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There’s no comment needed really. The awesomeness speaks for itself.
Except, of course, one cannot go without calling special attention to the leather Cthulhu mask.
Junkpile is a semi-regular feature wherein I dump all the random crap that isn’t fit for its own post.
39 and the Fear is real
Today is the beginning of the end of my 30’s. First of my friends to reach this dubious hallmark. On the plus side, I share this birthday with Rob Zombie. On the downside, I also share it with Rush Limbaugh. I wish I could say it was a wash, but for all his horrorshow cool, Zombie’s existence cannot make-up for all the ill Limbaugh has done. But then again, I see Howard Stern was born today as well – maybe he and Limbaugh cancel each other out and it’s Zombie and I for the win!
Bill Willingham
Note to Bill Willingham: even if Allie was being less than honest when he told everyone there was some coordination between your series and the Buffy book, your response was, at best, unprofessional. I personally think it’s more douchey than anything else. If you have a disagreement with Joss Whedon or Scott Allie, take it behind closed doors. In my opinion, and many others’ I’m sure, you’re just biting the hand that feeds; Joss Whedon’s work is the bedrock upon which your paycheck for Angel is built. The sandbox you’re getting payed to play in is a sandbox he built, and while you may feel you have a moral obligation to keep readers from spending money on your comic under the false pretense that it will tie-in to Joss’s Buffy work, the shitty tone of your letter pretty much guarantees that this guy here won’t be picking up Angel or any other book with your name on it.
But seeing as how I’m a liberal weenie, I’m sure that’s OK with you.
Good-bye, GaragePunk.Com
Sad news – GaragePunk.com, a place I’ve come to really love over the past year or two, closed it’s doors on January 1st (site organizer and host Jeffery Kopp and his wife are dealing with a tremendously stressful and heartbreaking family development).
The good news is many of the podcasters, if not all of them, will continue to throw up their shows at the GaragePunk Hideout. I have my favorites, of course – Way Past Cool, The Nasty Grind Show, Mystery Action, Haunted Shack Theater, Mushi Mushi, Flying Saucer Rock’n'roll, Sonic Nightmares – but they’re all top notch.
Time to smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.
Man, have I been remiss in posting or what? I blame Sony. The family scored a PS3 over Christmas, so I’ve been indulging my nerdliness. Killzone 2, InFamous, Uncharted, Batman Lego…and the Blu-Rays…oh, the precious Blu-Rays…
Reason No. 1,235 I Haven't Posted: Shooting Helghast, Repeatedly
I had last week off, and this week I’ve been catching up at work. So, I do have excuses, as lame as they may be.
Oh, and I saw Avatar. Which was about what I expected, but sadly little more. There were some interesting things about the experience, however. With the announcement this week of Sony entering the 3D television arena next Spring, and the plethora of other 3D technology news (one digital broadcast service intends to deliver three entire channels next year devoted to 3D), I can’t help but feel that Avatar represents a watershed moment when audiences not only accept 3D as a viable experience, but see some value in it as a preferred way to experience certain stories. I myself had a damn hard time getting past the Moving Viewmaster effect in Avatar for the first thirty mintues or so, and actually found myself wishing I had just seen it in 2D instead; there were some details I felt I was missing, particularly once things on Pandora started popping. But once I realized that nothing really terribly interesting was going on in the background (and often in the foreground), I began to settle in and let the lightshow do its work. It’s been said by a lot of folks that the only way to see Avatar is in 3D, and they’re right. It’s a great commercial for what 3D can do (heck, I was even impressed by the 3D trailer for Alice in Wonderland – but man does Piranha 3D look awful!).
A couple of days ago, George Lucas was on NPR touting 3D tech, telling the now legendary story of how he, Cameron, and Zemeckis showed a congealed group of theater owners a 3D sizzle real of the original Star Wars in the hopes of convincing them to upgrade their chains to digital projectors. I was skeptical about the push for 3D then, but after having seen Avatar, I think I may have turned a corner. I think 3D is an interesting way to experience a movie, and some films, like Lord of the Rings or even older classics like The Wizard of Oz might be fun to see in 3D. More than anything, Avatar sells the technology as more than a gimmick. It sells it as a new way to experience film.
Having said that, I don’t think I’m ready for a 3D future. It’s coming, there’s no doubt. I think the box office take for Avatar shows that people are warming to it. Even Roger Ebert, who usually hates 3D, loved it’s application in Cameron’s film. Still, if we’re all moving to 3D in ten years (and some estimates put it even earlier), I think I’m going to be a last-minute adherent. As much as I dug the effect, and the sensation, of sitting in a theater with a group of people experiencing a film of this sort, I don’t relish the idea of having to sit on my couch with my wife and put on our glasses to watch The Office. It somehow feels like it would further complicate a process that is, at heart, elegant and simple: sit on your ass and get told a story. I don’t think I want to share an office with Dwight Schrute or feel the flames of Hell’s Kitchen. I sure as hell don’t Think I Can Dance.
- My name is Charles Xavier. I am a mutant. And once upon a time I had a dream…of a world where all Earth’s children, both mutant and baseline human, might live together in peace.
- Merry X-Mas, my brothers. Remember – while some of us may indeed by homo superior, we are all gifted, each and every one of us!
Brilliant colors and captivating design are signatures of Will Murai’s work. I love the drama in that Tetsuo piece above. From his website:
Willian Hideki Murai, brazilian, born in Mogi das Cruzes-SP, raised in Arujá, illustrator, comic book colorist, skateboarder for fun, geek by nature and a nice guy.
One more terrible death to cap off the year. Dang.
My favorite films of the past ten years. This isn’t meant to be a BEST OF in any objective sense; I haven’t seen nearly enough films to even come close to making a call like that, nor do I possess the critical facilities to do so. So, in order of my preference:
Top 25
1-3. The Lord of the Rings
4. The Royal Tenenbaums
5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
6. Battle Royale
5. Ratatouille
6. There Will be Blood
7. Let The Right One In
8. Anchorman
9. Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
10. The Incredibles
11. Wonder Boys
12. Ghost World
13. High Fidelity
14. WALL-E
15. The Dark Knight
16. Lost in Translation
17. City of God
18. Requiem for a Dream
19. King Kong
20. No Country for Old Men
21. OldBoy
22. Children of Men
23. The Fountain
24. Hedwig and the Angry Inch
25. Kill Bill Vol 1
The remaining 75, in alphabetical order:
24 Hour Party People
28 Days Later
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
About a Boy
Adaptation
Adventureland
Almost Famous
Amélie
BAADASSSSS!
Bubba Ho-tep
Casino Royale
Catch Me If You Can
Cloverfield
Collateral
Crank
Death Proof
Donnie Darko
Drag Me to Hell
Election (japanese)
Elf
Gangs of New York
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Hot Fuzz
Howl’s Moving Castle
Infernal Affairs
Iron-Man
Juno
Kill Bill: Volume 2
Kiss Kiss (Bang Bang)
Lilo & Stitch
Mean Girls
Memento
Minority Report
Monster’s, Inc
Mulholland Dr.
Narc
Once
Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior
Panic Room
Pineapple Express
Pitch Black
Rambo
Shaolin Soccer
Shaun of the Dead
Sin City
Spiderman II
Spirited Away
Star Trek
Superbad
Sympathy for Mr. Vengence
Syriana
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
The Bourne Identity
The Descent
The Devil’s Backbone
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
The Machinist
The Matrix Reloaded
The Prestige
The Proposition
The Ring
The Rules of Attraction
The Squid and the Whale
The Wrestler
Thirteen
Tokyo Gore Police
Training Day
Unbreakable
V for Vendetta
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
War of the Worlds
Watchmen
Zodiac
Sean T Collins linked to Rob Humanick’s rather ballsy list of his top (favorite) 100 movies of the decade. There are a lot of flicks on the list I simply didn’t care for, but for the record I’d also rank these in my Top 100 of the decade as well:
A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
MULHOLLAND DR.
THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU
LOST IN TRANSLATION
There Will Be Blood
Zodiac
Gangs of New York
Donnie Darko
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
No Country for Old Men
Kill Bill: Volume 2
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Ghost World
WALL-E
The Fountain
War of the Worlds
The Proposition
Catch Me If You Can
Casino Royale
Adaptation
Lilo & Stitch
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Ratatouille
The Squid and the Whale
Narc
Of course, now I want to add titles like “City of God,” “The Prestige,” “Let the Right One In,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “Battle Royale,” “The Dark Knight,” “Spider-man II,” “Traffic,” “Oldboy,” “Rules of Attraction,” “The Ring,” “Ocean’s 11,” “King Kong,” and “Star Trek.” And those are just off the top of my head.
I think I’ll mull this over a bit and throw my hat in the ring by the New Year. Because lists making is fun. Hell, I might even try and rank ‘em!
