Hey, guess what I thought of? It's a:
New feature:
Tivo Alert!
I figured I would look at TV schedules on channels that I watch, and point out stuff that I'm interested in (and thus others should also be interested in, of course). I'll mostly be looking at Independent Film Channel (IFC) and Turner Classic Movies (TCM). And maybe HBO. Oh, and I don't actually have TiVo; I'm stuck with a generic Dish Network DVR. But I think the word "Tivo" has entered the cultural lexicon, so I'm using it as a catch-all for "record and watch later". Anyway, the inaugural programs are:
IFC, Friday, 2/9, at 6:00 am and 6:35 pm CST: Everyone Says I Love You, directed by Woody Allen. His late-90's musical, starring Edward Norton, Drew Barrymore, Julia Roberts, and others. I'm a little wary of this one, but my friend who loves Woody Allen says it's good. Of course, I have to take that with a grain of salt...
TCM, Saturday, 2/10, at 2:15 am EST: Nashville, directed by Robert Altman. I've been wanting to see this one for quite a while.
IFC, Saturday, 2/10, at 7:00 am CST: Samurai Spy, directed by Masahiro Shinoda. Classic samurai movie. IFC usually shows stuff like this on Saturday mornings.
TCM, Saturday, 2/10, at 10:30 pm EST: Batman Returns, directed by Tim Burton. For some reason, I've never seen this.
TCM, Sunday, 2/11, at 5:30 9m EST: They Were Expendable, directed by John Ford. John Wayne, WWII. I've heard it's good.
TCM, Monday, 2/12, at 3:45 am EST: Foreign Correspondent, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. One of the Hitchcock movies I haven't seen.
TCM, Monday, 2/12, at 1:00 pm EST: The Magnificent Ambersons, directed by Orson Welles. I haven't seen this one either. Isn't this Welles' "lost" film? I don't know that much about it; I'll have to watch it and see.
TCM, Tuesday, 2/14, at 4:15 am EST: Shampoo, directed by Hal Ashby. Never seen this, but it's one of those infamouse 70's movies. And I love Harold and Maude, which Ashby also directed.
TCM, Thursday, 2/15, at 8:00 9m EST: Coal Miner's Daughter, directed by Michael Apted. Never seen this one either.
IFC, Friday, 2/16, at 11:00 pm and Saturday, 2/17 at 2:10 am EST: Karate Bear Fighter. Sonny Chiba! Fighting a bear (bears?)! With karate! Awesome!
TCM, Saturday, 2/17, at 12:15 am EST: Logan's Run, directed by Michael Anderson. Classic sci-fi that I've never seen. I've actually heard it's pretty bad.
IFC, Saturday, 2/17, at 7:00 am CST: Samurai Saga, directed by Hiroshi Inagaki. An adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac, starring Toshiro Mifune! I'll definitely be checking this one out.
TCM, Saturday, 2/17, at 8:00 pm EST: Tommy, directed by Ken Russell. The Who! Never seen this one either. Maybe I'll get my wife to watch it with me (she loves music).
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Wow, that's more than I expected. It's "Oscar Month" on TCM, so they're playing a lot of movies that I'm interested in (or at least more than usual). I doubt I'll watch everything here, but it's stuff to look out for. Stay tuned for future alerts!
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Links: Don't confuse this with an examination of different Zelda games
I don't do link collections very often (mostly because it's kind of tedious), but I found some stuff worth pointing out, so here goes:
Chris Butcher posts Bryan Lee O'Malley's awesome cover to the Comics Festival Free Comic Book Day comic.
From The Comics Reporter: An English translation of the comic "The Pharoahs of Egypt", by Florent Ruppert and Jerome Mulot. This won the top award at France's Angouleme festival this year. Note: the site also has some other translations of neat foreign comics, including a story by David B. (Epileptic). Check 'em out.
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Huh. I thought I had more than that. Well, I'll update this post if I find anything else to link to.
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UPDATE: Okay, I found some more:
David Heatley, whose story in The Best American Comics 2006 I really liked, did this week's New Yorker cover. Nice!
Mike Sterling is weird. But funny!
Well, since I'm posting links to art and covers and stuff, check out this CD cover that Craig Thompson (Blankets) did for the band Menomena. I don't know that band, but the cover is pretty.
Looks like The Boys has been picked up by a new publisher, Dynamite. Cool.
Nerve.com's comics issue. With comics by Paul Pope, Jim Mahfood, Chynna Clugston, and others, plus interviews with Peter Bagge, Alison Bechdel, and Evan Dorkin.
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UPDATE 2:
I figured I'd give a link to this awesome trailer that Jog pointed me to. It's for an upcoming anime anthology film called Deep Imagination, from Studio 4°C. Looks pretty awesome; I'll have to add it to my wish list.
And while I'm talking cool videos that I saw upon Jog's recommendation, I'll point to this lengthy selection of clips from animator Norio Matsumoto. That guy is amazing.
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UPDATE 3 on 2/8:
Check out this wacky doujinshi (that means amateur manga, basically) that reimagines Gilligan's Island as a horror story.
UPDATE 4 (also 2/8):
Jog has some links to clips of erotic anime from the 60's and 70's, produced by Osamu Tezuka's production company. I haven't watched them yet, since I'm at work, but I gotta check these out.
Chris Butcher posts Bryan Lee O'Malley's awesome cover to the Comics Festival Free Comic Book Day comic.
From The Comics Reporter: An English translation of the comic "The Pharoahs of Egypt", by Florent Ruppert and Jerome Mulot. This won the top award at France's Angouleme festival this year. Note: the site also has some other translations of neat foreign comics, including a story by David B. (Epileptic). Check 'em out.
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Huh. I thought I had more than that. Well, I'll update this post if I find anything else to link to.
-----
UPDATE: Okay, I found some more:
David Heatley, whose story in The Best American Comics 2006 I really liked, did this week's New Yorker cover. Nice!
Mike Sterling is weird. But funny!
Well, since I'm posting links to art and covers and stuff, check out this CD cover that Craig Thompson (Blankets) did for the band Menomena. I don't know that band, but the cover is pretty.
Looks like The Boys has been picked up by a new publisher, Dynamite. Cool.
Nerve.com's comics issue. With comics by Paul Pope, Jim Mahfood, Chynna Clugston, and others, plus interviews with Peter Bagge, Alison Bechdel, and Evan Dorkin.
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UPDATE 2:
I figured I'd give a link to this awesome trailer that Jog pointed me to. It's for an upcoming anime anthology film called Deep Imagination, from Studio 4°C. Looks pretty awesome; I'll have to add it to my wish list.
And while I'm talking cool videos that I saw upon Jog's recommendation, I'll point to this lengthy selection of clips from animator Norio Matsumoto. That guy is amazing.
-----
UPDATE 3 on 2/8:
Check out this wacky doujinshi (that means amateur manga, basically) that reimagines Gilligan's Island as a horror story.
UPDATE 4 (also 2/8):
Jog has some links to clips of erotic anime from the 60's and 70's, produced by Osamu Tezuka's production company. I haven't watched them yet, since I'm at work, but I gotta check these out.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Snowbound reading
Wow, it is hella cold today. Plus, it's snowing like crazy. The upside of this is that my office closed early, so I got to come home ahead of time. Nice! Then, I figured I would have to shovel my driveway, but I found that a neighbor had already gone over it with a snowblower! What a swell guy (or girl)! Anyway, the extra time means I'm finally going to get to some reviews I've been meaning to do. So here we go!
Manga update (sort of):
East Coast Rising volume 1
by Becky Cloonan
I'd been wanting to get this ever since I saw it; I've liked Cloonan's art everywhere I've seen it. Plus, it's a post-apocolyptic pirate story! With sea monsters! Looks awesome, right? Well, luckily it lives up to its premise, with a hip cast of young, punk-styled pirates and seafarers struggling for a treasure map in the deadly seas of New Jersey. This being after an apocalypse (of unspecified nature), most of the east coast of the United States seems to be underwater. The book starts off with a bang (literally!), when some pirates sink a ship to get the treasure map that a young man has. They're riding on these giant prehistoric-looking turtles:
That's pretty awesome. The leader of the pirates, Lee, steals the map, which is in a bottle on the kid's (we find out later that his name is Archer) belt. But then he's saved in the nick of time by the intrepid crew of La Revancha, a trading ship. These are the good guys of the story, led by Cannonball Joe, the peg-legged captain (He's on the cover up there, with the dreadlocks). Archer is taken on board as one of the crew until they can drop him off, but the action starts again soon, when they decide to get the treasure map from the pirates. I won't give away the rest of the story, but it's pretty damn action-packed, with a large portion of the book dedicated to their fight with a giant octopus with a skull for a head. Cloonan's art is incredible here, with expressive characters and imaginative, dynamic panel layouts. There were one or two instances where I had a little trouble figuring out what was supposed to be happening, but that was pretty rare. Usually the action is very clear and easy to follow. This being in the category of "OEL (original English language) manga" and published by Tokyopop, it takes a few of manga's visual idioms, like super-deformed characters, those little veins that pop out of character's heads when they're irritated, the "starry-eyed" look, and angular panels rather than the usual rectangular layout that American books normally employ. It's pretty effective, and I commend Cloonan for her excellent use of these stylings. I can't wait for future volumes to come out!
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Death Note volume 9
Written by Tsugumi Ohba
Art by Takeshi Obata
Man, this series just keeps getting better. I kind of went over the story of the series in my review of volume 8, so read that if you want a series recap. In this volume, Light sends his crew up against Mello's men to get the Death Note back (one of them, anyway). Then he starts to take over the world, as world leaders, fearful of being executed by Kira, start to kowtow to him. Of course, nobody knows Light is Kira, but Near suspects it. More battles of wills! And I totally want this playhouse that Near has:
The "next volume" blurb says that Light is going to give up the Death Note again and start working through some follower of Kira. I hope they don't go the route of having him lose his memory as part of a serpentine plan again. We'll see. I'll definitely read it. This series is great!
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Sgt. Frog volume 12
by Mine Yoshizaki
I've been following this series since the first volume, but I think this one will be my last. It's a fun series (I'll have to do a series recap or something sometime), but I think it's run out of steam. The premise is that Keroro, a froglike alien, and his crew are on Earth (or Pokopen, as they call it), planning to invade and conquer the planet. However, Keroro was "captured" early on by the Hinata family, so now he lives with them, doing chores to cover his room and board. He was eventually joined by four other aliens, and they often hatch crazy invasion schemes that are usually foiled by the Hinatas. It's been pretty enjoyable, with much of the humor coming from Keroro's lazy nature; he'd rather sit around reading manga and building Gundam models than do the work of invading. The problem is, 12 volumes into the series, I think Yoshizaki has run out of ideas. In this volume, the cast deals with a big typhoon that's approaching Japan, grows a large watermelon, takes a bath together (?!), takes care of Keroro when he's sick, and has a jump rope competition. Not a lot of invading going on. There's a two-part story in which a weird shapeshifting alien shows up and attacks the cast, but is eventually defeated. It turns out to be way to bring in a new addition to the cast, an alien girl who will go to school with the Hinata kids. The stories just don't seem especially inspired, or as funny as they once did. So, unless I hear that the next volume is the best one yet or something, I don't think I'll be buying it. It was fun while it lasted.
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By the way, I've watched some of the anime version of Sgt. Frog by downloading fansubbed episodes, and it's hilarious. I think it's being released on DVD in the US, so I recommend it whenever it does come out.
Manga update (sort of):
East Coast Rising volume 1
by Becky Cloonan
I'd been wanting to get this ever since I saw it; I've liked Cloonan's art everywhere I've seen it. Plus, it's a post-apocolyptic pirate story! With sea monsters! Looks awesome, right? Well, luckily it lives up to its premise, with a hip cast of young, punk-styled pirates and seafarers struggling for a treasure map in the deadly seas of New Jersey. This being after an apocalypse (of unspecified nature), most of the east coast of the United States seems to be underwater. The book starts off with a bang (literally!), when some pirates sink a ship to get the treasure map that a young man has. They're riding on these giant prehistoric-looking turtles:
That's pretty awesome. The leader of the pirates, Lee, steals the map, which is in a bottle on the kid's (we find out later that his name is Archer) belt. But then he's saved in the nick of time by the intrepid crew of La Revancha, a trading ship. These are the good guys of the story, led by Cannonball Joe, the peg-legged captain (He's on the cover up there, with the dreadlocks). Archer is taken on board as one of the crew until they can drop him off, but the action starts again soon, when they decide to get the treasure map from the pirates. I won't give away the rest of the story, but it's pretty damn action-packed, with a large portion of the book dedicated to their fight with a giant octopus with a skull for a head. Cloonan's art is incredible here, with expressive characters and imaginative, dynamic panel layouts. There were one or two instances where I had a little trouble figuring out what was supposed to be happening, but that was pretty rare. Usually the action is very clear and easy to follow. This being in the category of "OEL (original English language) manga" and published by Tokyopop, it takes a few of manga's visual idioms, like super-deformed characters, those little veins that pop out of character's heads when they're irritated, the "starry-eyed" look, and angular panels rather than the usual rectangular layout that American books normally employ. It's pretty effective, and I commend Cloonan for her excellent use of these stylings. I can't wait for future volumes to come out!
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Death Note volume 9
Written by Tsugumi Ohba
Art by Takeshi Obata
Man, this series just keeps getting better. I kind of went over the story of the series in my review of volume 8, so read that if you want a series recap. In this volume, Light sends his crew up against Mello's men to get the Death Note back (one of them, anyway). Then he starts to take over the world, as world leaders, fearful of being executed by Kira, start to kowtow to him. Of course, nobody knows Light is Kira, but Near suspects it. More battles of wills! And I totally want this playhouse that Near has:
The "next volume" blurb says that Light is going to give up the Death Note again and start working through some follower of Kira. I hope they don't go the route of having him lose his memory as part of a serpentine plan again. We'll see. I'll definitely read it. This series is great!
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Sgt. Frog volume 12
by Mine Yoshizaki
I've been following this series since the first volume, but I think this one will be my last. It's a fun series (I'll have to do a series recap or something sometime), but I think it's run out of steam. The premise is that Keroro, a froglike alien, and his crew are on Earth (or Pokopen, as they call it), planning to invade and conquer the planet. However, Keroro was "captured" early on by the Hinata family, so now he lives with them, doing chores to cover his room and board. He was eventually joined by four other aliens, and they often hatch crazy invasion schemes that are usually foiled by the Hinatas. It's been pretty enjoyable, with much of the humor coming from Keroro's lazy nature; he'd rather sit around reading manga and building Gundam models than do the work of invading. The problem is, 12 volumes into the series, I think Yoshizaki has run out of ideas. In this volume, the cast deals with a big typhoon that's approaching Japan, grows a large watermelon, takes a bath together (?!), takes care of Keroro when he's sick, and has a jump rope competition. Not a lot of invading going on. There's a two-part story in which a weird shapeshifting alien shows up and attacks the cast, but is eventually defeated. It turns out to be way to bring in a new addition to the cast, an alien girl who will go to school with the Hinata kids. The stories just don't seem especially inspired, or as funny as they once did. So, unless I hear that the next volume is the best one yet or something, I don't think I'll be buying it. It was fun while it lasted.
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By the way, I've watched some of the anime version of Sgt. Frog by downloading fansubbed episodes, and it's hilarious. I think it's being released on DVD in the US, so I recommend it whenever it does come out.
In which I talk about myself (or at least my blog, although they're pretty much the same thing, right?) annoyingly
New content alert:
I've added an element to the sidebar called Wish List. It's a list of stuff I would like to read/watch/play/buy. Mostly comics (or prose books, maybe), but I figured I would throw DVD's and video games on there too. I guess it's mostly to remind myself of stuff I need to get, but I always invite comments, so go ahead and leave your own remarks. Let me know if you liked something on the list, or if you also are interested, or if you think I would like it, or whatever. I'm not content to shout my opinions/details of my life into the void; I require external input!
I've added an element to the sidebar called Wish List. It's a list of stuff I would like to read/watch/play/buy. Mostly comics (or prose books, maybe), but I figured I would throw DVD's and video games on there too. I guess it's mostly to remind myself of stuff I need to get, but I always invite comments, so go ahead and leave your own remarks. Let me know if you liked something on the list, or if you also are interested, or if you think I would like it, or whatever. I'm not content to shout my opinions/details of my life into the void; I require external input!
Monday, February 5, 2007
In which I talk to creators that won't hear me
New comics this week (Wednesday, 2/7/07):
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And I think that's it. I'll also look for Chronicles of Wormwood #1, which came out last week but wasn't at the shop I went to. Huh. Any thoughts, anyone?
EDEN VOL 6 ITS AN ENDLESS WORLD TP (MR) $12.95I keep meaning to pick up the first volume of this manga series. I've heard it's pretty good sci-fi. I guess I'll keep an eye out for it.
KUROSAGI CORPSE DELIVERY SERVICE VOL 2 TP $10.95I did get the first volume of this series, and it's quite good. I'll pick this up if/when I see it.
MAIL VOL 2 TP (MR) $10.95Another horror manga from Dark Horse that I've heard is good. I haven't got the first volume, but it's another one I'll be watching for.
MIGHTY SKULLBOY ARMY VOL 1 TP $9.95A non-manga graphic novel from Dark Horse! Or maybe it's "OEL manga". Whatever; it might be worth looking at. I don't know of anything else that Jacob Chabot has done. Is he any good?
SECRET #1 (OF 4) $2.99This one's a horror/mystery from Mike Richardson and Jason Alexander (The Escapists). Again, might be worth looking at.
DMZ VOL 2 BODY OF A JOURNALIST TP (MR) $12.99The most recent collection of the excellent series. This one's a very good story. Intense. I recommend!
MIDNIGHTER #4 $2.99All right, more time-travel wackiness from Ennis and (hopefully) Sprouse. We'll see how long Ennis stays on this title after DC's cancellation of The Boys. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't want to work for them any more.
OTHER SIDE #5 (OF 5) (MR) $2.99Final issue of the miniseries! Don't let me down, Aaron and Stewart!
SHAZAM THE MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL #1 (OF 4) $5.99Ooh, the Jeff Smith Captain Marvel series finally arrives! I hope it'll be good!
FELL #7 (RES) $1.99Wow, it's been a while since the last issue of this series. It's a damn good series; I've been waiting patiently. Try to stay on schedule, Ellis and Templesmith!
PIRATES OF CONEY ISLAND #4 (OF 8) $2.99The halfway point of this crazy series. It's been fun so far; keep it up, Spears and Lolos (and Cloonan)!
SAM NOIR SAMURAI DETECTIVE SPECIAL ED $7.99Is this the collection of the first miniseries? I hope so, because then I could pick up:
SAM NOIR RONIN HOLIDAY #1 (OF 3) $2.99That would be fortuitous. If so, good planning, Image!
DARK TOWER GUNSLINGER BORN #1 (OF 7) $3.99Well, after reading all about this and looking at the previews, I've pretty much decided I'll get at least the first issue of this miniseries. If there are any left; my shop's doing one of Marvel's much-vaunted midnight openings to sell the book. I guess Stephen King's fans are die-hards. But, damn, Jae Lee's art looks good.
IRON MAN HYPERVELOCITY #2 (OF 6) $2.99Ooh, a new issue of this fun series. Adam Warren is always good for goofy techno-wackiness, so this should continue to be fun. Plus, the last issue ended on a fun twist, and I'm interested to see where it's going.
NEWUNIVERSAL #3 $2.99More photo-referenced sci-fi worldbuilding. I did like the first two issues, although many reviews I read said they were too slow. Pick up the pace, Ellis and Larocca!
MAINTENANCE #2 (MR) $3.50I really liked the first issue of this series, so I'll definitely pick up this issue. I hope it keeps up the fun.
WORMWOOD GENTLEMAN CORPSE #5 (MR) $3.99I keep meaning to pick up the early issues of this series, since it looks good, and I like Ben Templesmith's art, but I can never find it. I might check out a trade if I see one.
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And I think that's it. I'll also look for Chronicles of Wormwood #1, which came out last week but wasn't at the shop I went to. Huh. Any thoughts, anyone?
Rare Bit Fiends theater
Wow, I had a crazy dream last night. I think it had some jungle warfare, as well as zombies caused by insects possessing people (with an appearance by the cast of Slither). But the especially funny part was when I was trying to build some sort of time machine in which I had to place mirrors to get a laser beam to reach a target. It reminded me of the Ratchet & Clank games. Anyway, I had to leave the room to do something, leaving this kid I was watching (I think his name was Cameron) alone with the machine. When I came back, he had got the machine working and apparently traveled to several parallel universes, bringing back different versions of himself, and they were all running around the room like crazy. So I was trying to get the machine working again, and one of the Camerons started spouting technical jargon and telling me what to do. "Are you my Cameron?" I asked him. "Yes," he replied, but then another Cameron ran up, saying "No, I'm your Cameron!" I quickly asked, "Who won the Civil War?" "Lincoln!" they replied. "Who won World War II?" I asked. The second Cameron said, "Why, Hitler and Mussolini, of course!" "All right, get out of here!" I told him. And then we got the machine working, I guess. That's all I remember. I just thought that last part was really funny.
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More content tonight, I hope!
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More content tonight, I hope!
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Frustration!
Man, I just spent about an hour writing a review of The Best American Comics 2006, and my computer froze up, so I lost everything. Son of a bitch. I was going to examine each story in the book, saying whether I thought it deserved to be included as one of the best comics of the year. So much for that idea. Here's a short summary:
Stories I thought were really good:
"Ready to Die" by Kim Deitch
"The Gift" by Anders Nilsen <-- my favorite!
"Complacency Kills" by Joe Sacco
"La Rubia Loca" by Justin Hall
"Portrait of My Dad" by David Heatley
"Nakedness and Power" by Seth Tobocman, Terisa Turner, and Leigh Brownhill
"Passing Before Life's Very Eyes" by Kurt Wolfgang
"Walkin' the Streets" by Robert Crumb
Stories I thought were pretty good:
"The Amazing Life of Onion Jack" by Joel Priddy
"Comics: A History" by Chris Ware
"Rabbithead" by Rebecca Dart
"Day by Day with Hopey: Tuesday is Whose Day?" by Jaime Hernandez
"A Street-level View of the Republican National Convention" by Lloyd Dangle
"Thirty-three" by Alex Robinson
"Missing" by Jessica Abel
"Thirteen Cats of My Childhood" by Jesse Reklaw
Stories I thought were only okay:
"The Adventures of Paul Bunyan & His Ox, Babe" by Lilli Carre
"Diary of a Bread Delivery Guy" by David Lasky
"Goner Pillow Company" by Ben Katchor
"Only Disconnect" by Alison Bechdel
"Untitled" by Ivan Brunetti
"Dance with the Ventures" by Jonathan Bennett
"Chemical Plant/Another World" by John Porcellino
"The Supervisor" by Hob
"Recollection of Seduction" by Rick Geary
"The Executive Hour" by Tom Hart
"Two Questions" by Lynda Barry
Stories I didn't like:
"Busted!" by Esther Pearl Watson
"Wonder Wart-Hog: The Wart-Hog that Came in from the Cold" by Gilbert Shelton
"Solidarity Forever" by Olivia Schanzer
I thought all the "really good" and "pretty good" stuff should have been included, along with some of the "okay" stuff. I was just put off by the inclusion of stories that were either mediocre or, in the case of the "didn't like" category, just plain bad. But it was a good book overall.
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I wasn't going to get to this one, but since the anthology review got truncated, I'll mention it; I also read Curses, by Kevin Huizenga. It was okay. I like Huizenga's art; it's cartoony but expressive. The problem (for me) is the storytelling; most of the stories in this book are wordy narratives, to the point where they almost become illustrated prose stories. There are at least three stories where a story is being read, an article is being written, or some facts are being related, and we end up slogging through text wishing for more pictures. The one about the article that the guy was writing for a Christian was interesting to a former Christian like me, just for the look at the theology that I used to be familiar with, but it got pretty boring. As did the one about starlings running rampant through North America (although I liked the representation of their songs by the lines and words in speech balloons). And I won't even get into the first story, about a Victorian doctor treating a guy who has visions of an evil monkey. My favorite story was "The Feathered Ogre", in which main character Glenn Ganges goes on a mystical quest to release himself and his wife from the curse that is preventing them from getting pregnant. It's a good juxtaposition of weird mythological elements with the strip-mall banality of middle America. I especially liked the scene where Glenn squirts gasoline (enchanted gasoline, that is) into his eyes. That was hilarious. So, I didn't especially like this book, but I am now interested in Huizenga. Maybe he has other work that is less wordy and more, uh, picture-y.
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So that's all for me for tonight. If anybody has any questions or comments about these books, please leave a comment! Any recommendation of other Huizenga stuff I would like? Any thoughts on the selections for Best American Comics? Speak up!
Stories I thought were really good:
"Ready to Die" by Kim Deitch
"The Gift" by Anders Nilsen <-- my favorite!
"Complacency Kills" by Joe Sacco
"La Rubia Loca" by Justin Hall
"Portrait of My Dad" by David Heatley
"Nakedness and Power" by Seth Tobocman, Terisa Turner, and Leigh Brownhill
"Passing Before Life's Very Eyes" by Kurt Wolfgang
"Walkin' the Streets" by Robert Crumb
Stories I thought were pretty good:
"The Amazing Life of Onion Jack" by Joel Priddy
"Comics: A History" by Chris Ware
"Rabbithead" by Rebecca Dart
"Day by Day with Hopey: Tuesday is Whose Day?" by Jaime Hernandez
"A Street-level View of the Republican National Convention" by Lloyd Dangle
"Thirty-three" by Alex Robinson
"Missing" by Jessica Abel
"Thirteen Cats of My Childhood" by Jesse Reklaw
Stories I thought were only okay:
"The Adventures of Paul Bunyan & His Ox, Babe" by Lilli Carre
"Diary of a Bread Delivery Guy" by David Lasky
"Goner Pillow Company" by Ben Katchor
"Only Disconnect" by Alison Bechdel
"Untitled" by Ivan Brunetti
"Dance with the Ventures" by Jonathan Bennett
"Chemical Plant/Another World" by John Porcellino
"The Supervisor" by Hob
"Recollection of Seduction" by Rick Geary
"The Executive Hour" by Tom Hart
"Two Questions" by Lynda Barry
Stories I didn't like:
"Busted!" by Esther Pearl Watson
"Wonder Wart-Hog: The Wart-Hog that Came in from the Cold" by Gilbert Shelton
"Solidarity Forever" by Olivia Schanzer
I thought all the "really good" and "pretty good" stuff should have been included, along with some of the "okay" stuff. I was just put off by the inclusion of stories that were either mediocre or, in the case of the "didn't like" category, just plain bad. But it was a good book overall.
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I wasn't going to get to this one, but since the anthology review got truncated, I'll mention it; I also read Curses, by Kevin Huizenga. It was okay. I like Huizenga's art; it's cartoony but expressive. The problem (for me) is the storytelling; most of the stories in this book are wordy narratives, to the point where they almost become illustrated prose stories. There are at least three stories where a story is being read, an article is being written, or some facts are being related, and we end up slogging through text wishing for more pictures. The one about the article that the guy was writing for a Christian was interesting to a former Christian like me, just for the look at the theology that I used to be familiar with, but it got pretty boring. As did the one about starlings running rampant through North America (although I liked the representation of their songs by the lines and words in speech balloons). And I won't even get into the first story, about a Victorian doctor treating a guy who has visions of an evil monkey. My favorite story was "The Feathered Ogre", in which main character Glenn Ganges goes on a mystical quest to release himself and his wife from the curse that is preventing them from getting pregnant. It's a good juxtaposition of weird mythological elements with the strip-mall banality of middle America. I especially liked the scene where Glenn squirts gasoline (enchanted gasoline, that is) into his eyes. That was hilarious. So, I didn't especially like this book, but I am now interested in Huizenga. Maybe he has other work that is less wordy and more, uh, picture-y.
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So that's all for me for tonight. If anybody has any questions or comments about these books, please leave a comment! Any recommendation of other Huizenga stuff I would like? Any thoughts on the selections for Best American Comics? Speak up!
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Bomb scare? Seems more like a ROM scare!
Okay, that makes no sense. Sorry. Anyway, my wife and I were watching Futurama on Adult Swim last night, and as the show was coming back from commercial, rather than the usual jokey text on the screen, there were several paragraphs with an apology to the city and people of Boston about any hardships caused by a marketing campaign. We thought it was strange, so I looked it up today to see what I could find out. Here's an article on CNN.com. So apparently, the marketing scheme was to place lightboards like this one:
all around the city as a promotion for Aqua Teen Hunger Force. For some reason, people thought these things were bombs and called the police. It sounds like the whole city went crazy, with traffic shutting down and bomb squads being dispatched.
If you ask me, the whole thing is ridiculous, and emblematic of our country's current level of panic anytime the word "terrorism" is invoked. Somebody sees a sign with a goofy character, and assumes it's a bomb. Really? I mean, I recognize the characters, so I wouldn't think anything of it, but even if I just saw some random cartoon guy flipping me off, I don't think I would assume it was part of a terrorist campaign. Very strange. And this quote from a Boston Congressman cracks me up:
"Scaring an entire region, tying up the T and major roadways, and forcing first responders to spend 12 hours chasing down trinkets instead of terrorists is marketing run amok," Markey, a Democrat, said in a written statement. "It would be hard to dream up a more appalling publicity stunt."
If I were him, I would be more upset about the overreaction to an innocuous "publicity stunt". Ridiculous.
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UPDATE: Here's another article about the guys who did the promotion being arrested and held on bond. The interesting detail: the signs were in place for THREE WEEKS before anybody noticed.
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We're going out of town this weekend, and then the Bears are playing in the Super Bowl, so I doubt I'll have any new content. Unless I do something tonight. So, see you next week, (imaginary) readers!
all around the city as a promotion for Aqua Teen Hunger Force. For some reason, people thought these things were bombs and called the police. It sounds like the whole city went crazy, with traffic shutting down and bomb squads being dispatched.
If you ask me, the whole thing is ridiculous, and emblematic of our country's current level of panic anytime the word "terrorism" is invoked. Somebody sees a sign with a goofy character, and assumes it's a bomb. Really? I mean, I recognize the characters, so I wouldn't think anything of it, but even if I just saw some random cartoon guy flipping me off, I don't think I would assume it was part of a terrorist campaign. Very strange. And this quote from a Boston Congressman cracks me up:
"Scaring an entire region, tying up the T and major roadways, and forcing first responders to spend 12 hours chasing down trinkets instead of terrorists is marketing run amok," Markey, a Democrat, said in a written statement. "It would be hard to dream up a more appalling publicity stunt."
If I were him, I would be more upset about the overreaction to an innocuous "publicity stunt". Ridiculous.
-----
UPDATE: Here's another article about the guys who did the promotion being arrested and held on bond. The interesting detail: the signs were in place for THREE WEEKS before anybody noticed.
-----
We're going out of town this weekend, and then the Bears are playing in the Super Bowl, so I doubt I'll have any new content. Unless I do something tonight. So, see you next week, (imaginary) readers!
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