Wish List

Indeed, the updates on both blogs have become only sporadic, and if you're a fan of the Draft Distro, it's been dry as of late. Even my Facebook and Twitter presence has been abbreviated, simply because... well, I'm busy! So, to try to shame myself into actually doing some of the projects I would like to undertake, I am going to publicly list them to see if that will kick in my “I should DO this” sense. I doubt it will help, but who knows?

Record an album- Ever since I got my Mac with Garage Band built in I have toyed with the idea of recording music. Sure, I'm thinking cover album, but it would be fun to interpret some songs. Periodically I write down music I want to play around with recording, after seeing if I can put a Dan-spin on it. Gnarles Barkley's “Crazy” is on that list, along with the old standard “Satisfied Mind.” The biggest roadblock (besides time, which is the main factor slowing progress on all of these things) is that I have NOT been playing enough guitar this last year, and may need to downright relearn the mandolin. Bad on me. Very bad.

Finish the Johnny Duncan novel- If you've been over to the DDO, you've seen my detective, Johnny Duncan, and even read his first chapter. The whole thing started as a story on the original Draft Distro, and those four short stories form the outline for the overall novel. I am about five chapters in, but damn it's not just time on that, but mindset. I am not always in the right mental place to channel my inner Raymond Chandler, and when I am, it's usually while I am driving somewhere. One day, Johnny, you and me...

Finish all the scratchbuilds I have started- Look, I'm a crappy model builder, but I love doing it, and I love cobbling together parts to make new things. I currently have two Star Trek models sitting there waiting to be finished: one is an original design incorporating the Vulcan style ring nacelle into a Starfleet saucer and linear nacelle configuration. The other is based on the images from Doug Drexler's blog, which upgrades the NX-01 from Star Trek: Enterprise to having a secondary hull. Additionally, I want to rebuild the 1:18th scale bridge I built for my Star Trek action figures, and hope to convert one of the new “Agent Helix” figures from the G.I. Joe line into a modern Lady Jaye. Time, time, time...

Write a comic book- several scripts lying around, need a good artist. Simple fact is though, then I FIND an artist who will deliver, I will fall behind on scripts, and then I'll be no better than Jim Lee or Grant Morrison. Some of these comics include “The Bulge,” which sets Battle of the Bulge-like tank warfare in outer space; “Paragon,” a superhero who is all back and white, no gray areas, and truly loves what he does; “S.T.E.L.L.A.R.,” which tells the story of two future rivals, one a space pirate in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the other an agent of a tyrannical Human empire who's job is to track down the pirate; “Anna and The Human Tank,” about two children turned into weapons of mass destruction who find each other, and decide to retire from all the killing...if they can escape. None of these are coming soon to a comic shop near you.

Start an anonymous Twitter/Blog- Can't tell you what it's about because then it wouldn't be anonymous. I am however all about making points through pseudonyms! Sometimes a message needs to be separated from the one who delivers it. Of course, with how rarely I update the named blogs, that one's a ways off.

Script and film a movie- if you look over on the DDO, you will find “Down With the Sickness” in the original stories, horror section. It's all in my head how that needs to be filmed into a 20 minute short film, with just a few actors and a single set. Quite an undertaking though. Time AND money on that one...

Make more G.I. Joe photo comics- done a few, they are lots of fun if you don't mind wandering around with a camera and a bag of toys to find the right place to shoot the pictures. And, I don't mind.

Read the complete Sherlock Holmes- read a few as a kid, and have the full collection. Recently saw the Guy Ritchie movie version and loved it. Think I now have the maturity to digest 19th Century writing and adventure, need to take these in like I did the ERB Tarzan a couple of years ago.

Train for a half marathon- should be easy right? I mean I already did the full one. The “Mount Lemmon” half-marathon is 13.1 miles uphill. That's going to take prep I am not sure I have the time (or lungs) to accomplish.

So, that's the short list of undone things lying in my head and on my work table and on my hard drive. There's a short gap between semesters coming up, so maybe I can get something done there. Otherwise, looks like I might have a pretty full retirement!

Compare and contrast...

...the two most recent films you saw in a theater. Show your work. Be as spoiler free as possible.














Cost of production:
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra- $175 million.
District 9- $30 Million

Starring:
GIJ- Sienna Miller! Dennis Quaid! Channing Tatum! Marlon Wayans!
D9- Sharlto Copely? Jason Cope? Nathalie Boltt?

Director:
GIJ- Stephen Sommers (previous work “The Mummy” and “Van Helsing”)
D9- Neill Blomkamp (previous work... none, directorial debut)

Writer:
GIJ- Stuart Beattie, David Elliot, Paul Lovett, Michael Gordon, and Stephen Sommers
D9- Neill Blomkamp

What the films have in common:
Both feature extensive action sequences involving explosions and gunplay. Both feature a character going through a strange metamorphosis. Both show weapons tech ahead of its time.

Domestic profit as of 06 September:
GIJ- Still $40 million in the hole (Current domestic earnings around $139m, versus production cost).
D9- $71 million profit (Current domestic earnings of $101 Million, versus production cost).

Current Rotten Tomatoes ratings:
GIJ- 37% fresh
D9- 89% fresh

Lessons which will not be learned by Hollywood:
A smart director with a project he personally loves can make a more emotional, intellectually stimulating, and remarkable film with less money than the make up budget of an overblown piece of fluff there to do nothing beyond sell toys and distract an apathetic audience for two hours. The studio will make money on a smart film, and the critical review will be better. Relatively unknown actors who actually believe in the work they're doing will deliver better performances than big names who are just checking the "I need a blockbuster" block.

Summary:
In the end, regardless of the money the smaller, less expensive film makes or how much people agree its a good film, the toy and merchandise sales will out-earn the smaller film at every turn. G.I. Joe is also and easier film to make, requiring no sense of art or plot. It is also an easier film to watch, asking only that you turn off your brain, even if you are a long time fan of the characters (who are barely shadows of their much better conceived former selves). District 9 asks you to immerse yourself in a world perhaps too similar to our own, and watch as a lead character develops from hate-worthy to sympathetic to hero. It asks you to think about where you fall in it's allegory. It's a genuine fine piece of film, that may expend as much ammunition as G.I. Joe, but also tells you why.

Can you guess which one I liked better?

Reviews of things recently experienced...

Felt it was about time to throw some geeky talk up about some things read, watched, or listened to lately. There's some good, some bad, and there are better reviews than mine out there, but if I can warn you away from, or turn you on to something then cool!





Watchmen and Watchmen related products: There's a merchandizing blitz to go along with the movie. A lot of it is lame or makes no sense (the yellow keychains showing the doomsday clock with the blood drop on it...what? Completely inapplicable iconography). I have picked up the six inch DC Direct action figure set, and they are pretty well done, if you like the character designs from the film. The hovering Dr. Manhattan and the Golden Age Silk Spectre are the jewels of the line though.




There's a number of decent reprints of the original comic as well, which I am glad to see. My reader copy is about to fall apart, I may need a new one. So how do I feel about the film? I'm not going to rehash the story, but I give it a B+. I think it's a decent adaptation of the comic, with tweaks appropriate to film versus comics. It does make a couple of big missteps, but is visually stunning and has some really good performances from Jackie Earle Haley and Billy Crudup. They're actors I generally like anyway, but they truly bring their characters to the screen from the page. Now, I hear a lot of bad press on Matthew Goode's performance as Adrian Veidt- a character who is probably the most changed from the comic. I'm going to earn the eternal enmity of Alan Moore and many of his fans when I say I like the screen version of Veidt better than his print counterpart. As the world's smartest man, I really enjoyed the less obvious physical prowess, and I think his performance demonstrated someone far removed from normal human emotion and thought, and perhaps in his own way as detached as Dr. Manhattan.

The movie is brutal, even when it doesn't necessarily need to be, and on one occasion when it shouldn't have been. Then there's one of the most laughable sex scenes ever captured on film. Usually though, the movie is well on. It's not a flavor for everyone, and it asks you to pay a lot of attention to background details if you aren't as intimately familiar as I am with the source material. I am definitely looking forward to the extended cut, but was not as impressed by this film as The Dark Knight or even Iron Man. Cool though.




IDW comics is running the new GI Joe comic- one main title by Chuck Dixon, then two miniseries, one of which is by Larry Hama. Hama's work is supposed to be a lead in to Dixon's title (the origin of this re-booted Joe team). Yet, the tone and circumstances are so incredibly different they might as well be two different companies. If you can only go with one though, I have to recommend Hama's “Origins.” Dixon's work on Joe has always been lackluster to me (he took over GI Joe: Reloaded for Devil's Due Comics with issue ten, and rode it in like Slim Pickens ), and his work here is no different. I am sticking through the arc hoping it plays better whole than in parts. Hama's Origins is a solid read and a neat refurbishing of his original characters.





I am three episodes from the end of Battlestar Galactica. I pray to all that is holy they don't botch the end, because right now I am hooked up to my gills. I will give more when they do finish up, but even now, this show has given me the four best years of TV I have ever seen.




My good friend Eric recommended Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles to me. I had been reluctant to tune in, but you know what? It's groovy. What really sells me on the show is the idea that killing John Connor is only aspect of SkyNet's time travelling shenanigans. Stockpiling supplies, advancing multiple lines of AI so any one can evolve into the mainframe which actually causes Judgement Day- really neat thinking. Also, the writers have a slavish devotion to the first two films, and manage to completely erase the third! We'll see how the fourth plays out. I don't know if Lena Headey fills Linda Hamilton's shoes completely, but she's pretty good in her own right. She carries guns real good.






Watched M. Night Shymalan's Lady in the Water the other day, and got turned on to the end credit music, a little indy band called Whisper in the Noise. They do these very ethereal deliberate songs, and are really worth checking out.




Oh, before I go- one more gratuitous shot of Carla Gugino. She doesn't shy away from dangerous roles, and makes any movie she's in dramatically more watchable.

Oy, where are the updates...

Well, can’t say I’ve been rather diligent in my blogging, but I beg forgiveness, for as the eve of Babylonian elections draws ever nearer, the number of guests in my inquisitors chamber grows in direct proportion. I am not going to talk about Babylon or walks on the dark side or bad things this time though—lo I have become rather depressing dear reader, and surely you are ready to find a happier site (mycutepuppy.com or something). So this entry if going to be fun. I’m going to talk about comic books.

I love comic books. I mean really. Career, sure it’s OK. Family guy? Sure I am, and I like to think I’m OK with that too. But I love comics. Is it the seamless blend of visual art and narrative storytelling? Is it the iconic heroes embodying concepts like Truth, Justice, and doing the right damn thing? Maybe it’s the epic stories that span years of real time and generations in the comic book world. The fact is these modern myths thrill me, and I am hooked. There is of course the question that plagues all American comic book fans: DC or Marvel?

I love both. I will give my description of why I love each, and then we’ll talk about which one I prefer. Marvel Comics offers a variety of colorful characters who have miraculous powers, but are people like you and me. When Spidey laments over Gwen Stacy, we feel it. When he’s worried about classes, we understand it. We can commiserate with these characters because as Stan Lee says, when he wrote these characters he put his own thoughts and personality traits into them. Hulk is Stan’s anger. The Everlovin’ Thing is Stan’s sense of being an outsider. They are ordinary people in extraordinary situations and we love them for it.

DC? These are gods. Superman is all that is good and beyond temptation. Batman is the concept of justice in persona. Flash is the essence of speed itself. These are not people you commiserate with, these are people you aspire to. I don’t identify with Batman, but I want to be him. These are characters of a new Olympus.

So which do I prefer? DC. I like the bold presentation of iconic characters with no excuses. Sure I enjoy Wolverine, and love the well-written tales of his struggle with the animal within (sound familiar?), but as I said before, I want to be Batman. I want to be Superman.

OK, there are other comic companies too. Sam Keith’s The Maxx for Image was terrific, and Devil’s Due has some great franchise (GI Joe) and originals (Love Bunny and Mr. Hell). No issues with the good independents, but I think they will always be just that—the independents. I will always love Marvel; Hulk, Spidey, and anything Ultimate. But then there is DC. I can see my grandkids reading Superman like my grandpa did. Maybe 2000 years from now, High Schoolers will have to sit through American Mythology instead of Greek mythology. No more “Explain how Zeus gave birth to Minerva as the Goddess of wisdom…” but rather “How did Jason Todd succeed Dick Grayson, and what happened to him post Crisis?”

Wish I could be there. I’d get an A.