Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Bye bye Y

Just finished reading the final Y the Last Man trade - what a cool series. Not my all-time fave ever, but a good, solid read. Plenty of twists and turns - especially in this final collection. Only probs with this series were that it was a bit too violent in places - and some of the issues - where they did different kinds of things - were a bit of a waste of time.
I must say though - I absolutely adored Pia Guerra's artwork. Just really clean and simple - probably no life-drawing involved - just really effortless and beautiful.
(Speaking of effortless and beautiful art - this just came into my head - I do wish Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez would give up on love and rockets and come up with a new mega-series!!! Does anyone still care about L+R? I mean, I'll prob get the new annual L+R, but it'd be nice to see something new.)

My strange brain

I have come to terms with the fact that my brain works in a very strange way. I think I'm fairly intelligent, but I think I lack a lot of logical thinking and even common sense. The common sense bit comes in where I had jobs in fast food restaurants as a teenager - and I simply couldn't cope! My brain couldn't deal with it and I would fuck up the easist of instructions lol!
As for logic, well at school, I was better at the arts than sciences - I honestly couldn't cope with Physics and all that. I remember revising my arse off for a Biology exam and just totally fucking it up. Even questions like 'name parts A-E of this worm diagram' - and I would just name parts A and E! See how it still haunts me to this day?!
I refuse to go to pub quizzes because my brain just panics - and even though I'll come up with the right answer in my head instinctively, I'll then think about it more and put the wrong answer forward.
The reason this came to mind today was I was listening to the Chris Moyles radio show this morning and one of the questions was 'what is the perfect score in ten pin bowling'. My answer was 12... In fact, it's 300 or something - see where I went wrong? The thing is, 'Comedy Dave' got the same answer as me and the Moyles team ripped the piss out of him, saying why would you get 12 in a 'ten' pin game, and all that. So ah well, at least me and Comedy Dave are just as dumb as each other!

Monday, June 23, 2008

Wanted - a review

I was lucky enough to get to see a preview screening of Wanted tonight, so felt the urge to write a quick review. Don't worry, no spoilers...
But first:
A review of the guy's head in front of me:
It was all going so well - clear view of the screen, and then a Jared Padalecki lookalike with a huge greasy giant mushroom of a haircut decided to sit in front of me, right in the middle of the screen. So not the best view, I could just about see either side of the screen, but ah well, I didn't pay anything...
So the film...
Well first up, obviously it's very different to the comic book, and I think they made the right move by turning them from superheroes to super-assassins. But going in having watched the super-slick, super cool trailer, I felt a bit let down because a lot of it looked so drab, and there was waaaay too much of Wesley being trained up (I think that bit took up about 2 pages in the comic). And considering it was directed by the guy who did the eye-popping Day/Nightwatch, it could have been a lot more eye-popping, although there are some eye-popping scenes towards the end.
I think one of the problems is that James McAvoy needed to look a bit more like the character in the comic - in his big leather outfit - but he just seemed to be wearing a woolly cardigan for most of the film. Also, the comic Wesley seemed to be based on Eminem - you wonder how different the film might have been with him in it.
So yeah, basically - it wasn't a bad movie - but it could have been a lot better...

Rose??

As most people who've read this blog know, I don't like the new Dr Who. From the moment Micky got his hands stuck on that plastic bin in the first Ecclestone episode - it just seemed like they may as well just move it to CBBC. I used to love Who when I was growing up - but this ain't it! I miss the cliffhangers, I miss the half-hour six-part stories, I miss being terrified (and the Daleks have been so over-used now that they ain't scary). For a show that inspired so many sci-fi shows, it's now just very derivative of everything else. Mind you, I don't really like UK dramas anyway - esp sci-fi - UK creators just can't take it seriously. The acting is appalling and - in Who's instance - the incidental music is overwhelming and horrible - if they can't take it seriously, why should we?
And yet people still watch it with rose-coloured spectacles. It's as if they've been brain-washed by the Ood or something. Whenever we discuss the crapness of an episode in the office, the Who fanatics will hear none of it! It's as if they even make excuses for it!
But of course, I still dip in and out of it, hoping it'll get better. But David Tennant still gurns and over-acts to within an inch of his life...
But the main reason for this rant... Is no-one at all perturbed by Billie Piper's acting in the latest episode (Turn Left? What happened? What was up with the mouth? The Whovians won't even admit there was a problem! ("Oh I didn't notice because I watched it on i-player".) Am I the only one? Is this some sort of conspiracy to drive me mad??? But honestly, Rose is great (I did like Martha too, but then she decided to prove she can't act when she came back this year), but that just wasn't Rose... If I was a fan, I'd have been very disappointed.

TV

I'm loving my BT Vision. I'm probably being ripped off, and it's prob not that much different to Freeview, but like Sky Plus, you can just select a series and it can record it for you onto the box itself. I do have a DVD recorder but it does beat having to log in all the times and stuff.
Whether it's worth it, I dunno. I really wanted to go for Freeview but got talked into BT Vision lol. I basically pay a fiver a month for the 'TV Pack', which has lots of series stored on it - including Lost, which I had planned to buy, but can now watch from the start.
One thing that is a bit annoying - the 'TV Replay' service isn't free! This is a bit daft really because it's only the same as 4OD and the i-player, so why you should pay a quid to watch an ep of Deal or No deal you missed is beyond me.
Mind you, the whole i-player thing baffles me anyway. It's a great service, but doesn't it mean that some scoundrels who don't pay their license get to watch stuff for free? Can't they have a log-in feature where you type in your license number?
They should scrap the stupid TV license anyway.

Gosh Comics

Dropped some O Men 2.6s into Gosh Comics yesterday. Gosh is the only shop I give O Men to - mainly because I am too lazy to go round all the shops (which is prob stupid, as Orbital give you all your earnings, instead of taking a percentage).
They've changed their system though - before it was 'sale or return' and they'd take 30% off the cover price (sale or return is quite brutal - you'd go into Gosh and get all excited because you think your comic is sold out, but in reality they've just taken it off the shelf).
Now they pay up-front - which is nice - it's called 'firm sale' - but they now take 50%. Ah well, I still price my O Men quite high up for the shops (it's cheaper from my website). Got a nice fiver out of it!

Secret Invasion


I still can't quite figure out the logic behind Secret Invasion 1's blank variant cover. Any ideas??

Friday, June 20, 2008

Good book


Just a quickie - don't worry, I won't swear - to recommend a really good book - Super Powers by David J. Schwartz. It's a story about five young adults who get super powers and it's all about what they do with them and how it changes them (often for the worse) and how it helps them deal with real life threats.
I was really surprised by this book because i was just expecting some rubbish Teen Titans rip-off, but it's actually really good and quite shocking - and there's a bit towards the end that really made me go 'now that is really clever'.
Shame the packaging undersells it a bit - but it's highly recommended from moi - check it out!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Pardon my French

I'm really really sorry.
But this is going to make me feel better...
I like Big Brother - although it has got a bit tired over the past few years, and they really need to realise that the more they mess with the format, the more they ruin the show.
But anyway, this year it's been quite entertaining, and quite shocking, as there's been a contestant called Alex who is quite simply unbelievably nasty - utter, utter scum. She moans all the time, she picks fights with every single person, she's a hypocrite, she hates a guy in there purely - from what i can see - because he's white, she dislikes a Muslim guy cross-dressing because it's 'disgusting' and is a bad example (even though, as an apparent Muslim herself, she swears, drinks, wears revealing clothes and, as you'll see, makes death threats), she's utterly transparent, and...thank god, today, she was evicted from the house for threatening behaviour (threatening the other housemates' families for nominating her). She almost makes me forget my dislike of Zooey Deschanel for a short time. During a couple of her arguments she's actually made me want to climb inside the TV and give her a good punch in the face.
So here is where the french comes in...
Alex - you're a horrible, nasty, two-faced, pathetic, racist, homophobic cunt, and good riddance to extremely bad rubbish.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

The Crappening

Sometimes a movie comes along that actually makes me angry and flee the cinema - and after months of anticipation, sadly, The Happening is the latest one...
It could actually have been quite good, but I don't know what M Night Shthingy was thinking...
The biggest offender in my book is Zooey Deschanel. What was she doing in this film? Was she going for kooky or did she just have too many Sherbert Dips before filming and was on a strangely insane sugar rush. Honestly, she was bad, bad, bad... I just wanted her character to die. Every scene she was in was just a car crash. She seems to me more like a comedy actor, but to be honest, I hope I never see another film of hers as long as i live.
A lot of people are blaming Mark Wahlberg - I thought he was okay. His voice was quite high-pitched throughout, as if he'd just been castrated. And then there was the classic 'oh no' moment (you'll know what i mean), but i've seen worse acting (see Zooey Deschanel).
What was that old woman at the end all about? What school of acting did she go to? She obviously didn't show up for most of the classes.
What happened to John Leguziamo? He's normally good. Why did he put on a comedy afro and comedy glasses and yellowing teeth - was he trying to build character? He shouldn't have bothered.
Maybe the film could have worked with a different cast and less attempts to make trees and grass scary. Or perhaps with a different script...
Honestly, I'm at a loss...
There were some good moments - some of the suicide stuff - but there were too many bad moments that brought the whole thing crashing down (everyone laughed at the man versus lions bit). What a horrendous film, a huge disappointment - M Night, hang your head in shame...

Monday, June 9, 2008

Fun and Games (not)

It's the anniversary of my Virgin Media debacle (when they tried to take me to court for leaving them) and there is more trouble in paradise. After a year of having Sky, I've decided to leave them mainly because my tree gets in the way of the dish so I can't get a signal and also I only ever watch Lost (which I now watch online) and Next Top Model (which I'm bored with). So I've hooked up with BT - I was going to get Freeview but BT talked me into getting their BT Vision thing lol - well it's only a fiver a month...
So my BT Broadband was supposed to be activated on Thursday and I got the 'broadband hub' on Friday - and tried to set it up on Saturday. After a few hours and various phone calls to polite Indian people, I found out that my order hadn't gone through, so I had to start again... So I have to wait a week or so... Never easy, is it lol...
In the meantime, I'm still getting Sky broadband, but after dismantling it all, I can't remember how to get it all working again lol...
Oh well...
Actually, it's quite liberating not having the interweb at home. I feel 'free'.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Things That Get My Goat #4

People who shout out "Listen up, people" or just say "people" in general a lot.

Things That Get My Goat #3

Kiera Knightley.

Things That Get My Goat #2

The fact that there's always a queue at cash machines.

Things That Get My Goat #1

Comic writers that forget that the Black Widow is Russian. She doesn't speak in an American way!

Underwhelming

How underwhelming are the latest Marvel/DC crossovers?
Final Crisis - it just had no 'oomph'. I had no idea what was going on. It felt like a conversation I hadn't been invited to. And where did Martian Manhunter pop up from. I've read it 4 times and I sill don't understand what's going on. Still, is it better to be underwhelmed or overwhelmed - as was the case with Infinite Crisis...
Secret Invasion - well it's promising, but issues 2 and 3 just haven't contained any 'wow' moments or big shockers. I think someone dies in issue 3 (a minor character of course) but I'm not sure... It also needs more 'oomph'. Come on, Bendis - 4 issues left, and you really need to shock us. And one of teh Avengers titles is good - the Maleev one - but the other one, with Skrull tie-ins involving the Sentry and Shanna/Kazar (who strangely speak like every other American Bendis character, despite living in the jungle) are such a waste of time...

Thursday, June 5, 2008

2.7 cover






Just thought I'd show you some stuff I'm working on for Issue 2.7's cover...
It's a bit of a Kelly issue - based on a classic Daredevil issue - I'll use a homage of the DD cover inside the issue. For this cover, I wanted a strong Kelly image, and I just so happened to get inspired by an album cover - Brandi Carlisle - I'm not sure if you can see it, but it has lots of little dots on it - little 'o's so that gave me the idea.
So then I knocked up a Kelly pic and coloured it... (the original version was much more head and shoulders, but i knew it would just be close-up, so I just used this version)
And then I got my talented designer friend to do some dotty/pixellating effects on it...
First version wasn't quite dotty enough, the second version was much better - altho I toned down some of the shading... (not sure why it's come up blue here!)
And then I tidied it up myself, narrowed the face a bit cos i thought she looked too wide, and closed in on it...
So the one with the logo might be close to teh final version - I still need to play around with it...
Was a bit concerned it looks a bit like issue 2.2's cover (Molly) but i think it'll be okay...
But all in all, teh issue seems to be coming along quite well (altho I'm not going to promise an on-sale date lol)

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Skrull covers

I'm all for the Marvel zombie covers - but these Skrull covers are a bit ridiculous. It's just a lazy idea, and not as fun as Marvel thinks it is. Yeah, first impression is 'ho ho cool' but after that initial thought, it gets tired very quickly. And then you have the fact taht the covers don't really tie in with the issues (esp teh Avengers ones) and the fact that they are pretty ugly (murky) too...
Thumbs down!

Monday, June 2, 2008

Lost S4 finale

Don't read this until you've seen the Lost S4 finale - otherwise you'll hate me...
Seen it? Good...
I was a bit disappointed! I mean, we know certain people escape, and they did, we've kind of seen the island do that thing before (the white light), we kind of knew Jin was gonna die (or is he really dead...), but okay, maybe not Michael too... I just keep getting flashes of Ben turning the wheel and thinking how stupid it looked...
Fave bit was the reappearance of Claire - she is so cool! God only knows what's going on.
And as for the final reveal - well, come on, when we first saw that coffin, who didn't have the name 'Locke' flash through their mind? Check out the alternative endings on Youtube, where they filmed Sawyer and Desmond in the coffin. Now I honestly think they should have gone with Desmond. All along I was watching his happy reunion with Penny and thinking 'okay, where's the sting in the tail here?' The Penny/Des story is still of interest because we know Charles/Ben are screwing around with them, so it could have been relevant.
Oh and bullshit, Jack! The island surely has plenty of fuel they could have used for the chopper! Think of all those stations.
So all in all, a good finale (I'm just being critical lol) but it didn't reach the heights of last season's unbelievable ending.

Indy!

Let me weigh in on the whole Indiana Jones debate - an argument that seems to have split the nation.
First up, let me just say, I didn't realise Indiana was such a legend! I mean, i watched Temple of Doom about 5 times in the cinema when I was a nipper, but the level of anticipation for the new movie has really surprised me.
So then the new movie - I really liked it! It's cheesy, it's silly, there isn't much element of danger - but you just have to go with it, and it's a lot of fun. People are crying out about it as if Lucas and Spielberg have mugged their mom, but I just loved the old-fashioned nature of the film - the look was so classy.
I didn't even mind it when Shia started swinging through the trees!
The unexpected revelations at the end were maybe a bit too far-fetched though...
It's just a bunch of fun. Kinda annoying when things like the disappearing staircase get resolved so easily - 'ooh let's just jump down' - er, well no, you should really fall on a spike...
But it was a cool cinema experience - which started off with a bunch of really exciting-looking trailers - Wanted, eagle Eyes...

The joys of downloading...

I've never been a huge downloader - mainly because I don't know which sites to go on...
I remember smugly watching my workmates as they were called into my boss' office to be hauled over the coals for downloading stuff at work - only to then be called in myself and bollocked - my chum had given me the new Madonna album but I didn't realise it was one of those torrent thingys. I just said "honestly boss, i'm too stupid to know how to do that..."
i must say, i generally don't download stuff these days - but I've started to dabble. The odd album has crossed my computer path - and you know what...surely this is the way to go. I mean, you get the pretty picture for your ipod, that you don't get with the CD... You get it miles earlier than when it hits the shops... You even get extra tracks - in the case of the new Martha Wainwright and Alanis albums I've been 'lent'.
I've now taken to watching Lost online because let's face it, you need to watch it before someone spoils it for you. And in the process I discovered a lovely little site called www.surfthechannel.com - very good, check it out ;-)