email me: chris@chris-karath.com
April 2007
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Sunday April 29, 2007 1:22:46 PM #
Random Non-Sequiters
» A friend overseas uses MSN, so I set up a messenger account and installed the newest messenger client. It's a nice looking application and I like being able to talk with my friend, but talking over a Microsoft Channel just creeps me out a little, for no good reason I imagine.
» Added some links and whatnot to a personal page I use for my cellphone. Now I can easily check my blog comments, my friends blogs, and a handful of other useful things with only a click or two from my cellphone webbrowser. Yea, for the constant march forward of technology.
» I caught up on the last 4 episodes of Smallville this weekend. I watch the show with heavy usage of the fast forward button. Wow, has that show become almost entirely a pure soap opera. They really haven't had much in the way of action or adventure since the Justice episode. Anyway, out of the 4 hours of program, I cobbled together a 90 min readers digest/highlight version video for my next game night. There will be more to mock than anything else, but there is a decent action scene or two (as well as Lois in red leather). So game night friends, look forward to/or not to that.
» Checked online for Spidey 3 Midnight shows, hoping that there would be a Thursday night at 11pm show (as some of them have done lately), but Spidey 3 is 12:01am only. Too late to go to, for a third installment, for us corporate cube workers. It looks like we will see it Friday evening instead.
» Broke my Comic Reading Chronological order and read Platninum Studio's Unique #1 (Not to be confused with Adam and Comfort's: Uniques.) Anyway, I enjoyed the book, even if for some reason, there was some pretty heavy handed exposition that came out of nowhere 3/4 into it. Now I just have to see if I can track down #2 (which I didn't pre-order and my LCS didn't get. Too bad this publisher doesn't appear to have comics you can buy online. All the Indies should get on board with the downloading. Us bloggers could be linking directly to your purchase pages.)
Saturday April 28, 2007 11:00:27 AM #
Random Non-Sequiters
» Wanna know how far back in my comic stack I currently am? I just read DC 52 Week 32. Yeah, ouch. I read all my books chronologically (ie: the order in which they were bought.), Those 52 issues make great weekly dividers. I've gots alots of readings to dos.
Let's Go Surfing
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» When I think "Anti-Obesity Spokesperson" Shrek is definently MY top choice...
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» There will be a 30 min. Robot Chicken Star Wars Special. which sounds awesome. It also has Lucas' blessing, which I'm NOT sure is a good thing, we'll see.
Friday April 27, 2007 11:10:06 AM #
Random Non-Sequiters
Medium?
I was out running some errands yesterday and stopped into a Wendy's. I just wanted a single with cheese and some fries. I don't normally get a pop. The order taker was very old. When I first walked up to the register she asked me if "this was for the dining room". I had to answer yes three times. Apparently, she was hard of hearing. Since it was difficult to get past the dining room question, I decided I would just get the combo instead of trying to indivdually tell her my itemized order. She asked me if I wanted a medium or large combo. I said medium.
While waiting for the items to be collected and placed on the tray, I noticed on the overhead menu board that the medium drink was 32oz. Thirty-Two Ounces. How is the equivalent of two bottles of pop a "medium"? Sure enough a small bucket of pop was placed on my tray.
I ate my hamburger and my fries. I tossed the majority of the pop into the waste container on the way out. 32oz. is a medium? No it's not.
Democratic Debate
I watched the Democratic Debate last night. Barrak's usual friendly above the fray charm seemed challenged when you actually put him in the fray. Being above the fray is not a tatic in a debate. There were alot of people on the stage that had been in politics a long time and that had a diminishing effect on Obama's "presence".
Hillary Clinton, to me, came across as someone who worked really hard to seem "at ease" and relaxed. She seemed the most knowlegeable on all the issues, nothing was going to catch her off guard. She had all the "right" answers, but I still have trouble believing that she believes all her positions. However, the biggest question I have about Hillary, "Why?" Why does she want to be President? Obama to me seems to be genuine in his desire to change the tone in Washington, that does not seem to be an act. Biden seems to me to be the sharp guy who's been in Washington a long time, generally having alot of good ideas that don't always get traction, and therefore wants to take his shot to finally get the position to move those ideas along, I get why he's running.
I'm not completely sure why Hillary is running. I don't know if there is a good motive there.
» John Stewart will be on Bill Moyers Journal 11pm PBS, tonight.
Let's Go Surfing
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» Kindof interesting article/rant on suburbia.
I propose that we now identify the human ecology of America precisely for what it really has become: the national automobile slum. This term identifies that illegible sprawl of highways, and junk buildings, and parking lagoons, and meaningless landscaped berms that compose our common surroundings.
» I was pointed to this Picture of Green Lantern flipping the bird from my comments.
» Make the Logo Bigger an MP3 Music Anthem every Graphic Designer can relate to. via metafilter
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» Pictures of 300-400 calorie meals.
Thursday April 26, 2007 11:08:49 AM #
Green Lantern Ring
» De asked, in my comments, about the Green Lantern Ring I had in my Comic Pick-up list yesterday. Below are some pics. It is the same ring that has been occasionally available at Hot Topic. Back in June 2006, I did a post with pics when I bought one there. That one was too small for my finger, but I was able to order the correct size when it was solicited in Previews most recently.
(Before anyone comments, I know that technically the
ring is on "the wrong finger".)
Wednesday April 25, 2007 5:59:45 AM #
» Dungeons and Dragons Commercial. (Parody/Humor)
» High Speed Digital Painting Video
Monday April 23, 2007 4:35:20 AM #
Random Non-Sequiters
» Twelve days ago it was snowing and collecting 5 in of snow on the ground. Currently it is 4:30am and 71 degs outside. Crazy.
» Tobey Maguire got payed 16mil for Spidey 3, will get 20mil for Spidey 4. Anybody think that's an awful lot of money to make a 2 hour movie? Especially when your character is computer animated half the time?
Let's Go Surfing
» Pics of the next Wave of DCSH including: Cassandra Batgirl, Two Face, Clayface and more
» Interview with Jesse from ToyBiz on the Indy Legendary Heroes Line. With Pics.
» Nice Work in Progress photo of a Young Avengers Stature custom created from a 12" Invisible Woman figure.
Sunday April 22, 2007 11:31:22 AM #
Let's Go Surfing
» New Hulk Movie, Hulk IS Grey Will still smash things.
Toys
» If you read my forum, you know that I came across, my first Hasbro Marvel Legends 2 sightings this past Thursday. I picked-up She-Hulk. (Still need to find: Quicksilver, Yellow Jacket and Thor. I'd really like Blob, but I'm just not going to drop that much cash on 4 more figures I don't want to get him.)
I also picked-up the Grindhouse Cherry Darling figure. Posts of both below:
I haven't quite decided which She-Hulk I like better.
She-Hulk works very well with the Face-Off Hulk.
So, how soon until there is a She-Hulk in F4 Costume custom?
The Grindhouse Cherry Darling is a nice sculpt,
and the scale isn't too far off from Legends,
which is a plus, but with two points of articualtion
(The removeable leg and the barest of movement at the
neck joint.) she doesn't really qualify as an "Action" figure.
I like the simple stand base for this figure,
I wish all figures came with a base as simple as this.
The Punisher might not be the best Marvel Legend to show scale
(he's a little on the short side as ML figs go) but who wouldn't want
to see a Grindhouse movie with The Punisher and Cherry Darling?
The Punisher (propped up a little) with Cherry Darling.
More Images: Marvel Select She-Hulk and Hulk and Someone else's HML2 pics on Fwoosh
Saturday April 21, 2007 11:53:18 PM #
Random Non-Sequiters
» I tried out Eyejot today. It's a Web 2.0 video messaging application. You can post their widget on your website or blog and accept annonymous video messages from your viewers. I've set up an Eyejot page on my site. If you have a Web Cam, give it a try. (I would have put the widget itself it in the sidebar, but it's too big, and forcing it smaller hid some vital controls, so their is just a link to it in the sidebar instead.)
Let's Go Surfing
» Bruce Sterling Video rambling about some buildings in Belgrade.
» Finally the perfect silverware set for your workshop.
» iPod Shirt. I'm suprized more tees like this haven't popped up.
» Still no flying cars, but how about this helicopter motorcycle.
» Funny Beer Commercial
» I think the new XBox 360 QWERTY Keyboard attachment is pretty slick. Wonder if you can get it to work with a PC? (This is the internets... someones bound to eventually.)
» Watercolor portraits of The Office characters. Yep.
» Do the Right Thing, Sesame Street Style (NSFW)
» Keith Giffen, comic's loveable curmudgeon, rails on comic and other wide ranging topics all written in easy to digest bullet points. Good Stuff.
» A pocket for your hand.
» Take a look at this Cypher 13 profile on On-My-Desk. Neat looking place.
» Good Artists' Copy, Apple...
Saturday April 21, 2007 5:08:52 PM #
Let's Go Surfing
» Check out this Darth Vader Hot Air Ballon. Awesome.
» Take a look at these stacking "obelisk" chairs. Neat idea, but a little crazy pricing.
» Blank Russian Nesting Dolls you can paint yourself. $12.
» So, would this change have effected this change, had it been earlier? The ideas are contradictory.
» Orwell's neighboorhood surrounded by cameras.
On the wall outside his former residence - flat number 27B - where Orwell lived until his death in 1950, an historical plaque commemorates the anti-authoritarian author. And within 200 yards of the flat, there are 32 CCTV cameras, scanning every move.
» 200+ page book on Gesture Drawing for Animators Good Stuff. Direct PDF Download.
Saturday April 21, 2007 2:45:30 PM #
Random Non-Sequiters
» I got ahold of some new code and have added some extra blogging goodness to the sidebar.
Blogging Goodness #1 - Television reccomendations for the day. based MeeVee.com's interpretations of my interests and preferences, are now listed in the sidebar. (Like I said, it's what MeeVee thinks I'd like... not necessarily my picks, But there's usually some good finds in that list.)
Blogging Goodness #2 - Recent Comments by you my fair readers can also now be seen in the sidebar.
Blogging Goodness #3 - Titles and Links to the last several blog posts of three of my friends: Adam and Comfort, Kneelbeforeblog, and d-r-m. can also be found in the sidebar.
Yea! for the sidebar.
Saturday April 21, 2007 10:02:07 AM #
Let's Go Surfing
» Need to make contact sheets of all your jpegs? Try this freeware program called: Cas
» Nice Spider-man 3 Cast Photo
» 60 Classic Popeye Cartoons on 4 DVD Discs to be released on July 31, 2007. Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Collection on July 24, 2007.
» Frenzied Fauna from A to Z, 26 interesting animal drawings.
» Warren Ellis has created a print-outable reservation card for one of his upcoming books. Cool bit of marketing.
» John Hodgeman, This American Life (NPR) Audio Podcast MP3. Let it load and then jump to the 8:20 min time mark. Funny John Hodgeman presentation. He does a story about being a kid but then spends more time talking about acheiving unexpected fame in his later 30s.
» Watch a high speed video capture of a popcorn kernal exploding (Unfortunately it does not have that little shockwave ring like in the Star Wars SpEd Death Star Explosion. However, that's still the way I picture them popping in my mind.)
» Room Color and How it Effects Your Mood.
» Katie Can Draw Star Wars Cards
Thursday April 19, 2007 10:18:26 PM #
» New DC Direct Action Figures from two weeks ago and yesterday. Elseworlds Superwoman, Batman Beyond, Warlord, Martian Manhunter, Atom, and Blue Beetle. Decent wave of figures. Now on with the pics:
Although I don't really follow the character this was the figure
in this wave I most was looking forward to.
Ollie and Travis, this was the shot I most wanted to take!
You can't improve upon Gil Kane's design.
Probably the weakest sculpt of the group.
Although I actually like this costume/character design,
it really doesn't make sense for a shapeshifter.
Looks cool though.
Classic Manhunter still the best
New Manhunter looks like he belongs in Invincible's universe
Another nice character/costume design, but he also looks like he should be in Invincible's Universe (for more obvious reasons of course.)
I kindof like the scarab on the classic Beetle. What do you think?
Walk like an Egyptian! Doctor Fate, Captain Marvel, Blue Beetle, Hawkman.
I wish this figure would have been thinner and more based on the cartoon. It's Batman, they'll probably do this one over again at somepoint.
When I first saw the Batman Beyond Cartoon, everything screamed Spider-man 2099 to me.
I know that this is actually an alternate universe female version of Superman, but I thought the figure made for a nice "Superman/Lois Daughter" too.
Too bad about those crazy manga eyes.
Sunday April 15, 2007 12:14:05 AM #
Random Non-Sequiters
» There's some interesting talk on the topic of pirated comic books on Steven Grant's CBR column (among other things in a free ranging post.) Of course they're not called Pirated comics in that article. I find it odd that the term which is applied to Music and Movies hasn't migrated over to comics yet. You keep seeing them refered to as "downloaded comics" or "Bit-torrented comics". Whatever the inaccurate roots of the term "pirate" when applied to illegal distribution and coping of music and movies may be, the term does have it's own meaning now seperate from the high seas pirates of yore. I'm surprised the langauage hasn't followed more directly to comics.
I am more optimistic on downloading comic's future in this internet age though. I think the Indy's are going to embrace downloadable comics without DRM because Comics are not the Music or Movie business. It only takes one person or at max four people to make a quality comic book, in a month or less time even. If you can make 50¢ an issue and sell two or three thousand issues, comics become a profitable endeavor on the internet. That can't be said of Movies which require much larger audiences at internet supportable retails.
The internet is designed for comics, you browse the internet as a visual medium. For all the embedded players in the world, you just can't browse Music or Video with the same efficiency that you can text and pictures.
Eventually someone is going to figure it out and be the iTunes of comic books. And like many things on the internet when it happens, it's likely to happen fast.
And if you really are worried about your printed comics, take heart. When the mass audience is there, I have no doubt that the fine folks at HP, Epson or Lexmark, will come out with a device to quickly Print, Fold, Staple and Bind your books for you, all in nice desktop unit under $250.00.
Let's Go Surfing
» Speaking of dowloadable comics, the above article also just turned me on to: Pullboxonline which has downlable comics from 3rd tier and lower publishers. Including: Voltron 17 issues 99¢ea or Shenna #0 25¢ by Devils Due that might be worth a look. Available in CBR and PDF formats.
I just bought 4 books for less than $5 off of Pullbox. Things went pretty smoothly. Like Eyemelt, which I blogged about yesterday, You add your comics to a basket and then proceed to checkout. Pullbox takes Credit Cards, but not Paypal, but other than that, pretty much the same, pay and download the comics via an email link they send you. Good Stuff.
» I don't play World of Warcraft, but I still found this WOW parody comic sortof amusing.
» Interesting short screed on the sci-fi perils of worldbuilding
» Lee Iacocca not a big fan of GW Bush. Point by point take downs.
» Chuck Norris Action Jeans, specifically designed to be worn while you are kicking people in the face. Awesomeness by way of Metafilter and some blog.
» Really cool World War II CGI Giant Robot Battle. Good Stuff, Watch below:
Saturday April 14, 2007 10:46:05 PM #
» Did a couple neat indy comic things today. Bought a $5 Butterfly mini-comic off of Dean Trippe's site. Butterfly is a great fun light hearted batman-like webcomic where the sidekick has a sidekick (Butterfly). I've posted about it before, but it was nice to get a chance to buy a book off Dean's site and support the strip.
In other indy comic news, checkout Eyemelt.com, SLG publishing's downloadable comic site. They have old issues for 69¢ and new issues for 89¢!!! I bought six different series' #1 issues (only 69¢ ea.) That's 6 comics for $4.14! They offer the downloads in PDF and CBZ formats. THEY HAVE NO DRM! which is fantastic. I really hope SLG does well with this venture and other companies follow suit. Paper's not going away... but I really think downloadable comics are the future of the medium. 69¢ vs $2.99? Yeah paper is nice, but so is that extra paper in my wallet. Plus with CBZ or PDF you can print pages you really like anyway... decorate those offices and cubes! I went through their checkout process, paid with Paypal (major CC's also accepted) and they emailed me download links. Easy!
Eyemelt is still a new site and most of their books don't have inside preview pages available but at 69¢ you can afford to experiment a bit. Cool stuff!
Also if you want to get into CBR or CBZ format comics check out these readers: CDisplay for the PC or Comical for the Mac. Esssentially CBR and CBZ are just RAR or ZIP files, filled with Jpegs, with their extensions changed. Very Simple and Elegant file format that took existing standards and made them into something even more useful. Good stuff.
» Haven't done my usual massive link blogging today, just haven't felt like doing an intensive surfing session yet this weekend. Plus I have a quote from Bruce Sterling's SXSW Presentation MP3 (blogged earlier in the month) going through my head. On the topic of blogs: "Here's what I saw, here's what I did.". The last couple weeks whenever I think about the blog I just keep having that refrain cycle over and over in my head: "Here's what I saw, here's what I did." It's sortof been taking the wind out of my blogging sails. Still I've been trying to post a couple links a day, and if you need something to click on you can always check out the massive link list at right for all the stuff I plan to get to and maybe blog later (or maybe not).
» I've had a Netflix DVD sitting around my place for probably 6 or 7 weeks. I finally watched it. I was going to cancel Netflix entirely today, before I mailed it back because I've been holding onto these discs at least 4 weeks on average lately and I just didn't think it was worth it anymore, but Netflix also makes it easy to downgrade to a $5 - 2 disc a month plan, so I downgraded instead of canceling. (HWISHWID)
» A stupid little photoshop graphic commentary on West Michigan's insane weather (see 4/11 post below) made it onto my co-worker's husband's blog. You can look at that if you'd like. (HWISHWID)
» Changed the background to my blog abit too. Been meaning to do that for awhile. (HWISHWID)
Friday April 13, 2007 7:22:20 AM #
» While the future is never quite this seemless and shiny, I still like these "futuristic" technology videos. Take a look at this UMPC focussed one from Intel. Sci-fiarific!
Thursday April 12, 2007 10:18:01 PM #
Heat Vision and Jack
» I came across the following link on Digg. Heat Vision and Jack is a 1999 Ben Stiller Produced TV Comedy Pilot staring Jack Black, as an Astronaut who flew too close to the sun, thereby having his brain expand like cookie dough, naturally making him three times smarter than any human alive, but only during the day. His partner 'Heat Vision' (voiced by Owen Wilson) is another astronaut who after being hit with an experimental ray beam becomes a talking motorcycle (ala KITT). The two are pursued by Ron Silver (playing himself: Ron Silver.) As they try to evade Silver they go from town to town in a television sendup of the hero shows of the 80s (Knight Rider, Six Million Dollar Man, A-Team, Street Hawk, etc.) I wouldn't say it's good, but it is interesting. Jack Black fans will enjoy this. Direct Link to the 30 min Youtube Video.
Wednesday April 11, 2007 7:00:03 PM #
» The above were taken today. All this snow has fallen in the last 7 hours. This is an insane state to live in when it comes to weather.
Wednesday April 11, 2007 6:12:36 AM #
Let's Go Surfing
» Cameron Stewart Grindhouse drawings. Nice.
» Katie Can Draw has Cartoony NBC Heroes drawings Entire Cast.
» Yet another online color picker. Kuler will let you enter CMYK colors directly, so that's useful. Overall slick. (Oh yeah it's on Adobe's site too.)
» Great idea for carring lots of grocery bags at once.
Tuesday April 10, 2007 7:28:38 AM #
Random Non-Sequiters
» Watched the first two episodes of Showtimes' Tudors last night. I enjoyed the shows. It's not as good as HBO's Rome, but it is similiar. A friend I was watching with nailed the reason why Rome is better: Rome has character's that are accessible as the everyman point of view and that are good guys you can root for. Everyone in Tudors is elitist, flawed and scheming (other than the humanist lawyer, who sofar doesn't play too essential a role), so from a story standpoint that's what doesn't quite work well. Basically, everyone is a bad guy.
Sam Neil as the Bishop is alot of fun to watch though. Good stuff until some of the more high profile shows return at least.
Let's Go Surfing
» Dean Trippe posts about a couple of Photoshop Extensions that make the process of laying down flat colors go faster. There's also a direct link to the freeware extensions. Available for both Mac and PC. Good Stuff.
» McFarlane Bon Jovi Action Figure. Somewhere overseas there is an assembly line churning out thousands of little plastic Bon Jovi's. Dwell on that concept for a moment.
» Darth Vader Popcorn Machine "Do not fail me this time kernal!"
Monday April 9, 2007 4:52:29 PM #
Are you familiar with Twitter? It looks pretty neat. The thing that I'm most intriqued by is the serendipity in that I wrote a similiar type of thing for my web page a week or two before Twitter blew up to the big time and I heard about it.
To me the short message blog format was a natural extension of AOL Instant Messenger's Away Message. I noticed that many people I knew on AIM were using their Away Messages as little mini blogs, and leaving notes on what they were doing at the moment. That idea combined with a new better internet capable phone, and I decided to write a small box for my blog (which has a wider friend audience than my AIM) that I could update with my own "Away"/"What I'm doing messages".
Looks like from the success of Twitter alot of other people have had the same idea.
Whats wills the internets comes ups withs nexts?
Monday April 9, 2007 5:52:29 AM #
Random Non-Sequiters
» Um, Why do this story with Green Arrow, if, um well your not going to have anything much about him actually be Green Arrow?
The upside is that most of these DC movies never get made so let's hope this one dies on the vine too.
» Sortof suprized that Grindhouse didn't do so well at the theatre this week. Course is wasn't exactly family friendly fare for a Easter Weekend, that probably didn't help. But still the commercials had a chick flying though the air with a fireball behind her firing a machine gun mounted to her leg. You'd think that would have done better than $11 Million. Probably going to be a good long while before they try another double feature.
Sunday April 8, 2007 11:13:07 AM #
Random Non-Sequiters
» So, there's going to be a Metal Men movie. The Metal Men are a very Silveragey concept. Outside of being a 3D CGI film for kids, I'm not sure you could really pull it off. Certainly the individual element aspect of the characters would be odd if portrayed in Live Action.
» Y'know a couple years ago I was starting to buy more Marvel Comics before all the crossovers kicked in. I like a shared universe, it's nice to have all the characters in the same house... but these massive crossovers are putting them all in the same bed instead. Looks like things are just going to get worse too.
DC ain't any better, the difference is DC fans aren't the same as Marvel Zombies. If you look at the Feruary 2007 numbers you can already see the "giant-universe-spanning-event-that-doesn't-actually-really-change-anything- important-and-only-leads-to-a-reboot-of-the-characters-you've-been- following-invaliding-your-previous-year-or-two-of-continuity-patronage" approach is failing.
I think fans are going to wise up and realize that they can drop these books for a year or two and that it doesn't make any difference, cause the stories "don't count anyway". They'll tell themselves "I can pick-it up later in the trade", and some will, but many will just fall out of the habit and drop the medium altogether. There aren't really many people reading monthly comics now... but I think the audience is going to get a whole lot smaller.*
*Unless small portable letter sized computer tablets and comics themselves become available online for 50¢ or 75¢. Then, watchout cause fanboys will get run over by the mass market.
Let's Go Surfing
» Mouse Guard Superman and Batman drawing Go Look!
» Roundtable talk with a bunch of comic folk on the use of thought balloons. Lengthy and deep. Good stuff.
Saturday April 7, 2007 11:59:39 PM #
At the Movies
» Grindhouse - I saw Grindhouse last night with a group of friends at the Rivertown Cinemark. At 3 hours 11 minutes you definitely get your money's worth. The first film (of 3 really) Planet Terror was the film that was the most fun. Planet Terror is the film with Grindhouse's signature character: Cherry Darling. Also in a lead role, Freddy Rodríguez (Six Feet Under) as Wray. I don't want to give too much away, but Wray is a bad ass, and alot of fun to watch Rodriques play. Rose Mcgowan rocks as the machine gunned legged Darling. Planet Terror's characters are all great really. I won't go into any of the plot because it's really pretty loose. It's a zombie movie, it hits the familiar beats of the genre, and is generally great (although gory and gross to the extreme at times).
Planet Terror ain't for the squimish. I'd say the overall it was far gorier than 300. There were several scenes in this movie that I just put my hands to my face and waited until the coast sounded clear before watching again, and I didn't have any problem at all with 300.
While the movie is billed as a double feature, Grindhouse's second film: Death Proof really is two seperate movies, with two different casts of characters, having only Kurt Russell's character in common. The Death Proof movies are the much more 60's/70's styled part of the film with a much slower pace and build-up (Well slow until that car chase in the second part anyway). If you're a fan of those Dukes of Hazzard style car chases, Death Proof is going to be a real treat for you. Fan's of Kevin Smith/Tarantino style films are probably going to also find a sensibility to enjoy in the talkiness of Tarantino's Death Proof duo.
Anyway, I'm rambling incoherently at this point. It's a good pack of films (And I'm not even going to get into the over the top trailers between the films) All are very violent, underscore very violent. Planet Terror reaches new lows of gorieness that will make you wince and cover your face at times uncontrollably. But all that said, if you're into this sort of thing, you really should go see it at the theatre. Grindhouse is something else.
(BTW: They oversold the sex... nothing to see here much on that front, move along.)
Let's Go Surfing
» This remote controlled Action-Figure sized R2D2 ($29.99) looks fantastic. Play the video below, and then take a look at Thinkgeek for more details and pictures.
» US Housing prices graphs done as a roller coaster. Neat.
» Ford CEO makes $28 million for 4 months worth of work. Something is terribly wrong. There are smart people, and probably smart people should be compensated more than less smart people. But noone contributes that much more to an enterprise than their average worker. That's out of wack.
» Cool little Star Wars Easter/Gift Boxes that you can make at Katie Can Draw and Star War Kids
» How is it that Hollywood can take two really good things, one: Dane Cook, and two: Jessica Alba in penguin panties but still make something that looks so bad: Good Luck Chuck
» Take a video tour overview of Joost. It's interesting software, but overall I think it's too far toward the old TV and Cable "control" end of the spectrum and will probably be a minor player compared to the more liberated Youtube and Google Video (or for that matter even iTunes) styles of video delivery of the world.
» I very much reccomend this Bruce Sterling SXSW Presentation MP3. Some really interesting thoughts on the future of culture and the internets. Also has some interesting comments on the current state of many things internet. The comments on blogs "Here's what I did, what I saw..." were also interesting. Good Stuff Give it a listen. (via SXSW.)
» Lewis Black to get his own show on Comedy Central. Patton Oswald and Greg Giraldo are in this thing too. Sounds like Tough Crowd with Collin Quin redux but it's Lewis Black, so if it's weekly, it could be good, I can't see Lewis Black pulling off a daily M-Th show though.
Thursday April 5, 2007 7:57:58 AM #
Random Non-Sequiters
» Last Night's Game Night we forgoed the usual Heroclix and played two games I hadn't played before.
Jurassic Park III Island Survival Game - (2001) boardgame geek | ebay. Fun Game where some players control the people or the dinosaurs. Basically you roll custom dice to travel through 4 different dinosaur zones. Trying your best to avoid the dinosaurs and make it to the otherside of the board. Make it to one of several "draw a card" spaces and you can draw cards, specific to the dinosaur area you are in at the moment, that alter the play of the game. Not a complicated game, but there's enough variation in play to keep it somewhat suspenseful while remaining true to the movie's frantic on-the-run from the dinosaurs feel. Good Game.
Guillotine - boardgamegeek | amazon. Fast paced card game, whereby you collect nobles worth various points from a card progression leading to a guillotine. Action cards allow you to effect the order of the nobles, adjust the value of your points and even effect the cards of your opponents. Fast paced, simple to learn, luck plus strategy, great cartoon art on the cards. Good Game.
» Also rewatched Jurrassic Park 1 during the game. I haven't seen that in awhile. Still holds up well. It was fun to see that again.
Wednesday April 4, 2007 6:32:37 AM #
Random Non-Sequiters
» Saw The Last Mimzy last night. Charming little movie that felt it belonged in an earlier time. The pacing was much slower than contemporary films, more characteristic of something from the early 80s than anything of present. On the downside of the movie, they pretty much give the whole thing away in an opening framing sequence. I thought perhaps they might "twist" away from the opening premise/direction of the movie, but as the movie rolled on that proved not to be the case. The movie is family friendly, but likely only the most attentive child would be able to sit through this films' slow build-up. With all that said, it wasn't bad, perfectly fine for a Tuesday night. If your up for something vaguely sci-fi-ish yet mellow, See.
» Also had some of Steven Colbert's Americone Dream ice cream last night, some friends brought some over before the show. Now, I'm not usually a fan of the the west coast liberal ice cream elite Ben and Jerry crowd, frankly, I find their little pint containers too quaint for my taste. Ice cream should come in half gallon bricks, something square that you can really get your hands around, but this Americone Dream was a delight, and to all the heroes out there, go out and pick up a pint or two or three, I'm not just saying that because it's endorsed by Steven Colbert. I believe it's the thing believer's in freedom should do. (It's delicious, it's got little bits of waffle in it) Moving on...
Let's Go Surfing
» Katie Can Draw has Battlestar Galactica and Grey's Anatomy Cartooning IN THE SAME POST! That's awesomtastic.
Tuesday April 3, 2007 8:20:53 AM #
Random Non-Sequiters
» Looks like it's going to be a rainy day in West Michigan today.
Let's Go Surfing
» Marvel Select Zombie Hulk. hard to tell from the photo but it looks more or less like regular Hulk to me.
» Pencils made from cremated humans. "Well Uncle Jim always did want to be a writer."
Monday April 2, 2007 7:34:36 AM #
Let's Go Surfing
» Friend Dan has stats and pictures of last week's Heroclix game. It was short, but a good one.
» A co-worker pointed me in the direction of Pandora, a custom streaming music website. You go to the site, type in an artist you like, and Pandora starts streaming that artist and similiar artists' music to you for free. Works really well. Good stuff.
» Someone had the idea for a Segway back in 1900. Neat illustration.
» Sugar in the shape and form of ants. Yum, sugar!
» Most awesome design for a brownie pan.
Sunday April 1, 2007 11:57:02 PM #
Scriblings
» Y'know what I miss about comics sometimes? The dots. You just don't get the dots and the bad registration anymore. I like dots. Fortunately with the photoshops you can add the dots back in. Dot's are much more forgiving than continuous tone too, you can get away with more with dots (not everything mind you, but more.)
A Lex Jr. design. |
