, not stylized versions of themselves, not that I mind stylized so much. Does anyone else have the Muppet Show Book from the late 70s? The art in there looked almost like photographs. It's like that. The character voices sound correct, as I can 'hear' the characters speaking their lines. The only one that may not 'sound' right is Janice but that's only because the character tended to have a smaller role on screen and here, as Wendy, she speaks more than, well, maybe ever. The story takes a couple of twists here, ones that I'm not sure if the final issue will untwist or not. The biggest of these to me was the revelation that Peter Pan/Kermit may not be a fun loving adventurer that never grew up, but a man-child that refuses to do anything but 'play the game'. Captain Hook/Gonzo accuses Peter of seeing him as evil because he's dressed as a pirate, despite the fact that he claims to be a performer that was dressed as a pirate. I really liked this development and may still like it even if Hook turns out to be lying in the end. The issue ends with a moment very much from Peter Pan as Piggytink is left low by some harsh words. One more issue and I hope it doesn't fail me.
Comic Book Comics #4 continues the book's fun view of the history of comics, focusing mostly on the early history of Marvel Comics and the Underground Comix of the 60s/70s. This is fun yet educational stuff with a clever art style. It's got a hint of parody to it, a bit like something from Mad Magazine. It helps keep things from getting too serious. The idea that the Star Wars comic adaptation may have saved Marvel and yet lead to things like Epic Illustrated (Marvel's attempt to compete with Heavy Metal) was a new thought for me. I feel not enough people are reading this book and it is very interesting. I hope they collect it in trade as that would make for an easy recommendation.
Doctor Who #5 continues the story of the Doctor being on the run. I am really enjoying the story now as the idea that the Doctor has 'dismissed' certain races over the years because they were 'bad' has consequences. While the Doctor might have done the right thing at the time, he may not have followed up enough to make everything as right as he could. It's an interesting thought that raises up what might be an otherwise simple story. That said, this thread gets raised often so it could be seen as a bit heavy handed as well. I'm not liking the art. The artist seems to have issues with humanoid faces. Details are rendered in a scraggly way. It's just off a bit. It doesn't flow correctly to me and my eye.
After a few years of miniseries, the Transformers have a new monthly ongoing title. It has been a couple years since the events of 'All Hail Megatron' and the Transformers still on Earth are all in hiding as humans are hunting them. It's an interesting development that makes sense considering the previous events. A early wave Transformer bites the dust and Optimus Prime makes a difficult decision. The art here is clean but a bit too detailed for my tastes. The Generation One Transformers have a 'blockiness' to them that the artist has captured but there's a lot of extra detail as well, as if the movie style Transformer faces were added. It makes familiar characters look weird. I'm not sure I care for that. I'm interested in seeing where this is going.
Last, but definitely not least, Muppet Peter Pan #3. I've said many things about the Muppet comics since they started and, as much as I enjoy them all, this may well be the best of the bunch so far. The art is excellent, with the characters looking like themselves, not stylized versions of themselves, not that I mind stylized so much. Does anyone else have the Muppet Show Book from the late 70s? The art in there looked almost like photographs. It's like that. The character voices sound correct, as I can 'hear' the characters speaking their lines. The only one that may not 'sound' right is Janice but that's only because the character tended to have a smaller role on screen and here, as Wendy, she speaks more than, well, maybe ever. The story takes a couple of twists here, ones that I'm not sure if the final issue will untwist or not. The biggest of these to me was the revelation that Peter Pan/Kermit may not be a fun loving adventurer that never grew up, but a man-child that refuses to do anything but 'play the game'. Captain Hook/Gonzo accuses Peter of seeing him as evil because he's dressed as a pirate, despite the fact that he claims to be a performer that was dressed as a pirate. I really liked this development and may still like it even if Hook turns out to be lying in the end. The issue ends with a moment very much from Peter Pan as Piggytink is left low by some harsh words. One more issue and I hope it doesn't fail me.
02 December 2009
Florida Trip Nov 2009 - Disney's Animal Kingdom
It's Tough to be a Bug! - Once. It's an immersive show that uses 3D, air and water effects, and tricks in the seats (just like William Castle!) to tell a quick story about bugs. Educational and fun. Slightly scary for kids perhaps. The hornet stabbing me in the back was a big weird. Voice of Dave Foley = thumbs up.
Kilimanjaro Safaris - Once. We went on this right away in the morning on an overcast calm day. Lots of animals out and about. Good show.
Expedition Everest - Twice. This ride is like the Big Thunder Railroad ride at the Magic Kingdom except a lot bigger and a bit nastier. Both are very smooth rides and a lot of fun. The big climb should make me nervous about the height but it doesn't. Love it.
Finding Nemo The Musical - I didn't care for Finding Nemo the movie so much because I felt it was too long. This show with live singing and puppetry reduces the length of the story to 30 minutes. The story still makes sense, seemingly proving my point about the movie. This show is highly impressive from every perspective: song, story, execution, everything. The puppeteers made no effort to hide their presence. This allowed for one of my favorite moments, a simple little nothing of a moment that most people probably didn't notice. As Nemo's Dad and Dorry face off with the sharks and are menaced by them, the puppeteer for Nemo's Dad put the puppet behind him as he stood there, as if to protect the character. Outstanding. Sometimes the characters run in the aisles. We were sitting right on the aisle in the upper section and they passed by us a couple times. Awesome. Recommended!
Dinosaur - Once. You are to be sent back in time to see some dinosaurs. A fun day trip, nothing too scary...except the scientist in charge of your vessel has adjusted the settings a bit. Now we're going back to just before the meteors hit that kill off the dinosaurs in an effort to collect an Iguanadon that was tagged earlier on an unsanctioned trip. Once we find the Iguanadon, the scientist chappie will extend the field surrounding our craft around the dinosaur as well and bring us back. Of course nothing goes simply. It's dark. The meteors are crashing back around us. There's also a Carnosaur, a big red dinosaur with horns, that seems interested in eating us. They try to spook you with the Carnosaur near the end when they take the picture. I thought they'd get me but they didn't. I like Dinosaurs. This was fun. I'd ride it again.
Pictures!: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044040&id=1353274305&l=b82a96a9c6
Kilimanjaro Safaris - Once. We went on this right away in the morning on an overcast calm day. Lots of animals out and about. Good show.
Expedition Everest - Twice. This ride is like the Big Thunder Railroad ride at the Magic Kingdom except a lot bigger and a bit nastier. Both are very smooth rides and a lot of fun. The big climb should make me nervous about the height but it doesn't. Love it.
Finding Nemo The Musical - I didn't care for Finding Nemo the movie so much because I felt it was too long. This show with live singing and puppetry reduces the length of the story to 30 minutes. The story still makes sense, seemingly proving my point about the movie. This show is highly impressive from every perspective: song, story, execution, everything. The puppeteers made no effort to hide their presence. This allowed for one of my favorite moments, a simple little nothing of a moment that most people probably didn't notice. As Nemo's Dad and Dorry face off with the sharks and are menaced by them, the puppeteer for Nemo's Dad put the puppet behind him as he stood there, as if to protect the character. Outstanding. Sometimes the characters run in the aisles. We were sitting right on the aisle in the upper section and they passed by us a couple times. Awesome. Recommended!
Dinosaur - Once. You are to be sent back in time to see some dinosaurs. A fun day trip, nothing too scary...except the scientist in charge of your vessel has adjusted the settings a bit. Now we're going back to just before the meteors hit that kill off the dinosaurs in an effort to collect an Iguanadon that was tagged earlier on an unsanctioned trip. Once we find the Iguanadon, the scientist chappie will extend the field surrounding our craft around the dinosaur as well and bring us back. Of course nothing goes simply. It's dark. The meteors are crashing back around us. There's also a Carnosaur, a big red dinosaur with horns, that seems interested in eating us. They try to spook you with the Carnosaur near the end when they take the picture. I thought they'd get me but they didn't. I like Dinosaurs. This was fun. I'd ride it again.
Pictures!: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044040&id=1353274305&l=b82a96a9c6
01 December 2009
A Few Thoughts on Comics from The Past Few Weeks
Mickey Mouse and Friends #297 continues the 'Wizards of Mickey' storyline. One piece of the puzzle is resolved in this issue, much earlier than I expected but, if I know Peg-Leg Pete, he's not done yet. The art is vibrant and energetic. The story in this issue makes it feel like this is the earlier beginnings of an epic story, not unlike finishing the training level of a role-playing game and realizing you have hours and hours left to play. Bother, now I want to start playing Kingdom Hearts again.
Walt Disney's Comics reaches issue #700. It earns its 700 issues despite not being continuously published since its launch in the 1930s. The issue is extra-sized, has no ads, and is still only $2.99. Marvel, I love you, but you're getting the 'see here' dirty look from me at the moment. Humph. More Disney superheros in this issue with Super Goof getting the spotlight. I love Super Goof. A pretty standard storyline at play with a 'super machine that was split into parts to keep it safe but now we have to collect it before the bad guys do' plot. It's a Golden Age era plot. It's being told in a fun manner and it's enjoyable to read. Art's good too. We also get a short story with the ducks that's really weird, told mostly in closeups, but is clever. Very clever. This is good stuff.
Speaking of stories told in a weird manner, both Futurama Comics #46 and Simpsons Comics #160 are weird. Futurama is a 'choose your own adventure' story and the Simpsons issue is an anthology of shorter stories with the framework of the stories being told by Bart and Nelson's great-grandsons. Or something. I don't know what the heck was going on. Amusing tho.
The Assault on New Olympus begins in Incredible Hercules #138! Hera is up to no good working to cause the 'Fourth Extinction' of man and the Avengers must assemble to stop her. Clean art with a gently cartoony style to it. Some good 'oh crap!' moments. Long storylines paying off. I like! And a Agents of ATLAS backup story. Yay!
Giant-Sized Thor Finale is the end of J.M. Straczynski's run on the book, ergo the 'finale' of the title. Evidently JMS didn't want to have to deal with the other crossovers that would be soon happening with the book and left rather than deal with it. Fair enough. Considering Thor is a founding member of the Avengers and it looks like the plan is to 'get the band back together', not wanting to play in that pool seems selfish. But whatever. In this issue, Bad Things happen, Doom moves against Thor and his friends, Don Blake is left crippled again, and we find out why Volstagg is 'the Mighty'. Doom seeks the secret of the Asgardians long lives by dissection and science. Balder finds out. This shall not stand! We also get a preview of the next regular issue and a recolored reprint of the first Thor story in Journey into Mystery #83. Good stuff.
Walt Disney's Comics reaches issue #700. It earns its 700 issues despite not being continuously published since its launch in the 1930s. The issue is extra-sized, has no ads, and is still only $2.99. Marvel, I love you, but you're getting the 'see here' dirty look from me at the moment. Humph. More Disney superheros in this issue with Super Goof getting the spotlight. I love Super Goof. A pretty standard storyline at play with a 'super machine that was split into parts to keep it safe but now we have to collect it before the bad guys do' plot. It's a Golden Age era plot. It's being told in a fun manner and it's enjoyable to read. Art's good too. We also get a short story with the ducks that's really weird, told mostly in closeups, but is clever. Very clever. This is good stuff.
Speaking of stories told in a weird manner, both Futurama Comics #46 and Simpsons Comics #160 are weird. Futurama is a 'choose your own adventure' story and the Simpsons issue is an anthology of shorter stories with the framework of the stories being told by Bart and Nelson's great-grandsons. Or something. I don't know what the heck was going on. Amusing tho.
The Assault on New Olympus begins in Incredible Hercules #138! Hera is up to no good working to cause the 'Fourth Extinction' of man and the Avengers must assemble to stop her. Clean art with a gently cartoony style to it. Some good 'oh crap!' moments. Long storylines paying off. I like! And a Agents of ATLAS backup story. Yay!
Giant-Sized Thor Finale is the end of J.M. Straczynski's run on the book, ergo the 'finale' of the title. Evidently JMS didn't want to have to deal with the other crossovers that would be soon happening with the book and left rather than deal with it. Fair enough. Considering Thor is a founding member of the Avengers and it looks like the plan is to 'get the band back together', not wanting to play in that pool seems selfish. But whatever. In this issue, Bad Things happen, Doom moves against Thor and his friends, Don Blake is left crippled again, and we find out why Volstagg is 'the Mighty'. Doom seeks the secret of the Asgardians long lives by dissection and science. Balder finds out. This shall not stand! We also get a preview of the next regular issue and a recolored reprint of the first Thor story in Journey into Mystery #83. Good stuff.
30 November 2009
Florida Trip Nov 2009 - Universal Islands of Adventure
Huzzah for Adventure!
The Cat in the Hat - Once. Still frenetic fun.
Jurassic Park River Adventure - Once. Still very wet. Still do not like that drop at the end.
Pteranodon Flyers - Once. It's a kid ride that adults can go on with a kid. Niko and I rode. You're in a small 'pterandon' and you fly over Jurassic Park. It takes a minute or two. From the ground it looks very calm and relaxing. The view was great. Then we went around the first turn. I dunno if it always swings that wide or if it was my adult weight affecting it or what but I suddenly felt that I was fifty feet up on a bicycle attached to the track by a rope. Was not comfortable at that point. Fear of heights kicked in and I was suddenly glad that it was a short ride. Yipes!
Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls - Twice. You will get wet. Rode this just before the 50th anniversary of the first episode of Rocky and Bullwinkle, which seemed fitting. After walking through a long and silly queue filled with Jay Ward type humor, including critters in the walk that do routines, you get to the lodge. You wedge yourself into a multi-person holding log and ride the water in the 'log fume'. Dastardly villain Snidely Whiplash has kidnapped Nell again and it's up to Dudley and Horse to save her. We see mostly immobile statues of the characters as we float through in various stages of activity, tied up, escaping, about to fight, etc. The characters 'speak' as we go past, all in the correct sounding voices. We climb and fall a bit until we reach the top of the mountain and Dudley accidentally detonates a pile of explosives. Boom! And down we go! There's a fifty foot or so drop, mostly straight down, that has a brief bump up in it about three-quarters of the way down. Three people back, I got very wet. Jason, in the front of the log, got soaked. People can also pay to squirt you with water at the bottom. The best gag is after the drop. Snidely has been captured and is in jail. A dog holds the key to his cell just out of his reach ala Pirates of the Caribbean. Right outside the cell is a dish of food labeled 'crow'. He's eating crow. Ha! Okay, maybe I just liked it but it was a very Jay Ward style joke to me.
The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man - Twice. Still a fun show. There's some rumors of refurbing it to change some scenes that don't 'work' anymore. I don't have a big problem with it as it is currently. The 3d is very good and the props help sell the show.
Storm Force Accelatron - Once. Once is enough. Plenty. It's fun but not that fun.
Photo album on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2043724&id=1353274305&l=f47defec36
The Cat in the Hat - Once. Still frenetic fun.
Jurassic Park River Adventure - Once. Still very wet. Still do not like that drop at the end.
Pteranodon Flyers - Once. It's a kid ride that adults can go on with a kid. Niko and I rode. You're in a small 'pterandon' and you fly over Jurassic Park. It takes a minute or two. From the ground it looks very calm and relaxing. The view was great. Then we went around the first turn. I dunno if it always swings that wide or if it was my adult weight affecting it or what but I suddenly felt that I was fifty feet up on a bicycle attached to the track by a rope. Was not comfortable at that point. Fear of heights kicked in and I was suddenly glad that it was a short ride. Yipes!
Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls - Twice. You will get wet. Rode this just before the 50th anniversary of the first episode of Rocky and Bullwinkle, which seemed fitting. After walking through a long and silly queue filled with Jay Ward type humor, including critters in the walk that do routines, you get to the lodge. You wedge yourself into a multi-person holding log and ride the water in the 'log fume'. Dastardly villain Snidely Whiplash has kidnapped Nell again and it's up to Dudley and Horse to save her. We see mostly immobile statues of the characters as we float through in various stages of activity, tied up, escaping, about to fight, etc. The characters 'speak' as we go past, all in the correct sounding voices. We climb and fall a bit until we reach the top of the mountain and Dudley accidentally detonates a pile of explosives. Boom! And down we go! There's a fifty foot or so drop, mostly straight down, that has a brief bump up in it about three-quarters of the way down. Three people back, I got very wet. Jason, in the front of the log, got soaked. People can also pay to squirt you with water at the bottom. The best gag is after the drop. Snidely has been captured and is in jail. A dog holds the key to his cell just out of his reach ala Pirates of the Caribbean. Right outside the cell is a dish of food labeled 'crow'. He's eating crow. Ha! Okay, maybe I just liked it but it was a very Jay Ward style joke to me.
The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man - Twice. Still a fun show. There's some rumors of refurbing it to change some scenes that don't 'work' anymore. I don't have a big problem with it as it is currently. The 3d is very good and the props help sell the show.
Storm Force Accelatron - Once. Once is enough. Plenty. It's fun but not that fun.
Photo album on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2043724&id=1353274305&l=f47defec36
29 November 2009
Florida Trip Nov 2009 - Universal Studios
Since I covered a lot of this territory back in January/February, I'm not planning to go into detail about every ride I experienced. If it was something I didn't see before or picked up a new detail about, then I'll discuss it.
In general, we didn't spend as much time at Universal than we did last time. As much fun as we had at Disney, it did feel like we ignored Universal a bit.
Twister - Once. My buddy's middle kid, Jason, was freaked out when we went on this earlier in the year. All the same, he went on it this time and seemed to get through it okay. Kid is bold. I like that.
Revenge of the Mummy - Twice. Still a fun time.
JAWS - you get in a Amity boat and take a tour around the area. The boat operator assures you that it'll be a peaceful trip but before you get too far, there's another tour boat sinking. A little further on, a fin splits the water and the boat operator freaks. He get instructions to shoot at it ('This thing's loaded?!?') and does. He slides the boat into a nearby structure with a dock but the shark breaks through. The boat gas station we go past is similarly attacked to the point it explodes and is on fire. We get to another dock but the shark attacks again. It gets hung up on a power cable and the boat operator shoots it again. One big boom later, the shark is burned and dead. The now-confident boat operator returns us to the main dock asking that we not mention the little 'incident'. It's fun and relatively quick. Jason, who did so well on Twister, didn't care for the fire or the shark and spent the ride with his eyes closed and ears plugged. Maybe I shouldn't have said it was a trained shark that rarely eats anyone.
Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster - Once. Fun quick little coaster with some sharp turns.
E.T. Adventure - Twice. Still no Godzilla? Dang.
Men in Black Alien Attack - Once. Shooter game. Niko beat me again.
The Simpsons Ride - Twice. Still stirs up my belly a bit. When they say 'no recording' they are very serious about that. Excellent ride. I find it odd that my friends think that it'll turn back into 'Back to the Future' at some point. I understand my one friend's annoyance in that it's the same mechanics underneath both rides, that it's essentially a 'paint job' over the BttF ride. That's different. While I have nothing against 'Back to the Future', what I've seen of that ride indicates it was ready for a makeover. The Simpsons has 20 years of TV history behind it and loads of fans at various ages. 'Back to the Future' has fans but I wonder how many of them are younger than me. I suspect not many. I don't believe that BttF currently has the fan base that the Simpsons has. I'm not sure that BttF even had the fan base that Simpsons has right now, not even at their peak. I may be wrong but that's my theory.
Photos uploaded to Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2042729&id=1353274305&l=fe0319e2cf
In general, we didn't spend as much time at Universal than we did last time. As much fun as we had at Disney, it did feel like we ignored Universal a bit.
Twister - Once. My buddy's middle kid, Jason, was freaked out when we went on this earlier in the year. All the same, he went on it this time and seemed to get through it okay. Kid is bold. I like that.
Revenge of the Mummy - Twice. Still a fun time.
JAWS - you get in a Amity boat and take a tour around the area. The boat operator assures you that it'll be a peaceful trip but before you get too far, there's another tour boat sinking. A little further on, a fin splits the water and the boat operator freaks. He get instructions to shoot at it ('This thing's loaded?!?') and does. He slides the boat into a nearby structure with a dock but the shark breaks through. The boat gas station we go past is similarly attacked to the point it explodes and is on fire. We get to another dock but the shark attacks again. It gets hung up on a power cable and the boat operator shoots it again. One big boom later, the shark is burned and dead. The now-confident boat operator returns us to the main dock asking that we not mention the little 'incident'. It's fun and relatively quick. Jason, who did so well on Twister, didn't care for the fire or the shark and spent the ride with his eyes closed and ears plugged. Maybe I shouldn't have said it was a trained shark that rarely eats anyone.
Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster - Once. Fun quick little coaster with some sharp turns.
E.T. Adventure - Twice. Still no Godzilla? Dang.
Men in Black Alien Attack - Once. Shooter game. Niko beat me again.
The Simpsons Ride - Twice. Still stirs up my belly a bit. When they say 'no recording' they are very serious about that. Excellent ride. I find it odd that my friends think that it'll turn back into 'Back to the Future' at some point. I understand my one friend's annoyance in that it's the same mechanics underneath both rides, that it's essentially a 'paint job' over the BttF ride. That's different. While I have nothing against 'Back to the Future', what I've seen of that ride indicates it was ready for a makeover. The Simpsons has 20 years of TV history behind it and loads of fans at various ages. 'Back to the Future' has fans but I wonder how many of them are younger than me. I suspect not many. I don't believe that BttF currently has the fan base that the Simpsons has. I'm not sure that BttF even had the fan base that Simpsons has right now, not even at their peak. I may be wrong but that's my theory.
Photos uploaded to Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2042729&id=1353274305&l=fe0319e2cf
28 November 2009
A Few Thoughts on Comics from The Past Few Weeks
There was a BIG pile of comics waiting for me this week at the store and I've waded through them. There'll probably be a few of these entries while I catch up. I'll try to mix some 'reflections on my vacation' entries in the pile so it won't just be be talking about comics for a week.
Invincible Iron Man #20 features the title character on life support, effectively brain dead. Tony's plan to elude Norman Osborn has worked and Norman has to scramble to regain his footing in the public eye. Tony's left behind a message for his friends which largely says 'things are a mess and likely to get messier'. He also leaves them a 'reboot' procedure that should fix him, if that's what they want to have happen. This... redemption of Tony Stark story has been going on for over a year now. It's not getting the attention that the return of Steven Rogers is getting but this is also a well paced, epic storyline with good art, good writing, and good 'wow!' moments. It's not as big and cool as Cap's story but it's still good reading.
Punisher #11 begins the FrankenCastle storyline. At the end of 'The Punisher-the List' (which I didn't get) Frank Castle, the Punisher, is dismembered by Wolverine's son. He is beheaded. He is dead. His bits and pieces are found by monsters on the run from a 'Destroy All Monsters' kill squad from Japan and are cobbled together in the hopes that the revived Frank will act as their military leader to protect them from said kill squads. It's ridiculous and over the top. It's great fun. I think I'll give it a shot and see where it goes.
I've mentioned G-Man - Cape Crisis before and I now have 4 of the 5 issues. It's still funny and cute and clever and such. I've begun to notice that writer/artist Chris Giarrusso's 'voice' doesn't change much from one character to the next. Everyone gets the dialogue they need to move the story forward or be funny. This is one of the great concerns I always have with my own work; that every character sounds like me. Having made that observation, I don't think it's a problem here. This story flows like a cartoon from the '80s that was never made because it's too good to be a cartoon from that era and there's no toy line to promote. Yet it has that vibe, that fun style to it that makes you chuckle and smile. I like it.
Dark Avengers #11 features the Molecule Man. He's pretty crazy and just wants to be left alone. He dismantles the Dark Avengers, in some ways literally. Best moment: Norman Osborn in a Spidey suit being confronted by Gwen Stacy atop the bridge he knocked her from and she simply asks 'why?' Cause Norman needs to be MORE crazy, right?
The Tick has a new comic book series! It's in color, the art is good. It continues the storylines and characters of the Tick spinoff books (aka the books we didn't call 'The Tick' because we were hoping Ben Edlund would return to do issue #13 of that series but it's been 16 years so, you know, probably not going to happen) so if you've not read some of those, you will be lost. I found it humourous, as it should be. At $4.95, it ain't cheap. It is bi-monthly so at least that's only $5 every other month. NEC is in the process of reprinting all the Tick related comics in big honking collections but, again, as they're not a big company, these ain't cheap. The least expensive collection gets you 9 comics (and probably some extras) for $28. It's not a horrible price but it's a lot to have to slap down at once. The original Edlund run (12 issues but extras) is $35. Bad price? No but that's the sort of thing you expect to be hardcover from a Marvel or DC but at half the page count. I have to stop doing the math on these; I think I'm talking myself into buying them and I have a lot of the originals. Doh!
Invincible Iron Man #20 features the title character on life support, effectively brain dead. Tony's plan to elude Norman Osborn has worked and Norman has to scramble to regain his footing in the public eye. Tony's left behind a message for his friends which largely says 'things are a mess and likely to get messier'. He also leaves them a 'reboot' procedure that should fix him, if that's what they want to have happen. This... redemption of Tony Stark story has been going on for over a year now. It's not getting the attention that the return of Steven Rogers is getting but this is also a well paced, epic storyline with good art, good writing, and good 'wow!' moments. It's not as big and cool as Cap's story but it's still good reading.
Punisher #11 begins the FrankenCastle storyline. At the end of 'The Punisher-the List' (which I didn't get) Frank Castle, the Punisher, is dismembered by Wolverine's son. He is beheaded. He is dead. His bits and pieces are found by monsters on the run from a 'Destroy All Monsters' kill squad from Japan and are cobbled together in the hopes that the revived Frank will act as their military leader to protect them from said kill squads. It's ridiculous and over the top. It's great fun. I think I'll give it a shot and see where it goes.
I've mentioned G-Man - Cape Crisis before and I now have 4 of the 5 issues. It's still funny and cute and clever and such. I've begun to notice that writer/artist Chris Giarrusso's 'voice' doesn't change much from one character to the next. Everyone gets the dialogue they need to move the story forward or be funny. This is one of the great concerns I always have with my own work; that every character sounds like me. Having made that observation, I don't think it's a problem here. This story flows like a cartoon from the '80s that was never made because it's too good to be a cartoon from that era and there's no toy line to promote. Yet it has that vibe, that fun style to it that makes you chuckle and smile. I like it.
Dark Avengers #11 features the Molecule Man. He's pretty crazy and just wants to be left alone. He dismantles the Dark Avengers, in some ways literally. Best moment: Norman Osborn in a Spidey suit being confronted by Gwen Stacy atop the bridge he knocked her from and she simply asks 'why?' Cause Norman needs to be MORE crazy, right?
The Tick has a new comic book series! It's in color, the art is good. It continues the storylines and characters of the Tick spinoff books (aka the books we didn't call 'The Tick' because we were hoping Ben Edlund would return to do issue #13 of that series but it's been 16 years so, you know, probably not going to happen) so if you've not read some of those, you will be lost. I found it humourous, as it should be. At $4.95, it ain't cheap. It is bi-monthly so at least that's only $5 every other month. NEC is in the process of reprinting all the Tick related comics in big honking collections but, again, as they're not a big company, these ain't cheap. The least expensive collection gets you 9 comics (and probably some extras) for $28. It's not a horrible price but it's a lot to have to slap down at once. The original Edlund run (12 issues but extras) is $35. Bad price? No but that's the sort of thing you expect to be hardcover from a Marvel or DC but at half the page count. I have to stop doing the math on these; I think I'm talking myself into buying them and I have a lot of the originals. Doh!
24 November 2009
Music Monday Comes a Day Late This Week
In celebration of me watching MuppetVision 3D five times during my trip to Florida, getting to see most of the MuppetVision 3D pre-show for the first time, and the re-launching of the Muppet Channel on YouTube, I offer this entertainment.
http://www.megaupload.com/?f=XIXIOMFD
As I received free, so shall I give free.
Enjoy.
http://www.megaupload.com/?f=XIXIOMFD
As I received free, so shall I give free.
Enjoy.
23 November 2009
'Time for a Change' deleted scene
Some time ago I finished and released a Doctor Who story featuring the Tenth Doctor and Martha as well as my Eighth Doctor and Julie. It was fun to write. There was a scene I ended up removing from the final edit, not because I didn't like the scene, but because I couldn't make it fit the flow of emotions in the sequences around it. There was a fine Doctor rant in it but it had to go.
As a 46th anniversary of Doctor Who celebration, I present it now. The Tenth Doctor is the one in action. Enjoy!
? ? ?
“That’s the Rutans,” the Doctor spat. “Nothing matters aside from the war with the Sontarans. Has nothing changed? Don’t you want something more from life?”
“There is nothing beyond victory.”
“But what then? Say you destroy every Sontaran in the universe, then what would you do?”
The Rutan were quiet for a moment. “That information is not available at this time. Once victory has been achieved, we will be given that direction.”
“Well, there you go then,” the Doctor noted. “Nothing quite like having a goal in mind. No promises about paradises or power, just satisfaction at a job well done.”
The Rutan leader smiled. “Excellent. You now understand our purpose.”
In frustration, the Doctor sputtered. “Understand? Understand? I understand two great races spending all their time finding more efficient methods to slaughter one another. You fight for reasons you no longer recall. You fight over nothing! You have the ability to change your external form but have no interest in changing your hearts!”
As a 46th anniversary of Doctor Who celebration, I present it now. The Tenth Doctor is the one in action. Enjoy!
? ? ?
“That’s the Rutans,” the Doctor spat. “Nothing matters aside from the war with the Sontarans. Has nothing changed? Don’t you want something more from life?”
“There is nothing beyond victory.”
“But what then? Say you destroy every Sontaran in the universe, then what would you do?”
The Rutan were quiet for a moment. “That information is not available at this time. Once victory has been achieved, we will be given that direction.”
“Well, there you go then,” the Doctor noted. “Nothing quite like having a goal in mind. No promises about paradises or power, just satisfaction at a job well done.”
The Rutan leader smiled. “Excellent. You now understand our purpose.”
In frustration, the Doctor sputtered. “Understand? Understand? I understand two great races spending all their time finding more efficient methods to slaughter one another. You fight for reasons you no longer recall. You fight over nothing! You have the ability to change your external form but have no interest in changing your hearts!”
19 November 2009
11 November 2009
No Time to Solve the World's Problems Today
Been running about like a madman all week. Busy in order to prepare for a trip out of town that starts... tomorrow! Not sure how much access I'll have to the Internet so, if you don't see much of me in the next few days, blame it on that.
See you soon. Good things seem to be happening to me. Hope it's a trend.
See you soon. Good things seem to be happening to me. Hope it's a trend.
10 November 2009
A Few Thoughts on Comics from The Past Few Weeks
Time to get a bit caught up here.
In Punisher #10, supernaturally powered bad guy the Hood offers to revive Frank Castle's dead family if he'll just go away. As they start to revive, Frank rejects this offer...with a flamethrower to the no-longer corpses. That's Frank! While I don't have the issue, 'The Punisher: The List' shows Frank getting dismembered. By the next issue of the regular book, he'll be 'Franken-castle'. I really don't know about this development. I'll give it a try.
Simpsons Comics #159 tells the story of the Burns Backup Plan; in the event of Monty's passing, a computer program set up to respond as he would will run the plant. Homer accidentally activates the fail-safe and it makes online friends with Lisa, using Monty's money to try making Lisa's life better. The story gets points for Smithers counting in 'Milwaukees'. The point is that money can't solve everything. It's fascinating that Chuck Dixon writes this as it's totally not what you would expect from him considering his history with tough guy characters.
Bart Simpson #50 is all Sergio Aragones, both written and drawn by him. Considering the stories of his speed, he probably knocked this off in an airport while waiting for a plane. That's not meant to be an insult; this is the standard quality work I'd expect from Sergio. Man he's funny.
Speaking of Sergio, another Groo miniseries has started, 'The Hogs of Horder'. Outstanding.
Invincible Iron Man #19 leaves Tony Stark a vegetable, on life support after his plan to erase his brain and reclaim his 'hero status' succeeds. Norman Osborn wants to pull the plug on him but only his physician can make that decision, a Doctor Donald Blake! Got wake up Tony in time for 'Siege'!
Mighty Avengers #30 featured Hank Pym meeting with Eternity and finding out the truth about himself: Hank Pym is Earth's Scientist Supreme! The rest of the story, with a 'lost' Inhuman king is interesting, but seems secondary to the rebuilding of Hank Pym.
Captain America Reborn #4 may well feature the return of Steven Rogers! Or not! Evil, evil twist! Love this book! It has great art, features the end of an epic storyline, and just has twists and turns in it to tell. This is fun stuff.
Vincent Price Presents has a special story as a sequel to the film 'The Tingler'. The art is good, much better than the average Bluewater comic and the story is interesting. I would have preferred Vincent Price's character to look more like him but that's a minor detail considering I enjoyed the rest more than I expected to do.
Muppet Peter Pan #2 starts after dinner, with the narrator commenting on Sam's choice of serving turkey. Sam's declarations that turkey is a fine American meal stop suddenly once it's pointed out that turkeys and eagles are both birds. The art here totally captures the character and his moment of 'what did I do?!?'. It's a moment when you can hear the familiar voice of the character in your head as you read. It's great. The book just gets better from there. Outstanding!
In Punisher #10, supernaturally powered bad guy the Hood offers to revive Frank Castle's dead family if he'll just go away. As they start to revive, Frank rejects this offer...with a flamethrower to the no-longer corpses. That's Frank! While I don't have the issue, 'The Punisher: The List' shows Frank getting dismembered. By the next issue of the regular book, he'll be 'Franken-castle'. I really don't know about this development. I'll give it a try.
Simpsons Comics #159 tells the story of the Burns Backup Plan; in the event of Monty's passing, a computer program set up to respond as he would will run the plant. Homer accidentally activates the fail-safe and it makes online friends with Lisa, using Monty's money to try making Lisa's life better. The story gets points for Smithers counting in 'Milwaukees'. The point is that money can't solve everything. It's fascinating that Chuck Dixon writes this as it's totally not what you would expect from him considering his history with tough guy characters.
Bart Simpson #50 is all Sergio Aragones, both written and drawn by him. Considering the stories of his speed, he probably knocked this off in an airport while waiting for a plane. That's not meant to be an insult; this is the standard quality work I'd expect from Sergio. Man he's funny.
Speaking of Sergio, another Groo miniseries has started, 'The Hogs of Horder'. Outstanding.
Invincible Iron Man #19 leaves Tony Stark a vegetable, on life support after his plan to erase his brain and reclaim his 'hero status' succeeds. Norman Osborn wants to pull the plug on him but only his physician can make that decision, a Doctor Donald Blake! Got wake up Tony in time for 'Siege'!
Mighty Avengers #30 featured Hank Pym meeting with Eternity and finding out the truth about himself: Hank Pym is Earth's Scientist Supreme! The rest of the story, with a 'lost' Inhuman king is interesting, but seems secondary to the rebuilding of Hank Pym.
Captain America Reborn #4 may well feature the return of Steven Rogers! Or not! Evil, evil twist! Love this book! It has great art, features the end of an epic storyline, and just has twists and turns in it to tell. This is fun stuff.
Vincent Price Presents has a special story as a sequel to the film 'The Tingler'. The art is good, much better than the average Bluewater comic and the story is interesting. I would have preferred Vincent Price's character to look more like him but that's a minor detail considering I enjoyed the rest more than I expected to do.
Muppet Peter Pan #2 starts after dinner, with the narrator commenting on Sam's choice of serving turkey. Sam's declarations that turkey is a fine American meal stop suddenly once it's pointed out that turkeys and eagles are both birds. The art here totally captures the character and his moment of 'what did I do?!?'. It's a moment when you can hear the familiar voice of the character in your head as you read. It's great. The book just gets better from there. Outstanding!
09 November 2009
Music Monday - 3
If I haven't already made it clear that I like music that's not easy to fit into a specific label, then this should help make it so. This band is full of awesome and I'm not sure how to describe it. Listen/Watch and see what you think.
This song is from the album 'The End is Begun'. It has elements of metal, but it's not metal. It's melodic. There's harmonies. It's just attractive sounding rock music performed by people who clearly have some practice at such a thing. I've been told the band is very nice and puts on a great live show but I wasn't there to see that myself. I believe the guy who told me.
This song is from the album 'The End is Begun'. It has elements of metal, but it's not metal. It's melodic. There's harmonies. It's just attractive sounding rock music performed by people who clearly have some practice at such a thing. I've been told the band is very nice and puts on a great live show but I wasn't there to see that myself. I believe the guy who told me.
08 November 2009
'GI Joe' Movie Review
Synopsis: Damaged arms merchants and scientists come together to save the world from itself...by taking it over. An elite team of soldiers tries to stop them from using their metal eating nanobot bombs from destroying major cities around the world.
As a kid, I wasn't really into GI Joe that much, being much more interested in giant robot wars than human wars. I had a familiarity with the property, mostly through the comics. When 'Transformers' did so well, it was no shock to me that this was fast tracked. I had little interest in seeing this movie because the trailers made it look stupid and derivative. Sometimes trailers lie to you. This is not one of those times.
There is some character development but only in the most predictable of ways. The gentleman playing Duke, one of the main characters, is a bland actor who is not very convincing at anything. There is TONS and TONS of horrible looking CGI in this film. It's distractingly bad CGI. Really, really bad CGI. The mouth on Snake Eyes looks creepy and weird. Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow fight briefly but you see nothing. There are flashbacks to when they are kids and the action there is filmed better than the 'big fight' at the end of the film. This ticks me off. Ray Park's in that suit just waiting to be all sorts of awesome and...nothing.
There are some bright moments. I liked the 'reinvention' of Cobra and Joe teams in a general sense, thinking that this was a good origin for our time period. I liked the silly weaponry. Christopher Eccleston was fun as always. Jonathan Pryce has a cameo as does Brendan Fraser. There are some intentionally funny bits that are funny. Scarlett and the Baroness are both very attractive. The movie moves along at a quick pace and doesn't slow down much at all.
The subtitle of the film is 'The Rise of Cobra' and it is that: the beginnings of this terrorist outfit so don't expect familiar characters to be in their expected configuration at the beginning of the film. Maybe not even by the end of the film.
My GI Joe loving buddy watched a bit and said he was trying to watch it as an action film with some familiar names in it, not as 'Joe'. From my more detached perspective, I still think it fails. It gets a lot of the subtle things right while missing out on some of the bigger things. There's a lot of running around and shouting in front of bad CGI. The entertaining bits aren't enough to balance out the bland standard action bits. It's just not a very good film. It's not bad enough to be entertainingly bad nor good enough to be good. It's just there.
Recommendation to avoid.
As a kid, I wasn't really into GI Joe that much, being much more interested in giant robot wars than human wars. I had a familiarity with the property, mostly through the comics. When 'Transformers' did so well, it was no shock to me that this was fast tracked. I had little interest in seeing this movie because the trailers made it look stupid and derivative. Sometimes trailers lie to you. This is not one of those times.
There is some character development but only in the most predictable of ways. The gentleman playing Duke, one of the main characters, is a bland actor who is not very convincing at anything. There is TONS and TONS of horrible looking CGI in this film. It's distractingly bad CGI. Really, really bad CGI. The mouth on Snake Eyes looks creepy and weird. Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow fight briefly but you see nothing. There are flashbacks to when they are kids and the action there is filmed better than the 'big fight' at the end of the film. This ticks me off. Ray Park's in that suit just waiting to be all sorts of awesome and...nothing.
There are some bright moments. I liked the 'reinvention' of Cobra and Joe teams in a general sense, thinking that this was a good origin for our time period. I liked the silly weaponry. Christopher Eccleston was fun as always. Jonathan Pryce has a cameo as does Brendan Fraser. There are some intentionally funny bits that are funny. Scarlett and the Baroness are both very attractive. The movie moves along at a quick pace and doesn't slow down much at all.
The subtitle of the film is 'The Rise of Cobra' and it is that: the beginnings of this terrorist outfit so don't expect familiar characters to be in their expected configuration at the beginning of the film. Maybe not even by the end of the film.
My GI Joe loving buddy watched a bit and said he was trying to watch it as an action film with some familiar names in it, not as 'Joe'. From my more detached perspective, I still think it fails. It gets a lot of the subtle things right while missing out on some of the bigger things. There's a lot of running around and shouting in front of bad CGI. The entertaining bits aren't enough to balance out the bland standard action bits. It's just not a very good film. It's not bad enough to be entertainingly bad nor good enough to be good. It's just there.
Recommendation to avoid.
07 November 2009
A Little Nothing
This has just been one of those weeks. Occasionally I have a bunch of topics to discuss in my head and whatever happens to erase them. I've got nothing at the moment. I'm still writing on my projects, and consistently, so it's not all bad news. I know I haven't talked about comics in awhile but, to some degree, there haven't been that many worth talking about either.
I'll try to fix all this. No reason to worry. More soon.
I'll try to fix all this. No reason to worry. More soon.
03 November 2009
'The Life of Newton' - in brief
My senior year of high school I had but a handful of classes. One was Calculus. There were only three of us in the class. I was taking a math class in order to stay on the Math Team (I have a high school letter... in Math) and Calculus quickly proved to be over my head. I mostly gave up on it.
The problem with this was that there were only the three of us in the class. My buddy Jesse was having no issues understanding it, balancing me out, and Chris (aka Garth) was sort of getting it. There hadn't been a Calculus class at the school in years and they wanted us to succeed or at least look good.
For the final grading period, we were given a project to do instead of more math problems. It could be anything so long as it had something to do with Calculus. The projects could be done as individuals or as a group. When our teacher said the word 'screenplay' as an option, our eyes lit up. We were making a movie. It would be 'The Life of Newton'!
We researched Sir Issac Newton, determined our main characters based on his life, threw some math in there, and wrote some Monty Python inspired material. It is ridiculous, not always in a good way. The final 'movie' runs about 23 minutes long, including some long credit sequences and a music video. One of the best scenes was not written but improvised in one long take. There are silly voices, poorly developed themes, physical comedy, and some cross-dressing. The blooper reel is longer than the movie!
It's long been my goal to 'remaster' the original 'film' from the master tape as the original edit was poorly done with a camcorder and VCR. I'd put it off since I couldn't do a 'special edition' with a commentary track. Recently, I went to convert the tape to a digital file and the tape may not have survived the process. Sad. I think I got most of it, perhaps enough of it.
Sections of this seem destined for YouTube...
The problem with this was that there were only the three of us in the class. My buddy Jesse was having no issues understanding it, balancing me out, and Chris (aka Garth) was sort of getting it. There hadn't been a Calculus class at the school in years and they wanted us to succeed or at least look good.
For the final grading period, we were given a project to do instead of more math problems. It could be anything so long as it had something to do with Calculus. The projects could be done as individuals or as a group. When our teacher said the word 'screenplay' as an option, our eyes lit up. We were making a movie. It would be 'The Life of Newton'!
We researched Sir Issac Newton, determined our main characters based on his life, threw some math in there, and wrote some Monty Python inspired material. It is ridiculous, not always in a good way. The final 'movie' runs about 23 minutes long, including some long credit sequences and a music video. One of the best scenes was not written but improvised in one long take. There are silly voices, poorly developed themes, physical comedy, and some cross-dressing. The blooper reel is longer than the movie!
It's long been my goal to 'remaster' the original 'film' from the master tape as the original edit was poorly done with a camcorder and VCR. I'd put it off since I couldn't do a 'special edition' with a commentary track. Recently, I went to convert the tape to a digital file and the tape may not have survived the process. Sad. I think I got most of it, perhaps enough of it.
Sections of this seem destined for YouTube...
02 November 2009
Music Monday - Covers
Some bands are just over-rated. Really any band that gets 'big' gets over-rated to some degree. The level of how over-rated the band is depends on your opinion of the band. If you liked them when they were 'small', maybe you remember when they were 'good'. Maybe you think they were never any good. Maybe you're impressed by how creative the band has managed to stay. Whatever.
There are certain bands that are big but, in my opinion, they aren't all that great. A fine way to tell is when other bands cover their songs and the cover versions are superior to the originals. That's why I say I don't like the Eagles or Metallica. Bah.
As regards the Eagles, I can admit that my opinion regarding the song 'Desperado' may be influenced by the fact that their version wasn't the first one I heard. My mother has been a long-time fan of singer Johnny Rodriguez and it's his version that I'm most familiar with hearing. The phrasing in his version sounds right to me, the way that the lyrics pour from him capture the emotion of the song better than the Eagles version, in my opinion anyway. Listen, see what you think:
http://www.rhapsody.com/player?type=track&id=tra.2713081&remote=false&page=&pageregion=&guid=&from=&__pcode=cmt
It's the vocals that often make the difference. 'Enter Sandman' may be Metallica's best known song but James Hetfield's vocal sounds like it's sung by a pre-teenager compared to the growl that Lemmy of Motorhead can apply to it. It's a creepier song in Lemmy's hands.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY8_RTe5Pz0
For that matter, Dicky from the Mighty Mighty Bosstones sounds growlier and creepy than Hetfield. How does a ska band sound more metal than a 'metal' band?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRBNuTNWHso
Covers. Man I love them. Sometimes.
There are certain bands that are big but, in my opinion, they aren't all that great. A fine way to tell is when other bands cover their songs and the cover versions are superior to the originals. That's why I say I don't like the Eagles or Metallica. Bah.
As regards the Eagles, I can admit that my opinion regarding the song 'Desperado' may be influenced by the fact that their version wasn't the first one I heard. My mother has been a long-time fan of singer Johnny Rodriguez and it's his version that I'm most familiar with hearing. The phrasing in his version sounds right to me, the way that the lyrics pour from him capture the emotion of the song better than the Eagles version, in my opinion anyway. Listen, see what you think:
http://www.rhapsody.com/player?type=track&id=tra.2713081&remote=false&page=&pageregion=&guid=&from=&__pcode=cmt
It's the vocals that often make the difference. 'Enter Sandman' may be Metallica's best known song but James Hetfield's vocal sounds like it's sung by a pre-teenager compared to the growl that Lemmy of Motorhead can apply to it. It's a creepier song in Lemmy's hands.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY8_RTe5Pz0
For that matter, Dicky from the Mighty Mighty Bosstones sounds growlier and creepy than Hetfield. How does a ska band sound more metal than a 'metal' band?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRBNuTNWHso
Covers. Man I love them. Sometimes.
01 November 2009
Crossed fingers
Well, it's a bit mangled but seems to be okay. It still drives normally and there were no puddles of fluid beneath the car this morning. It might be okay. Okay enough anyway.
31 October 2009
Blasted animal...
There's a stretch of Brookfield Road that's a bit dangerous. It's one lane each way, woods on either side so it's a bit cramped, and there's a steep hill involved. Despite it being dangerous, it's also a bit fun. My stomach drops out on it like it does when I ride a roller coaster. Going downhill is an exercise in careful driving and it's impossible to keep to the speed limit without tromping down on the brake.
Tonight I was on that stretch of road while heading for the Compound. I was gently braking as normal to keep the car under control. A car was heading uphill, causing our headlights to duel and cast glare all over. As our cars went to pass each other, a deer darted between our cars, crossing the road.
Is this what young deer do on Halloween? Sit in the bushes, smoke deer cigarettes, and wait for cars to cross on a nearby road so they can tell their buddies 'Watch this guys!' and run? I could believe it if true.
My light braking became more intense. With an oncoming car, I had nowhere to swerve to, only braking to save the day. I bumped the deer on it's back hip as I came to a halt. It scurried away. After a moment, I drove on.
It doesn't look too bad. The hood has a bit of a bump in it but, if that's the worst of it, I made out okay. There's also some deer hair stuck in my hood as well. Tomorrow I'll have another look at it in the daylight and see how it looks, as well to see if the car's leaking anything. Hoping for the best.
It's a good story, but not as fascinating as the one my buddy Kevin has told. Years ago while driving from Madison to Milwaukee, the car ahead of him on the freeway smacked into a deer. The legs of said deer detached themselves from the rest of the deer and flew back towards Kevin's car like hoof tipped missiles. He changed lanes to avoid them and punched it to get away.
Hopefully it wasn't late night trick or treaters dressed as a deer. If it was, it would serve them right.
Tonight I was on that stretch of road while heading for the Compound. I was gently braking as normal to keep the car under control. A car was heading uphill, causing our headlights to duel and cast glare all over. As our cars went to pass each other, a deer darted between our cars, crossing the road.
Is this what young deer do on Halloween? Sit in the bushes, smoke deer cigarettes, and wait for cars to cross on a nearby road so they can tell their buddies 'Watch this guys!' and run? I could believe it if true.
My light braking became more intense. With an oncoming car, I had nowhere to swerve to, only braking to save the day. I bumped the deer on it's back hip as I came to a halt. It scurried away. After a moment, I drove on.
It doesn't look too bad. The hood has a bit of a bump in it but, if that's the worst of it, I made out okay. There's also some deer hair stuck in my hood as well. Tomorrow I'll have another look at it in the daylight and see how it looks, as well to see if the car's leaking anything. Hoping for the best.
It's a good story, but not as fascinating as the one my buddy Kevin has told. Years ago while driving from Madison to Milwaukee, the car ahead of him on the freeway smacked into a deer. The legs of said deer detached themselves from the rest of the deer and flew back towards Kevin's car like hoof tipped missiles. He changed lanes to avoid them and punched it to get away.
Hopefully it wasn't late night trick or treaters dressed as a deer. If it was, it would serve them right.
30 October 2009
'And Another Thing...' Review
Stories get continued until they don't. It's like the joke they made on Simpsons ages ago: the show continues until it is no longer profitable. I'm paraphrasing the line to make it fit better, no need to correct my verbiage in the quote. It's funny because it's true. We get sequels to movies because someone somewhere believes that the already familiar characters will draw more people to the theatre than new characters in an interesting new environment. Maybe it'll be nostalgia that'll bring in the folks or wanting to see an old familiar character with new special effects. Maybe we'll just remake/restart a previously popular franchise and see if there's still some money left in it. It happens all the time.
For most of these stories, there's no one person to look to as creator. That happens more in music. Maybe your favorite band breaks up and you hope they'll reform some day and then one of the band dies and you know they could reform, but it won't be the same. For movies you don't often get a singular vision like that. Directors are important to the process but so are actors sometimes and sometimes producers and sometimes writers. Who is most responsible for a movie character you like? The casting director? The director? The writer? The actor? All of them? The lines can blur.
With a book, there tends to be a more singular vision. There's an editor that may well be a useful influence but a book is generally one person's view of a world, whether their own or not. It's much more difficult for someone to take over that singular view and replicate it as there own. If you add into that a particularly singular view of Life, the Universe, and Everything then it becomes an even dicier effort to take over that view.
Yet, someone somewhere said 'Let's try for another Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book even though Douglas Adams is dead'. Someone else decided there could be money in it and, hey look!, I've got this book sitting next to me now, all read and everything. Eoin Colfer, writer of the Artemis Fowl series that I am in no way familiar with apart from knowing it exists, had the task of continuing the adventures of Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Trillian, and Zaphod Beeblebrox. My original intent was to re-read the original five books in the trilogy before reading this one, to see how well the new book fits in. Instead the new book arrived and I plunged in immediately out of curiosity.
Is it funny? Yes, funny enough. It's full of wit, silliness, and oddly named characters who don't need to appear in the story itself, just as asides.
Does it... feel like a Hitchhiker's book? This is a trickier question to answer but I'm going to say No, it doesn't.
Under these circumstances 'No' is always the easier answer to give. 'No, of course not,' is an easy response to questions like 'Are Muppet productions post-Jim Henson like the ones with him around?' I still find joy in new Muppet productions and some are quite good. Many miss the combination of weirdness and character and emotion than the 'original' productions have, even if some of our reaction to them is knowing that the major component in their creation is missing and, therefore, they are different to what we saw before now. It doesn't necessarily mean that the characters are useless without the Jim Henson component; it just means that things will change and might be differently good.
That's part of why I'm saying this book isn't necessarily bad but I had a hard time agreeing that it was a good continuation of the series: I kept feeling the absence of Douglas Adams. Now, before you go 'So it's all in your head then, is it?' I'll respond with 'There's a reason, in the book, that I feel this way.'
Arthur Dent is missing for most of the book.
By 'missing' I don't mean 'lost as part of the story and the rest must find him' or 'isn't written properly so it's like he's not there' or anything like that. There are long sections of the book where Arthur doesn't appear at all. He's not important to the story. This is hard for me to take because, while I'll not argue much about the different versions of the story in different media, one thing is for certain: Arthur Dent is the main character. He's the character you play as in the text adventure for Zark's sake. Without Arthur anchoring the story, the book becomes a collection of silly named characters and odd asides, all entertaining, but missing the point. Who is the main character? Zaphod. It gives me the impression that Eoin said to himself 'I love these books but I can't write Arthur in too much and have it remain funny so I'll focus on this idiot character to keep things silly'.
I believe this was done with good intentions. It is a funny book. It is an entertaining book. It just didn't come together for me. My recommendation is to wait until you find it on sale for $5 somewhere and give it a try then. I paid more than that and I honestly don't think it was worth it. It's fun but it's not 'right'.
For most of these stories, there's no one person to look to as creator. That happens more in music. Maybe your favorite band breaks up and you hope they'll reform some day and then one of the band dies and you know they could reform, but it won't be the same. For movies you don't often get a singular vision like that. Directors are important to the process but so are actors sometimes and sometimes producers and sometimes writers. Who is most responsible for a movie character you like? The casting director? The director? The writer? The actor? All of them? The lines can blur.
With a book, there tends to be a more singular vision. There's an editor that may well be a useful influence but a book is generally one person's view of a world, whether their own or not. It's much more difficult for someone to take over that singular view and replicate it as there own. If you add into that a particularly singular view of Life, the Universe, and Everything then it becomes an even dicier effort to take over that view.
Yet, someone somewhere said 'Let's try for another Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book even though Douglas Adams is dead'. Someone else decided there could be money in it and, hey look!, I've got this book sitting next to me now, all read and everything. Eoin Colfer, writer of the Artemis Fowl series that I am in no way familiar with apart from knowing it exists, had the task of continuing the adventures of Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Trillian, and Zaphod Beeblebrox. My original intent was to re-read the original five books in the trilogy before reading this one, to see how well the new book fits in. Instead the new book arrived and I plunged in immediately out of curiosity.
Is it funny? Yes, funny enough. It's full of wit, silliness, and oddly named characters who don't need to appear in the story itself, just as asides.
Does it... feel like a Hitchhiker's book? This is a trickier question to answer but I'm going to say No, it doesn't.
Under these circumstances 'No' is always the easier answer to give. 'No, of course not,' is an easy response to questions like 'Are Muppet productions post-Jim Henson like the ones with him around?' I still find joy in new Muppet productions and some are quite good. Many miss the combination of weirdness and character and emotion than the 'original' productions have, even if some of our reaction to them is knowing that the major component in their creation is missing and, therefore, they are different to what we saw before now. It doesn't necessarily mean that the characters are useless without the Jim Henson component; it just means that things will change and might be differently good.
That's part of why I'm saying this book isn't necessarily bad but I had a hard time agreeing that it was a good continuation of the series: I kept feeling the absence of Douglas Adams. Now, before you go 'So it's all in your head then, is it?' I'll respond with 'There's a reason, in the book, that I feel this way.'
Arthur Dent is missing for most of the book.
By 'missing' I don't mean 'lost as part of the story and the rest must find him' or 'isn't written properly so it's like he's not there' or anything like that. There are long sections of the book where Arthur doesn't appear at all. He's not important to the story. This is hard for me to take because, while I'll not argue much about the different versions of the story in different media, one thing is for certain: Arthur Dent is the main character. He's the character you play as in the text adventure for Zark's sake. Without Arthur anchoring the story, the book becomes a collection of silly named characters and odd asides, all entertaining, but missing the point. Who is the main character? Zaphod. It gives me the impression that Eoin said to himself 'I love these books but I can't write Arthur in too much and have it remain funny so I'll focus on this idiot character to keep things silly'.
I believe this was done with good intentions. It is a funny book. It is an entertaining book. It just didn't come together for me. My recommendation is to wait until you find it on sale for $5 somewhere and give it a try then. I paid more than that and I honestly don't think it was worth it. It's fun but it's not 'right'.
29 October 2009
Rambling about the elderly, tires, and shoes
Yesterday I'm in Target wandering about in the electronics section. There's something about being out in the middle of the day and that something is elderly people. I have nothing against the elderly and am happy to see people of advancing age still be somewhat functional. I do ask that they try to stay out of my way when I'm in a hurry. Beyond that, we're cool.
One of the disadvantages of age is generally poor hearing. One of the advantages is not giving a care and, to be honest, that's the thing that makes me look forward to being old or hoping I make it that far anyway. This probably explains why they get in my way when I'm in a hurry. Hmm.
Anyway, there was this older couple wandering about the electronics section as well. They were irritating me and I made sure I wasn't in the same aisle as them. It's not that I didn't want to be helpful to them, it's just that I ascertained that they weren't going to ask me any questions; they were just going to be loudly ignorant. My friends that work at certain stores see it every year about this time: people in the store for the first time since the year before looking for something for little Johnny, have no clue what Johnny wants, and wander around the action figure aisles trying to figure out what a 'Spider-Man' is. These are clueless people and, unfortunately, most of them are not good-natured but ignorant, they're just ignorant and annoying. I'm not sure what the older couple I saw and heard yesterday was: ignorant or ignorant and annoying.
I know they were at least ignorant because I heard this statement: 'Blu-ray. Whatever that is.'
Now, do I expect the elderly to be up to date on home theatre standards? No, not at all. It did sound funny to hear. I wandered off quickly because I wasn't sure I could stand another gem like that.
I was in Target to kill time while my car was getting new tires at the nearby Fleet Farm. I think most drivers don't think much about their tires unless there's a problem. You just drive to where you're headed and back home. Now, I knew my tires were getting old so they were on my mind to some degree. My dad had a look at them the other day and said 'You know how I said you needed new tires last winter and you didn't get them? Yeah well, you need them now. Like, right now.'
Once you have new tires on your car, its like getting new shoes: you suddenly realize how bad the old ones were. I haven't traveled that far yet but the car seems to ride smoother, the handling is better, I'm hoping for better gas mileage, it just feels right. I am glad I took care of it despite it not being cheap to do.
It also made me aware that I need new shoes. New insoles anyway. Walking to and from Target made my feet hurt. Not good.
One of the disadvantages of age is generally poor hearing. One of the advantages is not giving a care and, to be honest, that's the thing that makes me look forward to being old or hoping I make it that far anyway. This probably explains why they get in my way when I'm in a hurry. Hmm.
Anyway, there was this older couple wandering about the electronics section as well. They were irritating me and I made sure I wasn't in the same aisle as them. It's not that I didn't want to be helpful to them, it's just that I ascertained that they weren't going to ask me any questions; they were just going to be loudly ignorant. My friends that work at certain stores see it every year about this time: people in the store for the first time since the year before looking for something for little Johnny, have no clue what Johnny wants, and wander around the action figure aisles trying to figure out what a 'Spider-Man' is. These are clueless people and, unfortunately, most of them are not good-natured but ignorant, they're just ignorant and annoying. I'm not sure what the older couple I saw and heard yesterday was: ignorant or ignorant and annoying.
I know they were at least ignorant because I heard this statement: 'Blu-ray. Whatever that is.'
Now, do I expect the elderly to be up to date on home theatre standards? No, not at all. It did sound funny to hear. I wandered off quickly because I wasn't sure I could stand another gem like that.
I was in Target to kill time while my car was getting new tires at the nearby Fleet Farm. I think most drivers don't think much about their tires unless there's a problem. You just drive to where you're headed and back home. Now, I knew my tires were getting old so they were on my mind to some degree. My dad had a look at them the other day and said 'You know how I said you needed new tires last winter and you didn't get them? Yeah well, you need them now. Like, right now.'
Once you have new tires on your car, its like getting new shoes: you suddenly realize how bad the old ones were. I haven't traveled that far yet but the car seems to ride smoother, the handling is better, I'm hoping for better gas mileage, it just feels right. I am glad I took care of it despite it not being cheap to do.
It also made me aware that I need new shoes. New insoles anyway. Walking to and from Target made my feet hurt. Not good.
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