This is one of those stories that I think would work well as a TV series. It would be a bit different than most series, in that it covers two time periods at once, but that’s part of what makes it compelling. The basic structure of an issue is . . . → Read More: The Colors of Control: Ex Machina]]> An extremely long time after I started it, I just finished Ex Machina‘s 50 issue run. Brian K. Vaughn puts on a heck of a story.

This is one of those stories that I think would work well as a TV series. It would be a bit different than most series, in that it covers two time periods at once, but that’s part of what makes it compelling. The basic structure of an issue is that it starts in the past, and then moves into the present.

The story in the past covers the origin and selected high points of Mitchell Hundred’s career as “The Great Machine” – a flawed superhero with the ability to listen to and command machinery. For example, he can command a gun not to fire, a truck to drive away, or a bomb to not explode (for a while). He can have a cell phone tell him where it’s been… or tell it to shut-up. We see the “accident” that gives him this power, and watch as he learns to fight crimes, petty and large. We meet his nemesis, Pherson, who has the ability to command animals (excluding humans), and uses this power to cause destruction and death. And we see him in his final act as The Great Machine: stopping one of the planes on 9/11.

Each story in the past, however, quickly gives way to (and informs the plot of) the present. Mitchell has parlayed the popularity of his time as The Great Machine into a run as the mayor of New York City. Here we see him dealing with many social and political issues, intertwined with resurfacing issues from his super-heroic past. He’s vowed to put his past behind him, but can he ignore the ramifications of what he’s learning about himself and the true source of his power?

The government is watching him. His police commissioner is watching him. One of his ex-partners wants him back on the job as a super-hero, even if that means destroying his political career. The other will protect him with his life. He’s having dreams of his future – and visions of pain.

Can he single-handedly stop the destruction of the world, or is he fated to be the architect of its demise? Or maybe it’s somewhere in between?

It’s pretty cool stuff!

Excerpt from issue #1 - and more foreshadowing than I realized, despite its bluntness

Color plays an important role in the books. Those gifted with powers are scarred by lines on their faces that look like wire leads. Mitchell’s scars glow green. Pherson’s glow purple. White plays an important role later. Each color is part of the spectrum of control. Green for control over machines, purple for animals, white for … well, that’s a spoiler.

Even the final word in the entire series is a color: black. And it’s layered with self-reference, not to mention a kind of breach of the “fourth wall.”

Really well done. I recommend it as one of the better comics I’ve read. It’s for adults, though – graphic language, themes, violence, and visuals do appear. This one isn’t for kids. The themes explored about the nature of corruption and man’s motivations, hero worship and disappointment are pretty seriously tackled. (For more, with spoilers, about that, check out the view “from the gutter.”)

If you want to see Issue #1, DC Comics has made it available online.

Have you read it? Any thoughts?

(Btw… just because I avoid spoilers in the post doesn’t mean they aren’t in the comments.)

According to Slice-of-Sci-Fi…

The weekend closed out the books for the summer season and while ticket sales were up to $4.35 billion, the highest total ever for a summer season, overall attendance was down. Attendance this . . . → Read More: Throwing spaghetti on the wall]]> This post is going to be like throwing spaghetti on the wall: I’m just gonna toss a lot of stuff up here and see what sticks. It worked for Oscar Madison (okay, that was linguini – work with me).

Movie prices

According to Slice-of-Sci-Fi…

The weekend closed out the books for the summer season and while ticket sales were up to $4.35 billion, the highest total ever for a summer season, overall attendance was down. Attendance this summer was 552 million, the lowest total since 1997.

So basically, they’ve raised movie ticket prices to the point where they’re not just making up for low attendance in an effort to stay afloat like the rest of us, they’re gouging us to the level that they’re breaking income records, despite the fact that almost no one is showing up! And they’re still producing mostly crap. That’s just rude.

Websites

Dan, one of the fellow contributors to the Coalition of Awesomeness, has started a new blog called Kids Telly. The blog is meant to provide a perspective on pop culture aimed at kids, including movies, books, TV, music, and kids’ websites. The first website he’s reviewed is a real winner, I think, for the young crowd (Preschool/Early Elementary). Poisson Rouge is a site that kids can use without adult intervention, for the most part, and it’s educational and fun. Here’s how Dan describes it:

The outstanding feature of Poisson Rouge (or Red Fish for any fellow francophonicphobes out there) is it’s simplicity. There are no unfriendly menus, no instructions to follow, and most importantly no need to be able to read to use it. The numerous games are varied, intuitive, and elegant; but above all the site is a great deal of fun.

Check it out if you’ve got young ones… and by ‘it’ here I mean both Poisson Rouge and Kids Telly.

And speaking of the Coalition of Awesomeness, there’s some good stuff going on there as well. For my part, I’ve talked about the failed Babylon 5 sequel, Crusade, plus five other shows cancelled too early, and posited Kermit the Frog as my answer for “who would you entrust the safety of the world?” Later this week (I think) you’ll get to read my defense of a Nicholas Cage film. Check out the site later in the week to find out which one. [Update: here it is.]

While I’m plugging sites, check this out. Amadio Artworks is a great find if you’re looking for unique handcrafted home and garden art. I can’t call myself an expert, but I’ve seen this stuff in person and it’s really, seriously, good. My aunt got this started and sucked in the rest of her family. She’s been in some pretty prestigious art and craft shows and always does very well. Give it a look.

Good comics and bad adaptations

Last night I watched the movie version of The Losers. I had read the comic book about a year ago, and absolutely loved it. Really well done action book that just screamed out to have a movie made of it. It’s one of those rare books that I’d actually read with a big geeky grin on my face like I’d just watched a really good Zorro or Jason Bourne film. The action was great, if a little over the top (though that was part of its charm), and the characters and plot were well drawn. The movie I watched last night was, sadly, a pale reflection of that story. I totally recognize that the length of a movie couldn’t cover all that happened in the books, but this film started at just about mediocre and then went downhill. It wasn’t horrible – it could be enjoyed as a brainless action flick – but it just never pulled it together enough to even be something I cared about. I’d put it right about the same level as Fantastic Four. Skip the movie. Read the comics.

These days I’m reading the The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman. I’m on book 4 at the moment, and I’m just now starting to enjoy it. I actually kind of disliked the first book but kept going due to it’s reputation. Books two and three were noticeably better, but I was mostly reading it as mildly entertaining. Book four now is starting to feel more cohesive and worth my time. It’s the first hint I’ve gotten that it might live up to its reputation. I’ve also just read that Warner Brothers is in negotiations to make a TV series of the story. That’s the kind of news that has fans hopeful, but with a huge – almost overwhelming – fear that they’ll screw it up. Honestly, I can’t see network TV doing it justice, even though I’m only about halfway through the story. Maybe something like HBO (who are also mentioned as pursuing the idea) could pull it off, but not a network. They’d have to go too mainstream.

Music

A few nights ago on Facebook someone posted a video of “Birdhouse in your Soul” by They Might Be Giants. I really like that song, and it managed to pull me into a YouTube session for a couple of hours. The last time that happened, I ended up revisiting some of my favorite Homestarrunner.com bits. This time I ended up going a different direction and exploring some of the kid-focused music of TMBG and Barenaked Ladies… and a little Animaniacs. Here are a couple of the highlights:

Here Come the Geese – Barenaked Ladies (I couldn’t find the album version)

Meet the Elements – TMBG

The Alphabet of Nations – TMBG (love the piano)

Nations of the world – Animaniacs (a classic)

There were a lot more in that session, but that’s a decent representation. Fun and educational!

Well, I think that’s enough for now. This turned out to be a little longer than I thought, and didn’t even get to the frustrating Doctor Who news (they’re splitting the next season in half – dumb, dumb, dumb!).

I gotta go clean up the spaghetti I used as the inspiration for this post. In the meantime… what’s on your mind?

Super-Social Networking: Superhero Facebook Status Updates

My favorites are by far Spider-Man’s and Green Lantern’s.

They need one for The Tick, though… SPOOOOOOOOOON!

With characters that have as huge of an existing storyline as Green Lantern, it’d be easy for a movie like Green Lantern: First Flight to get lost in trying to add in all the cool stuff and cameos that could be covered. That isn’t the case here. This is a lean movie. At 70 minutes, you could actually argue that it’s too lean. But I still liked it.

Everything . . . → Read More: Review: Green Lantern: First Flight]]>

Green Lantern - First Flight

With characters that have as huge of an existing storyline as Green Lantern, it’d be easy for a movie like Green Lantern: First Flight to get lost in trying to add in all the cool stuff and cameos that could be covered. That isn’t the case here. This is a lean movie. At 70 minutes, you could actually argue that it’s too lean. But I still liked it.

Everything I know about Green Lantern and Hal Jordan in particular could fit on a half-sheet of paper. I’m no expert. I know the broad strokes. I’ve always loved the character and concept of Green Lantern, though. Intergalactic cops with the ability to temporarily create tangible objects by sheer will (thanks to their rings). Pretty cool stuff. Most of what I know I’ve gleaned from Justice League cartoons and comics, and a few crossover events.

Not being an expert, I have no ideas what true Lantern fans will think of this movie, but I loved it. Was it perfect? No. But I had a good time watching it and it was true enough to the backstory I knew to satisfy me.

The things I didn’t like were mostly just a lack of character definition. I don’t think enough time was spent defining Hal before he got the ring (which he does before the opening credits, as we’ve seen). It would have been nice to see him exhibiting some ingenuity and willingness to accept new ideas before throwing him into a situation filled with aliens and conspiracies. That was probably the biggest flaw with this movie, as far as I was concerned. They just jumped in a little too quick, and had him completely comfortable almost immediately. Five or ten more minutes at the beginning setting him up (in a way that played in to the story later, preferably) would have been well spent.

Aside from that, though, it was a fun ride. There wasn’t a whole lot of subtlety on display here. It’s pretty much a straight line plot, and you gotta roll with it. The final battle is really great. I especially liked the simple shots where the Guardians and other Lanterns are watching the mano-a-mano battle unfold in the sky. That gave the battle a bigger perspective, to me.

It should be said that I wasn’t expecting much from this movie aside from a fun ride. And that’s what I got. My expectations for the live action film will be much higher. It will need that character development and tighter writing to be successful. Compared to the other DC Comics animated movies I’ve seen, though, this is on par with most. Well worth a rental and an hour or so of your time. I’d even be interested in a sequel.

As for the DVD Extras… there was absolutely nothing about behind the scenes on this movie. There weren’t even Scene Selections available, which was pretty annoying. There were some behind the scenes featurettes on other DC movies/events, though. The Wonder Woman movie was plugged, and looks pretty good. But the one I’m really interested to see is Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. That one just looks like a good picture – plus they got the original actors back from the animated series (Tim Daly as Superman, Kevin Conroy as Batman, and Clancy Brown as Luthor). It really looks good. Looking forward to that one in a few months.

Aquaman.

Of all the Justice League characters, he is perhaps the most ignored. The most ridiculed.

To be fair, he talks to fish. Some ridicule is to be expected. And really, put him up against Batman and Superman and something seems to be … lacking.

This is my new favorite superhero-related song (or see the YouTube version):

Aquamans Lament – Mark Aaron James

I never really . . . → Read More: Aquaman: Lover, Fighter, or just all wet?]]>

It's funnier when you hear the song.

Aquaman.

Of all the Justice League characters, he is perhaps the most ignored. The most ridiculed.

To be fair, he talks to fish. Some ridicule is to be expected. And really, put him up against Batman and Superman and something seems to be … lacking.

This is my new favorite superhero-related song (or see the YouTube version):

Aquamans Lament – Mark Aaron James

I never really read any Aquaman comics. All I know of him is from TV, and a smattering of guest appearances in other comics.

My first exposure to him was in the ’70s in the Superfriends cartoon. It was hard to take him seriously… but then that could be said of most characters as portrayed in that cartoon. (I only need one word to demonstrate that: Gleek. If you’ve seen the show and that doesn’t conjure up images of cheesiness in your mind, there’s something wrong with your cheese-detector.)

The most recent TV appearances have been on Smallville, and then in the aborted Aquaman TV show, Mercy Reef [my review]. They started to build a decent character there. I’m actually a little disappointed Mercy Reef didn’t get aired. It coulda been good.

But in between Superfriends and Smallville, there was Justice League (and JL Unlimited [my review]). This is from his first appearance on the show. It shows where he’ll go.

That scene gave me a new respect for Aquaman. The Aquaman in that show was hard-core. He was in a perpetual state of “keep out of my business or I’ll gut you.” But in a nice way… sort of.

Aquaman (Alex Ross version)

Still… there’s something a little fishy about him. (sorry)

Show some love for Aquaman in the comments!

I’ve seen the trailers. I’ve seen a bunch of clips. It looks good. The visuals are great. Hard to say much else about it, though, so far.

I’m also reading the book for the first time. At the moment I’m over 3/4 through it, so I don’t know the whole story, but I’ve seen a lot of it. I like the book (probably not a surprise).

Here’s the thing, though. Everyone . . . → Read More: Quick thoughts on Watchmen: unfilmable?]]>

Is Watchmen unfilmable?

I’ve seen the trailers. I’ve seen a bunch of clips. It looks good. The visuals are great. Hard to say much else about it, though, so far.

I’m also reading the book for the first time. At the moment I’m over 3/4 through it, so I don’t know the whole story, but I’ve seen a lot of it. I like the book (probably not a surprise).

Here’s the thing, though. Everyone has told me that this is supposed to be unfilmable. I’m not sure why. Yeah, there are parts that would be challenging to film, but nothing, to this point in the book at least, seems insurmountable. The hardest things I’ve seen would be the concept of Dr. Manhattan’s perception of time and the juxtaposition of the pirate story (Tales of the Black Freighter) with the street corner characters. They certainly would involve some creativity to get on film, but I can at least conceive of how it might be done, and I’m not a filmmaker.

For what it’s worth, though, unless it becomes way more important in the last bit of the book (and it might) it sounds like the decision to remove the pirate story from the film is the right one. It’s not that it’s extraneous in the least in the book—it certainly adds to the book—but it’s also not central. I’m a little sadder to hear the street corner characters are all but missing, but I can live with that, too.

Of course, I may feel completely differently about that once I finish the story.

The frequency of flashbacks could be a problem for a mainstream audience, I suppose. I’ve seen a lot of movies that use flashbacks well, though, so I really don’t think it’s inconceivable that they could be done well here.

I’m a little annoyed that I can’t experience this film both with and without knowing the story ahead of time. I’d like to avoid the book ruining the movie for me, and vice-versa. It sounds like the movie will have a bit of a different ending than the book (or at least a different motivation for the villain), so at least there will be something original to judge on its own merits. Given that I can’t have it both ways, however, I think I’m making the right choice in reading the book first.

It’ll be interesting to me to get my wife’s take on the film. She has not, and will not have, read the book before we see the film. Whether the story is one she’ll get into is questionable. It seems like one that could go either way with her. It depends on which elements they emphasize. I’m looking forward to see what she thinks.

Now I gotta go read more of the book so you guys who comment don’t spoil the end for me… at this point I’m thinking Veidt is the bad guy, but I’m not positive yet. It does seem likely though, since he’s the only one they’ve built up as smart enough to pull something this big off. At the moment the motive seems to be money, but that could be a red herring. It would be kind of boring if it was.

Off to the book!

Not sure how that helicopter thing is going to work out… that looks a bit cheesy in the trailer, . . . → Read More: Wolverine movie trailer]]> I don’t know a whole lot about Wolverine’s origins other than what is in the X-Men movies. For some reason I never read the comics versions. I’m pretty excited to see this. Plus, it’s got Gambit. I know some people don’t like him, but he was one of my favorite X-Men from the TV cartoons.

Not sure how that helicopter thing is going to work out… that looks a bit cheesy in the trailer, but I’m willing to let it slide for now. Looking forward to this one.

Friday, December 9th, 2005

Looks like I am officially blogging. I am too cool for words. (Ironic, isn’t it.)

Thusly did this, my first blogging experience, begin. Pretty sad, really, but there you have it. Now here we are, three years and over 400 posts later, and I figure it’s about time I looked back to see if I’ve ever . . . → Read More: Three years of yammering on…]]> Three years ago today, at 11:48pm, I wrote these amazingly insightful words:

Check it out…

Friday, December 9th, 2005

Looks like I am officially blogging. I am too cool for words. (Ironic, isn’t it.)

Thusly did this, my first blogging experience, begin. Pretty sad, really, but there you have it. Now here we are, three years and over 400 posts later, and I figure it’s about time I looked back to see if I’ve ever written anything worth reading. (I figure I must have said something worthwhile at some point. It can’t be complete inanity, can it?)

To that end, here is a list of the posts I’ve written over the last three years that I think are worth a second look, roughly broken by category.

Comics (not much to choose from here, really)

• An attache case, an underground government, and a Spider-Man on the edge

Corporate World/Learning (there’s too much overlap between these to justify separating them for this purpose)

• Technical writers, pay attention
• A series reviewing Oprah’s “A New World” online training with Eckhart Tolle: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3
• Alice: Through the Monitor (or Creating new worlds for Novices)
• How to leave a lasting legacy
• Corporate Gaming: Recruiting and Training – this is a subject I should actually get back to at some point.
• Media and Technology issues for Learning and Persuasion
• Re-igniting Passion – This is a personal favorite
• Fight trolls with math!
• e-Learning Glitz: Misunderstanding video games
• Instructional Design reminders – This one actually shows up in a resource list on The Learned Man

Movies & TV (includes Reviews & Sci-Fi)

• Doctor Who reviews: 2005 & 2006, 2007, and 2008
• The best cancelled shows
• Review: The Second Chance – A movie by Steve Taylor with Michael W. Smith in the lead? Could this possibly be good?
• 11 minutes ago – I still want to see this full movie.
• Review: The Spider-Man Trilogy
• Top 10 most quotable geek films
• Review: The Prince of Egypt (and a quick review of the trailer)
• Review: Crash
• Review: Superman Returns
• Review: Justice League
• Crusade: What would have happened

Music

Hmm… honestly this category is pretty new and I like almost all the posts. If I had to choose just three though:

• MTV Yearbook – where does it take you?
• Five songs that altered my perceptions
• I’m a prejudiced idiot

Other

• What futility doesn’t feel like
• C.S. Lewis on living by hope
• Some people have REALLY short fuses
• Stuck in the office (or your in-laws’ house) during Christmas week? – Christmas Specials!
• Look out for the edge!? What edge?
• Swiping a sirloin is certainly stupid
• What I’ve been thinking
• Pennsylvania Gas Prices – Find Cheap Gas Prices in Pennsylvania – I actually use this all the time
• Does a sex offender live near you?
• Impairment while driving on phone > drunk driving and the related Cell phones + driving = drunk Driving
• Bryce Zabel: Those who can, teach
• Traffic jams
• Humility
• Stop everything

Parenting

• Kids in the movie theater
• Facebook points to the past, and I consider the future
• Grilled cheese and the science of successive approximation
• Little Mommy moments
• Heroes?
• Little Mommy drops the… um… ball
• Bad parenting confessions
• The Silence of the Lamb – actually my wife wrote this one.

Personal Finance

• Why I don’t have a dog
• I want to end my life, but I’m too lazy
• Saving 12% in interest in 10 minutes and its off-site follow-up: Don’t make the Dr. Evil error of assuming
• Unexpected costs, things that have broken lately, and lessons learned
• Why I hate unions
• Is a meal preparation service a good deal?
• The Simple Dollar – and other personal finance links

Technology

• Fixing published audio problems in Captivate 2
• I’m a casualty of war
• Free music and sound effects for podcasts
• Video: Photosynth demo – awakening to the true power of the web
• Dynamic Image Resizing
• Web 2.0 applications / free conferencing
• Making MP3s playable on a website, the easy way
• A slow day in the world of computer usability reporting
• The disfiguration of beauty
• Podcasting for corporate training example – how I did it
• Wiki’s in a corporate environment

Well, what do you know… that list turned out longer than I thought. I probably wasn’t as judicious as I should have been in a couple categories, but I really think most of those posts don’t get the traffic they deserve – especially the Corporate World/Learning set, though I know the audience for that is limited.

Anyway… I hope you click through to at least a couple of them. It’s been a fun experience to write this stuff for the last three years, and I hope it hasn’t been too boring for you (but then, no one’s forcing you to read this… unless you’re my wife).

Also, if you have any suggestions for things you’d like to see here in the future, please let me know in the comments. I really do like feedback.

Superman: Doomsday, being the animated version of the “Death of Superman” comic book series, had the perfect chance to prove that sentiment wrong. It was a . . . → Read More: Review: Superman: Doomsday]]> I read somewhere recently that comic books do superhero fights better than movies because things happen too fast in the movies. I understand where that’s coming from, but I’m not sure I buy it completely. Spider-man’s fights were pretty cool in the movies (especially vs. Doc Ock), for example.

Superman: Doomsday, being the animated version of the “Death of Superman” comic book series, had the perfect chance to prove that sentiment wrong. It was a good fight (two good fights, actually), but I suspect the comics had more impact for most people. They simply had more time to be involved in the story surrounding the death in the comics. I think that’s the failure of this movie: they didn’t spend enough time on the lead-up to the death.

Yes, we clearly get the impression that Doomsday is heartless and mindlessly violent, and Superman has to take him down. We also get the impression that he’s tough – real tough. But I never saw anything registered on Superman’s face, or spoken in his lines, that showed me that he knew this might be the most physically challenging thing he’d ever faced – that he might have to sacrifice himself to stop it. That would have put this movie over the top for me – his self-awareness.

I couldn’t help but make comparisons of the final fight with Darkseid in Justice League Unlimited. Though much shorter, it made more of an impact with me because of the speech he made:

That’s the kind of thing this movie needed.

Still, the beatings in this movie were impressive.

The one thing I like more about this movie was the scale of destruction wreaked by the fight. That was much closer to what it would be like if a battle this epic were to be fought. Buildings were brought down in no uncertain terms. There were whole blocks ruined by these fights. The final blow thew out a shockwave that was almost nuclear in its force.

There were two fights in this movie. Obviously, you can’t have the death of Superman be the end of the movie. You gotta show the comeback, so the death was only half the story. The second battle pits Superman as the underdog. That one, I think, was done better than the first. More time was spent in dialog expressing the thoughts of the combatants – though I still never got a sense of regret from Superman, which I think would have been appropriate for his character.

The movie could have benefited from an extra 5 to 10 minutes on character moments intertwined with the action. That would still keep it under 90 minutes total.

One other thing: while the body count in this film is high, there are only two instances of blood shown. I’m glad the team decided to keep it “clean” because this is bound to be seen by kids. There is a part of me that wants to see the adult animé version of this, though. Take a look at a contrast between his death in the movie vs. the comic book version:

For all those who want to be spoiled for the first fight, here it is in full. My favorite moment: when he grabs Doomsday by the teeth.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/Noedf3JhFYA" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

If you’re into Superman, rent this one. There’s even a moment where Lex surprised me. Maybe I’m too used to Lex in Smallville, but this Lex is cold.

The next Stargate SG-1 film titled Stargate: Continuum now has a July 29 DVD release date.

Marvel has announced that Iron Man 2 has been confirmed for release in 2010, in addition to a movie about Thor. Also reported: the Avengers and Captain America (with Matthew McConaughey as the lead?) in 2011.

Also . . . → Read More: Movie news roundup – Sci-Fi and comics lovers, rejoice!]]> Lots of news and some rumors hitting the net lately… here are the best of the bunch for Sci-Fi and comics lovers:

The next Stargate SG-1 film titled Stargate: Continuum now has a July 29 DVD release date.

Marvel has announced that Iron Man 2 has been confirmed for release in 2010, in addition to a movie about Thor. Also reported: the Avengers and Captain America (with Matthew McConaughey as the lead?) in 2011.

Also announced by Marvel: an Ant Man movie, though the timeline for the film is unknown. (This is where they start to lose me… Ant Man? Seriously? I think they’re stretching to reach a mainstream audience with that one. My guess is his popularity in the Avengers movie will determine if this one really gets made.)

Iron Man, Tony Stark, will make a cameo in The Incredible Hulk.

Superman: Man of Steel will now not be delayed due to the “Justice League of America” film but is geared up for a 2009 release with Brandon Routh back as Superman.

Both Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and The Dark Knight will run over 140 minutes. In fact, The Dark Knight may run close to three hours.

Speaking of The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan has signed on for a third Batman feature, and Christian Bale has expressed interest as well. Details of plot are even starting to circulate – apparently the film will focus on Two-Face and may introduce Robin, following the plot of the graphic novels “The Long Halloween” and “Dark Victory” for a rough outline.