- Short but illuminating interview with Terry Gilliam over at Bleeding Cool. If he ever can manage to get his version of “Don Quixote” off the ground and completed it’ll rival Brazil as his masterpiece most likely. I love that man.
- New Game Of Thrones teaser. What a beautifully shot show:
“Noah was the first person to plant vineyards and drink wine and get drunk. It’s there in the Bible – it was one of the first things he did when he reached land. There was some real survivor’s guilt going on there. He’s a dark, complicated character.“
- Hey, listen to this WFMU mix by the wonderful Liz Berg! I’m on it, but that’s not the reason why you should listen to it. In fact, I’m probably the worst thing on the mix! Haha… I really should fire myself as head of marketing. No but for real there’s some amazing, very dark Electro stuff on this playlist and all of it comes from Free Music Archive (which, hint-hint, means it is free). And we all like free, high-quality music right?
- Eh what the hell, everyone else is posting it so I might as well:
Thoughts? I dunno… it’ll be a really cool action movie? From a comics reader perspective it’s nice to see that they’re playing with the “we’re not a team, we’re a time-bomb” themes that were developed so well in The Ultimates. Nick Fury, for those who don’t know, is modeled after the “Ultimate universe” Fury for this movie; as are a slew of the suits and whatnot. It would have been cool to see an almost direct adaptation of the first volume: where Banner tests super-soldier serum on himself and rampages through NYC killing hundreds as The Hulk, then SHIELD covers up the fact that their head-scientist IS The Hulk, Hank abuses Janet (whom he’s in a relationship with), and then the whole alien invasion thing happens. But this looks good. I have faith in Joss Whedon. Especially when it comes to handling ensemble casts.
- Test game-play of an abandoned Gotham By Gaslight video game (looks excellent):
I’m a huge fan of the Brubaker/Sean Phillips combination. Of course, as many are. They’ve had a wonderful history together, growing into one of the better writer/artist teams in the industry. When I heard they were taking a stab at a Lovecraftian horror/Noir book I thought it a little insane, but I dug the fact that they were willing to step out of their pre-established Criminal/Incognito boundaries to try something new and exciting. Then I read the first issue of Fatale and thought, “well, this is eerily similar to something these two have done before…” It’s no slight on them as artists, as creators. When one has such a singular voice — even as a team, or especially as a team — that voice probably transcends almost all things like genre, setting, characters and the rest. But it’s hard to read Fatale and not feel like I’m reading a Criminal arc with Chutulu worshipers embedded into it. Again, damn fine comics… but more of a change of pace from these two could only help their cause. They’ve already made gold, let’s see what they can do with coal. Because there’s that small chance it may turn to diamond.
(Jess Nevins, who writes post-script articles after Phillips/Brubaker’s comics, writes an interesting blog.)
- I just had a lovely internet conversation with a guy named Patrick. I had met him once before, actually twice before. And via the magic of social networking (and the power of good music) we stumbled upon each other. Patrick is from my neck of the woods and he’s always at local shows with a camera and a smile on his face. What he does with his time is pretty awesome: he produces, curates, and hosts his own local music showcase/blog. The official synopsis reads as:
“unique techniques is a podcast / single camera video blog focused on the artistic endeavors of modern day mozarts across the globe, and the talented individuals who live gig to gig in search of the meaning of life.”
Yep, the site is called Unique Techniques. Basically he has artists come in — typically it’s a rapper, but not always — and he does a very long and always interesting interview with them that he podcasts, along with a beautiful (HD, it seems?) performance video of the artist as a sort of companion piece. They’re all local artists, as far as I can tell, so anyone with an outsiders perspective would get a good glance at some of the music we have here in the Twin Cities. Go and visit him, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
This is the latest performance video, Joe Horton of No Bird Sing improv’ing some piano:
- AllMusic has released their favorite records of 2011 by genre. The site is one hell of an encyclopedia, and I’ve used it on many occasions to cite samples in my own stuff, find new artists I’d enjoy (their “similar artists” tab is a Godsend for anyone with an open mind), or look up information. On top of that, their editors have pretty excellent taste and don’t discriminate and they aren’t snobs and they just seem to genuinely love all kinds of music.
This is how eclectic they are. They’ve got lists up right now (in no particular order, and I love that they call it their “favorites” rather than the “best”): Metal, Electronic, Soundtracks, Rock, Jazz, Indie Rock and Pop, Pop, Country, Latin & World, Rap/Hip-Hop, Reggae, Folk, and Blues. And I don’t even know if they’re done yet. Heh. Checking out any one of these lists will expose you to new music (most likely).
- There’s a new trailer for the Hobbit, and it looks pretty cool. Although I still wish Del Toro was directing over Peter Jackson, but oh well.
“The decline of violence may be the most significant and least appreciated development in the history of our species.“
The PhysOrg article mentions several statistics, I’d assume from the book, to support the hypothesis. It mentions “genocide deaths” (which was 14,000 times higher in 1942 than it was in 2008), “battle deaths” (which has dropped 1000X “over the centuries”), and even the number of democracies (from 20 in 1946 to 100-ish now). But these statistics don’t come without some obvious rebuttals.
First off, if we’re going to have a benchmark year for “genocidal deaths” I would think anytime between 1936 and 1942 would be a skewed benchmark due to what was happening in the world at the time. No? And I would wager that the “technological advancement” argument has or will be applied to Pinkman’s “battle death” statistics. With wealthier military forces opting for Drone strikes, precision bombing (“precision”…), etc. And then there’s more advanced techniques for insurgents also. I think it’s fairly easy and cheap now to create a high-powered IED or bomb than it used to be (not sure?). So my point is that war is less and less a face to face endeavor, the further our technology pushes. Sure, the side getting bombed isn’t dropping in number of casualties, but surely the ones on the offensive are putting less and less lives at risk.
Not that I’m trying to totally refute the books claims. Nor would I like to. I’d like to believe we’re becoming a more peaceful people. Maybe we are. But that might have more to do with circumstance than people themselves. Still though, it’s nice to see a little hope.
- Onto the geeky side of things. After years of poorly recieved and performing Punisher motion pictures, Marvel has opted for the television route with the character. Recently they announced that Fox will be producing a TV adaptation in which Frank Castle will be a young NYPD detective who, during his off-duty hours, moonlights as the justice seeking “Punisher”. This is all, all wrong. I’m all for revamping characters, I think a ton of them could use it, but this isn’t right.
I’m not sure why NO ONE has thought that updating the character for modern times wouldn’t work. What I mean is turning Frank back into his twenties, and having him return from multiple tours in Afghanistan and Iraq (originally it was the Vietnam War) to a family that no longer recognizes him, a job he no longer has, and a city full of desperate people in desperate times. In Jason Aaron’s PunisherMAX series, he recently had Castle imprisoned for killing a cop. In his world, the NYPD only barely tolerated Castle’s brutal antics, and once he crossed the line by killing a cop (albiet a corrupt one) that tolerability ceased. It’s been one of the more interesting twists to the the run. I suppose one could write in a similar theme to this show; with certain cops knowing about Castle’s vigilantism and turning a blind eye to it. But there’s an uneasiness between the NYPD and the Punisher in the book that is as key as his war against crime.
The Comic Book Resources blog called “Robot 6″ posted a large, and rather venomous, excerpt from Grant Morrison’s new book Supergods. In it he ties the glorification of nerd-culture — what once were the supposed “outcasts” of modern society — to the Mark Millar graphic novel Wanted. Don’t think for a second it’s the same as the movie version starring James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie, which I’d wager is most people’s only exposure to Wanted. The original graphic novel starts the same: a frustrated and disgruntled cube-monkey realizes he is part of a secret assassins league of super-villains who control the world after his girlfriend dumps him for his friend and life at the office couldn’t get any worse. The novel form then takes a shocking (and not in a good way) turn to a disgusting rampage of rape and murder by the main character who finally embraces the fact that he’s the greatest killer that ever lived. People who either aren’t smart, have bad taste, or both, will desperately attempt to justify the book’s childish, sadistic, and frankly… boring story and tone with some philosophical claptrap about life without rules and the systems of societies and blah blah blah. It’s refreshing to read Morrison’s thoughts on it, and I’m also very happy that he hates the idea of the fanboy. Once upon a time, not long ago, “comic book guy” from The Simpsons was actually despised, not celebrated, for his embittered and pathetic naysaying of anything and anyone who did anything creative.
CBR also is showing a trailer (Seriously? There’s fucking trailers for comics now??) for the next Frank Miller debacle entitled Holy Terror. This was, if you don’t know, originally called “Holy Terror, Batman!” and was going to chronicle Batman defending Gotham City against an Al-Qaeda terrorist plot. Yeah, tell me about it. For whatever reason, probably because Frank Miller isn’t nearly as ballsy as he thinks he is, the Batman side of things was abandoned and now the book will feature a superhero called “The Fixer”.
(I’m biased here. Mark Millar and Frank Miller are two of my most despised comic book writers by far. Their work is immature, unnatural and forced, and ham-handed. It is mature only in a sense of violence and nudity but never in a sense of theme or content. This is why their stuffs seems sooooooo good when you’re teenager then falls apart quickly thereafter.)
In a recent interview with something called STV comic book writer Mark Millar discusses the down-slope of the superhero blockbuster movie trend. For those of you who don’t know, Millar is a Scottish comics writer known for both independent and creator owned work, and also big-time blockbuster style super-hero work. He’s written X-Men, Superman, even an updated version of The Avengers called The Ultimates. He’s the creator of supremely successful film adapted comics like Kick-Ass and Wanted. Personally, I’m not a fan of the guy’s writing. While entertaining at times, it’s over-the-top immaturity is the kind of thing you think is the epitome of story telling when you’re 15 years old because the characters use words like “fuck” and there’s lots of blood and violence. At times it’s beyond awful.
That being said, I do somewhat agree with what Millar was trying to say in this interview:
“Where I think it’s going to be difficult is once you’ve done that thing of putting all those characters in one film…you know, it’s like having Harry Potter, James Bond and Spider-Man all in one movie. I think what’ll be difficult then is to try and top that because people want to see it get bigger.”
If the Avengers is the apex of the money-making/popularity arc of mainstream superhero blockbusters, then surely Marvel is making massively grave business decisions. DC seems to be taking the passive route with their slate of movies, but Marvel has done nothing but go balls to the wall: signing actors on for 7, 8, 9 films in a single contract, setting up individual franchises for long, multiple movie runs, creating the first web of movies connected together through rigid inter-film continuity.
Can you imagine the money that would be thrown away if Millar is right? If The Avengers starts the downswing? Not only is Marvel planning movies after the big fish, all I’m assuming will play off of the concepts and threads introduced in the big fish, but they’re intent on making multiple big fishes and I’d assume expecting to make Dark Knight type numbers/money with each and every one.
If this is true, something very interesting (and, in a lot of ways, fitting) could happen in the summer of 2012: The Dark Knight Rises provides a literal death of the big superhero movie. Meaning… it is very possible based on what we’ve heard Nolan say and what characters are slated to appear in the film that Bruce Wayne/Batman could die in the final act. It is very possible. Nothing would be more fitting.
Each of the previous films have represented a wider trend, and not only a trend but a peak or epitome of that trend, in comic book movies. Batman Begins invented the “reboot” craze which has led to countless fresh starts of long thought dead franchises (and it still stands as the best “reboot” of all of them). The Dark Knight, no matter how you feel about it (I’m looking at you Dark Knight Sucks) took the comic book movie to new heights, at the very least in terms of ticket sales and money. Could The Dark Knight Rises represent a death of the comic book movie via its main character, the face of successful superhero movies, dying in its final act? Stranger things have happened.
It’s bloody and rainy here. I know most people think the rain is depressing — and it’s fact that sunlight makes people happy (Vitamin [something]) — but I like to think it brings out the truth in people. Somehow. Or maybe I’ve just watched one too many dark, rainy Noir films in my day. New mixtape here from BMBX.org(BoomBox). A good rainy day mixtape, in fact. Not like “it’s raining and I’m depressed omg Industrial/Dark/Goth”; more like, “it’s raining so I’m gonna jam in my house”. From a DJ called Stone-High, and titled “Let’s Go Deep”. A little umsa-umsa-y at times, but the speed-up/slow-down aspects of the mix make up for any over pulsating Techno-ish beats.
Speaking of Noir and rain, here’s a good Arthur Leipzig photograph capturing moodscapes and urban affection/alienation of 1940′s America. Reminds me a little bit of “Nighthawks”.
Annnnd what the fuck, here’s a quote too. When asked about his upcoming TV/Film projects on his message board (and whether or not that would end/diminish his comics career), Warren Ellis replied with this:
“Trust me, movie/tv option money, or even production-trigger money, is very nice but not life-changing. You’ll notice that Mark Millar still has a day job.”
What sucks about the way I get comics is the waiting. While everyone and their brother is ranting and raving and theorizing over the meaning of the Iran-built superhuman in SuperGod, I’m sitting around finishing up “Part 1: Beyond the Zero” of Gravity’s Rainbow. Wait, that isn’t a bad thing at all, now, is it? Last week I bought from my LCS the final chapter of the PunisherMAX introductory arc of the “Kingpin of Crime”. It was a decent way of going about his back story, rise to power, motivations, and greed. When viewed as a whole and from a distance, the 4-issue story focused more so on Wilson Fisk than Frank. I thought.
Which is fine; Jason Aaron‘s story is only a mere extension of the military-industrial-complex inspired Garth Ennis take on the character. In THAT run, Frank’s back story and motivations are covered to death. In a good way. There’s no reason for Aaron to re-hash any of that, the Punisher is who he is, and he’ll never stop doing what he does until he’s dead (as is brutally displayed in that awful, ugly brawl with the “Mennonite” in #5 last week).
Speaking of Aaron: the other book besides Supergod I’m getting from this week’s releases is a one-shot story on yet another interesting, but hazy character off the “Prairie Rose” reservation in his Scalped. The last page of #35 is enough to rock the world of the Rez in 2010, and I’ll be there every step of the way. No doubt I’ll be reviewing this or SuperGod or both after I read them a few times.
Mark Millar‘s Nemesislooks awful. Maybe I’m just not a mid-pubescent boy anymore, I dunno. The premise isn’t bad I guess, if not tried before a good hundred times. The CBR review seemed to hit it on the head: boring Mark Millar is somehow even more annoying than in-your-face Mark Millar. As someone who enjoys subtlety (perhaps I should stop reading comics), character introspection, and fine-tuned, down-to-Earth dialogue, “in-your-face” Millar is my nemesis when it comes to comic writers. Then again, I don’t hate the guy. He auctioned off the naming of a character in Nemesis by a fan and the proceeds went to a charity for handicapped children. Admirable. The movie version of Kick-Ass almost looks more light-hearted than the book. This can only be a good thing. A super-hero flick with McLovin as a character named “Red Mist” should never take itself seriously. Read the rest of this entry »
This might possibly be the most brilliant re-interpretation of a film in any shape, era, or way. Adam Bertocci – filmmaker, screenwriter, author, Shakespeare and Coen Brothers lover — somehow turned The Big Lebowskiinto a legitimately worded/staged Shakespearian play titled “The Two Gentlemen of Lebowski“. Here’s just one monologue, of many, to give you an idea of what I mean. This is the first bowling scene when The Dude’s, or in this alt-universe “The Knave”s, explaining how this rug really tied the room together. Take a peep:
It was of consequence, I should think; verily, it tied the room together, gather’d its qualities as the sweet lovers’ spring grass doth the morning dew or the rough scythe the first of autumn harvests. It sat between the four sides of the room, making substance of a square, respecting each wall in equal harmony, in geometer’s cap; a great reckoning in a little room. Verily, it transform’d the room from the space between four walls presented, to the harbour of a man’s monarchy.
Annnnd what the fuck, here’s a quote too. When asked about his upcoming TV/Film projects on his message board (and whether or not that would end/diminish his comics career), 
