Monthly Archive

Check out this concept art for Supergirl.

What are you doing DC?!  Where is the absurdly long torso?!  The supershort skirt?  The rib cage?  The globe-like breasts?  The impossibly long legs?  Are you trying to betray the fanboy community?

SHORTS?!  I mean, how are readers supposed to anxiously wait for random shots of Supergirl’s “super bits” when they will be covered by shorts?!  And Tony Bedard, the new writer wants her to “eat something” and cover up a bit more?!  That’s it, DC, no more writers who have daughters!  They get crazy ideas about how to write female characters.

And keep the Ian Churchill and Michael Turner style artists on your girl hero books!  I mean, Renato Guedes draws regular looking legs, and now Supergirl looks fat…it’s like that girl who won American Idol a few weeks back!  Okay, maybe fat is unfair.  But totally chunky.  If I wanted fat heroes, I would look in a mirror!

Why DC?!  Why are you not listening to your loyal readers who want a skinny jailbait Supergirl?!  Why do you betray them with such a travesty?  What’s next?! Marvel stops making Hentai covers?

You know…the tentacle cover for H4H is bad and inappropriate…but this is even…well…creepier.  But you know, this is why some fans don’t read American comics…?

UPDATE:  The Publisher decided not to go forward with publishing Nymphette.

I just finished re-watching season 2.  And it got me thinking.  Everyone has characters on the show they like and dislike, and sometimes those likes and dislikes shift.  I know a lot of people that got real tierd of Charlie after his dark turn in season two-and even just back in season one.  But in the span of about three or four episodes at the end of three, people who were weary of the character have said they really found themselves liking him at the end of season three.

As a fan of Locke (in all his tragic, funny, exciting and creepy moments) I was surprised to find there are people that do not like Locke.  And more than one person I have encountered cite “having not forgiven him for what he did to Boone.”  Now, remember, Boone died because he would not get out of the plane when Locke begged him to.  Now, Locke justified Boone’s death by telling himself it was a sacrifice the Island demanded.  Now, I can understand people being put off by Locke’s single mindedness.  But what catches me off guard is how often viewers who do not like Locke with say how much they liked Michael.  You know, Michael…the guy who regularly threatened the lives of fellow survivors (including Locke for being *gasp* nice to his son).  Remember Michael?  he sanctimonious victim of the island?  The guy who shot Ana Lucia and Libby-then set Ben (leader of the Others) free and led his friends into a trap set by the Others-WILLINGLY?  Sure, many will argue that it was understandable, he was trying to get his son Walt back.  Somehow, I have a hard time seeing that as absolving murder and betrayal.

What Lost characters do you like that it suprises you others don’t?  What characters are popular and you just do not understand it?

…to offer today.  So I will just say…aren’t Rose and Bernard on Lost great characters.  We should see them more than we do.  To bad noone on staff at Lost reads my blog to get that message.

 Also, am I the only one who finds it funny that Sam Anderson (Bernard) and Daniel Dae Kim (Jin) were both evil lawyers who worked at Wolfram & Hart on Angel?

Here we have come to a personal favorite Rock TV. That’s mainly (I admit) because along with how it turned out? I thought of the basic premise. I mentioned it to Ted, who liked it enough continue pitching until the rest of the team said “Okay”. Peter has admitted to being less confident about it at the beginning. But I think it’s an idea that just required the team dedication.

Set in a documentary format, this explores the North American Geek. I hope people take it in the spirit of fun that was intended, and it is not meant as a (mean spirited) swipe at geeks (As I is one)

I really like how the stuff at the end turned out, where we get into the hunting of geeks. I made the bumper stickers on the car, and supplied pretty much all the T-Shirts, comics, trade paperbacks, DVD’s…I am also the running, flailing geek being chased by the jocks. That broughtback painful memories of high school.

I would say Kevin and his Xena fetish, Ted the Hunter and the geek dating sequence were my favorite moments. Hope you enjoyed it!

Yes…there will be all sorts of SPOILERS about Lost in this post.  Avoid reading past the little picture if you have not seen the season finale!

So, we got to the season finale of season three.  And I just have to get it out of the way.

Read the rest of this entry »

I watched an incredibly bad (almost funny bad) horror flick after working the video store last night. But it did have a rather funny casting moment. The movie centered on a fast food themed killer, and one of the employees of the fast food joint was none other than Morgan Spurlock.

(It also featured “Jan” from the American Office and a guy from According to Jim)

(Yeah…I got nothing of substance today)

A woman states she was raped.  The Barrister gives her advice.  She should be happy for the attention?  Because, gee, she’s overweight?  Hear that my fellow fatties?  We should feel lucky if we are assaulted, it’s the only attention we might get.

Tentacle Porn? (Link is not work friendly!)

On the cover of a comic supposedly appropriate for ages nine on up?  People are alreadytalking boycott…and while I am not at the point of not buying anything Marvel, (I tend to prefer in rewarding the positive-not hurting the good to send a message about the bad) I can really understand the people who are ready to do that.  Of course, I think DC is doing just as piss poor a job in how they treat women in their comics, and this is not any worse that what DC has offered us…but it’s equally insulting.

What’s going on in editorial that this cover was not seen as a bad idea?  Come on Quesada and Co.  This one should have been a no-brainer.  Are you trying to get people to run like Forrest Gump away from your company?  But then, as the sell out of the Mary Jane statue shows, Marvel isn’t really worried about what a fair number of readers think…as long as the fanboy dollar is there.

Why do you work so hard to alienate so many, big two?

Update:  Heidi MacDonald over at the Beat gets a little more in depth.

Do check out this story from the Beat.  Dammit.  These people are the reason I cannot fill my sketchbook at cons anymore.  Check out the comment from Charles Vess. 

So, I watched the Good German on Sunday.  It’s an interesting film.  It is very clear that they went to painstaking lengths to make this feel like a movie from the 40’s or early 50’s.  The music feels like it is from that time of filmmaking, overly dramatic-even when it is not needed.  It’s in black and white, and the images look a bit faded, but the lighting is terrific.  The acting is just slightly over dramatic as well.  Steven Soderberg achieves a near pitch perfect feel of an old time noir film.  George Clooney and Cate Blanchett both feel like old time movie stars in this picture.  Either one would be at home in a film like Double Indemnity or Casablanca(Have I ever mentioned that I love Casablanca?  Cause I do).  Everything feels right…except one.  The repeated use of the words “fuck” and “fucking”.  Now, i don’t have a major problem with the profanity in modern movies…but to pay such close attention to detail in attempting to emulate the movies of the past-and yet ignore such a glaring difference between then and now?

So, Joss Whedon wrote this interesting piece. And for the most part, I agree with him…however, I take issue with this theory:

“Women are tough enough to have and nurture children, with or without the aid of a man. Oh, and they’ve also got the equipment to do that, to be part of the life cycle, to create and bond in a way no man ever really will.”

Men and women have the equipment for the life cycle. You take away one or the other? The species won’t propagate. Men are capable of nurturing and raising children, without a woman. I think Whedon is making a mistake in logic, one that the ideologies he is questioning make. Woman as “other”. And he raises them on a pedestal-based on their pro-creative aspect…he’s objectifying, well meaning theory or not. Pro-creation is not just something women do. It’s something men and women-the human race-does.

Just read this.  Lisa says it better than I could have.

This could all be bunk. But to be honest? I would be more than surprised if the facts as we know them now in regards to global warming/climate change were the end all. I would not be surprised at all if scientists are revising their theories over the next few years. Heck, we believed in glabal cooling before we revised that theory to global warming. I think to just assume we have it all figured out now is absurdly naive, as science is in constant motion.

Karen Healy explains in detail each of the arguments from Anti-Comics-Feminist Bingo Card and why they fall apart.

Maxim makes us proud. I mean, who would have expected this thoughtful, introspctive look at the impact of female comic book heroes on pop culture, and how they helping change sexist attitudes-oh wait…uh…nevermind. Thanks Maxim.

Jessica Alba wants to be known for more than simply being HOT. My recommendation? Don’t do photo shoots in a little swimsuit that is all about looking hot. On top of that? Start taking roles in films that do not rely on your being in spandex or bikinis for the majority of the film. Acting lessons, you are able to work within the demands of the films you have been in, but I am not confident you have the chops of say…Cate Blanchett or Judi Dench.  If you want a career past, say, 36? Follow this advice.

And so the season ends with many open questions…

First off, I really enjoyed this finale.  It touched on the relevant storylines, had good awkward moments and had an out of left field resolution to the main plot.

First off, Michael’s continued belief that life is going his way, with no fall back plans is both painful and funny.  Who sells their condo for a job, when they have not even interviewed yet(On Ebay no less!)?  And to announce his replacement the day before the interview?  Oi.  I am not sure, however, that I buy Dwight would have been the company choice of successor.  I think they would have offered it to Jim first…you know, seeing as how Jim is the second highest ranked person in the office.

But avoiding that logical pitfall, watching Dwight take over was a riot.  His instant plan to remove Jim from the number two spot, painting the office black (to intimidate suboordinates), being his own assistant manager (he needed someone he could trust)…these are all the situations where the writing and actors seem to excel.

Of course, the Jim/Karen/Pam saga continues.  I did really like last week’s moment where Pam walks over coals and then makes her confessions of missing Jim’s friendship.  And the obvious division that brought between her and Karen (who had gotten along pretty well up until that point) was a nice touch.  Karen’s desire to not work in the office is pretty understandable, as the awkwardness of the situation with Pam has escalated.

A fiend of mine was expressing frustration that they were still milking the Jim/Pam storyline.  I am no so bothered by it, because it was obvious that the relationship with Karen was not meant to end that story.  It was meant to be a kink in the storyline.   My pal asked why there needs to be resolution, but this is ultimately a comedy show, where dangling plot lines left unresolved makes little sense and harms viewer satisfaction.

Think about it, in real life, unrequited love has some resolution…you reach a point where you move on.  The problem with that approach is, Jim and Pam have not reached that point in the story.  Furthermore, this is not unrequited love.  Unrequited means the person you love does not love you.  Clearly Jim and Pam are not unrequited with each other.  It’s obvious they still are interested in each other.  That said, I like Karen and I want to see that relationship last a bit longer.  I was surprised it lasted pretty much all of season 3.  And honestly, the open door on Jim/Pam just does not bother me, because, they did not close the door on it.  It was not like the show said it was over.

Now most every episode has an “OH MY GOSH…MICHAEL NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” moment.  And the season finales often ratchet that up.  Season three was no let down.  Michael does not know when to keep quiet…and his telling Jan she was fired was one of those moments.  Michael standing just outside the door as Jan yelled at her boss and losing it in the middle of Karen’s interview was a classic Office moment.

Of course, Jim’s interview was interesting as it seemed to cement his desire to stay at the Scranton office (especially with Pam’s little note)…and I am unsure what his final moment meant…he asks Pam to dinner.  This of course sets off folks anticipating they are going to get them together afterall.  I mean, he calls it a date!  But honestly, the Office crew have thrown us for loops before and taken what looks predictable down another road.  So, I would not be surprised if Jim asked Pam out to help him with Karen.  Misleads like this are their style.

But really, the best moment was seeing Ryan getting the job-never having hinted that he even applied-and (without looking at her) tells Kelly,”We’re done.”  Never saw it coming.

Scrubs on the other hand?  Scrubs has returned to their well one to many times.  And remember how I was not bothered by the Office milking the whole Jim and Pam thing?  Scrubs is the other end of the spectrum.  Dammit, I thought we were done with JD/Eliot!  You know why?  Well, there were audio commentaries on DVD saying that door was closed.  There were episodes explaining how it was just simply over.  Finito.  Complete.  And I was happy with that.  The JD/Eliot relationship is annoying.  But no, suddenly, AGAIN, JD has “feelings” for Eliot.  And they end on that stupid cliche of of the panicked people, both “trapped” by their respective commitments who give in to their passions.  Dammit, I am tired of that.  Come up with something new!  Whatever, Scrubs…to have the high note of Laverne’s storyline marred by this loser of a storyline is depressing.  You can do better…why do you keep going back to the JD/Eliot well?!

UPDATE:  YIKES!  Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery.

Clearly, the fight that started back around Ultimates # 9 took a reeeeeal long time. Between issues 12 and 13? Apparently the Ultimate Marvel Universe managed to hold an election. To give that flair of realism, Millar has tended to go and use real political folks. They mention nancy Pelosi…who was not speaker at the time the fight started.

Not to mention that when the fight actually began around issue 9? The Ultimate Galactus story had also just started. Like I said. Longest comic book fight ever.

I note that on Monday someone found my site with the following search string:

do you best Pierce a baby ear high

Um seriously? Please don’t pierce your baby’s ear. If you really need to to have your baby’s ears pierced? Then please don’t do it yourself. And especially not high.

And I also like this search string. This is a person that really gets what feminists are all about.

feminists hate large breasts

It’s good to know people are listening.

In lighter fare…I turned on the TV this morning and got to watch the Fox and Friends crew masturbate to the Fox Republican debate they hosted last night. When asked who won, Steve Doocy said, “Fox! Especially when compared to the debacle a couple weeks ago on CNBC.” He also made sure to insult Chris Matthews. This was the first that I heard that it was a “debacle”. They highlighted the Fox Debate’s high moments. These mainly consisted of the ten candidates ripping on each other. Then Doocy and company went on to whine about newspapers not putting the Fox debate on their front page. Because at Fox…you know…they report…you decide.

Seriously.  I am at a loss for words.  I was never fond of the guy, but I am also not a fan of dancing on graves.

So Long Rev. Falwell.

And that means I have been blogging for about four years. So in honor of that-here is my first entry ever (From May 15 2003)!

So…I wanna be a star…

Well, not really. I want to be a writer. Maybe a comic book or two…and screenplays. When did I come upon this realization? From birth? No. When I was a kid? I wanted to draw. I wanted to draw my little heart out. I created goofy, pale imitations of my favorite superheroes. I can still remember the muscular torsos characters with really short legs. Such as “Turtleman”. Oddly enough, he was not a Spider-Man rip off-no, he aped Green Lantern.

I wanted to draw comic books. I realized something a few years ago. I am a really slow artist. I take forever to draw.

I love movies. Not love like I would love a wife, of course. But I really enjoy them. All kinds. Dramas. Family films. Horror movies. Sci-Fi. Anime. Action. Comedies. Even chick flicks. I like to think about the stories. How they unfold, how the actor did. I fell in love with storytellers. I wanted to be one. And then I saw the Matrix. Dammit.

I daydream stories like that at work when I am tired of listening to the phones. And the phones at work never let me out of the world. Cheap ass phone lines. I predicted Identity by accident…because twenty minutes in, I started thinking “what would make a really cool story”…only to see on the screen that someone else had the same idea. Only they sold it as a script. So back to the Matrix. I thought,”The difference between me and these two brothers is they wrote the idea down!” Well, that and they directed a lesbian sex scene between Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon, but I digress. Why didn’t I(write my stories down, not make movies with lesbian sex)? The first person who kills my story by explaining all the other difference has to go to bed without supper.

So I started. First, I bought some books, including Max D. Adam’s the Screenwriter’s Survival Guide(both entertaining and insightful) and William Martell’s Secrets of Action Screenwriting(it’s not just explosions, guns and brainless babe victims).

And then I started to write. And made two giant errors. I started to write more than one script. Bad idea-but made sense at the time. But you really getting nothing done. You have fifteen scripts-and about thirty pages between them. Second? No backup. Everything was on my hard drive. And one day, George Clooney erased my hard drive. He’ll deny it, but it was his doing. See, I was making a backup CD of the O’Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack(ironic, huh?). And something went horribly wrong. The CD didn’t like the computer and everything went black. When I rebooted, and rebooted….and rebooted…the monitor just SAT there. It stared blankly at me like it was one of the Hilton girls. I had lost everything. Including one nearly finished script. And I crawled into the fetal position. And cried like a girl meeting N’Sync. Now I back up all my work.

So, now I am rewriting my main script…and saving the other ideas to touch on after. Up next…other jobs I would like.

So yeah, I want to write stories that will get turned into talkie pictures that move. And drawn ones that don’t. Gimme your love.

This is how my family is spending our mothers day…

Best Wishes all!

A small battle of words has broken out over this(and it’s follow-up posts).

Now, do I think super-hero comics are primarily read by men?  Yeah.  Do I think, to a large extent, a lot of the marketing divisions of Marvel and DC still kind of has them in mind as their primary source of income? Probably.

So should we just shrug and say oh well?  Are we asking too much for comics to not pander to the lowest aspect of maleness?  Is it asking too much for female heroes who are just as fully realized as characters as their male counterparts?  Is it asking too much that they not be played up as merely “hot babes in spandex”?  Is it crazy to ask that Powergirl be more than a pair of breasts with a super powered person attached?

I think the answer is a pretty resounding “no”.  Yeah, the main audience buying comics is male.  But that hardly means sexist portrayals of female heroes is acceptable.  It hardly means we just stop challenging the industry toward better portrayals of women in super hero comics.  Will that change bring more women readers in?  Maybe not, but it sure can’t be a bd thing for the readers that are already here.

Imagine a show on TV that had a primarily white audience being defended by,”Well, our audience is primarily white, so it does not really matter if our minority characters are basically stereotypes.”  Would we nod and just say, “That’s the just the way it always has been and always will be”?  No, we would ask for change.  We would be seeing letter writing campaigns to get the guy who said it fired.  “Thats just how it is” seems like a defense for doing/saying nothing.

Super-Hero comics that are not sexist are good whether there are a lot of women reading them or not.

I read this the other day.

I am betting the writer missed the irony. To combat anti-Islamic propaganda, the writer indulges in anti-Christian propaganda…and to top it off? Plays they “Oh, we are not as bad as so and so” card. That’s not a winning argument. Furthermore, the majority of people spreading “propaganda” are addressing a very specific division of the Islamic community. The part that believes it is a-okay to blow people up. These people exist. It is not propaganda. Using a Mickey Mouse like character to spread terror ideology? That’s propaganda.

Terrorists who claim Islam and want to blow up Infidels exist. Only a fool would claim they do not. But it takes a bigger fool to pretend that is propaganda. As I noted, very few are claiming this is “All of Islam”…so if you don’t want to have your faith tarred by bigots? Take the first step and you know…don’t be a bigot by tarring another religion with propaganda.

(Terrorist Mickey was dropped by Hamas…according to Hamas, it was a “miscalculation.”)

Both Christianity and Islam have some violence in their past. Own up to it. Admit it. Move forward.

UPDATE:  Never mind.  Hamas gets to continue to air the show.  They “misunderstood the problem.”

So, thanks to an observant video store clerk, a terror plot was busted up.  All I can say is that I am sure glad we are fighting them in Iraq and not here in Ame-um…rather, I sure am glad we aren’t leaving Iraq yet, because we would not want terrorist following us back he-uh…nevermind.

Anyways, stopping the terror plot?  That part is the good news.

You know…one thing I find absurd in the internet world is how whenever a new comic book movie comes out…there is a tidal wave of negativity declaring how badly a certain film sucked.  I dread it with every release.  Spider-Man 3 (which I have not seen) could have beentop calibre stuff, and there would be a cadre of people to say it sucked.  The one surprise was the absurd free pass Superman Returns got.  It was not much better than X-Men 3, yet, while the fanboys raged against X3 with no mercy…they tried to pretend the major flaws that overwhelmed Superman Returns didn’t matter.

But for all the flaws, most movies the fanboy community call awful and declare as sucking…well…did not suck.  They usually were not even “bad”.  What they were was…mediocre.  Example?  Ghost Rider could have been faaaaaaaaaaar worse than it was.  Same for Daredevil.  Okay, I will give you Elektra and Catwoman.

Seriously, this is true of a lot of movies that get accused of being horrible are really just…average.  Some are even entertaining.  You would never know this from the fanboy community.  I have seen such absurd claims as if you take someone to Spider-Man 3, you must hate them, or you should only take an enemy to Spider-Man 3.

Seriously, people?  You really think the film was that bad?  I gotta admit, I kind of envy your world where your movie viewing has been so limited that you can declare a movie as that bad.  I mean, you didn’t enjoy it…fine.  But fanboy criticism usually lack common sense and a certain amount of reason.  Instead of saying the movie was disappointing, fanboys fall all over themselves to over exaggerate just how bad the flaws were.

So, if you are wondering about whether or not Spider-Man 3 is any good, I recommend avoiding the fanboy community for advice.  Unless you are asking me.  I am fair and balanced, afterall.

See?  I wish the X-Files would have been this smart.

Man…sixteen episodes a season for the next three years…

Spoilers for a lame 1973 movie follow:

One of the things I enjoy about having Netflix is renting weird films.  This was one of them.  The Baby starts out “innocently” enough.  We see some woman, Ann (Anjanette Comer), looking at photos of a young infant as music plays.  Bad 70’s movie music.  Music that seems almost inappropriate for the film.  This may have been a a TV movie.  As Ann goes through the series of pictures, we see the baby grow into a man, but the man is dressed like an infant.

It turns out that Ann is a social worker, and this young man is her new case.  She goes to meet the family of the man.  The family consists of Mrs. Wadsworth (the mother, played by Ruth Roman) , her attactive-yet creepy-daughters Germaine (Marianna Hill) and Alba (Suzanne Zenor) and Baby (David Mooney/Manzy).  Baby has no other name than that.  Apparently, his father ran out on the family when he was an infant.  It’s unclear why the family felt compelled to keep Baby in a state of infancy, but they did.  At first, they seem open to Ann being the new case worker, that is, until she actually starts showing up regularly and taking an interest in Baby’s case.

The family shares little information and seems to have a creepy incestuous vibe.  Specifically hinting at this is a moment when Germaine takes off her nightgown and gets in her brother’s crib as he sleeps.  While the scene is not graphic, it implies some freaky family dynamic.  They try to get info from Anne that suggests not so good intentions.  Especially when we discover the last social worker to take an interest in Baby disappeared.  Does she have a husband?  Where does she live?  She does divulge that she was married, that her husband had been in an accident and she lives with her husband and mother-in-law.

Ann appears to be the epitome of the concerned social worker.  While the family insists that Baby is mentally disabled,  Ann is certain they intentionally stunted his growth.  She tries to get doctors to see him, but the family refuses.  Finally, they get Ann removed from their case.  But Ann is determined to help.  She stops by the house and threatens to get Baby taken away from the family.  Mrs. Wadsworth gets angry and starts cursing at Ann.  But Ann is not scared as she walks to her car.

The next day, Mrs. Wadsworth calls and apologizes and invites Ann to Baby’s birthday party.  Ann agrees to show up.  It’s a weird looking party for a “baby”.  Purple psychedelic lighting.  People smoking weed, inferences of sexual activity and mom continously trying to get Ann to drink.  Finally they knock Ann out and tie her up in a room.  But Ann is resourceful.  She gets free and sneaks out the door-taking Baby with her.

Ann starts to send letters to the family with pictures of Baby standing in a suit and saying they will never have Baby again-even if they get him back, she has been changing him-undoing all their years of repression.  This freaks the Wadsworth clan out.  And they decide they have to get Baby back before it’s to late.  Late at night they sneak to Ann’s house.  Mrs. Wadsworth send Alba and Germaine in first. 

After waiting for an eternity for her daughters, Mrs. Wadsworth sneaks into Ann’s house.  She stops to listen, and suddenly feels some taping her face.  he touches her cheek and sees red.  She looks up and sees  daughter Germaine dangling over the rail.  She runs up the stairs to Germaine’s lifeless body and starts to cry, then she hears someone calling out to her.  She turns to see Alba  stepping out from another room.  Alba falls to the ground, revealing a large knife in her back.  Mrs. Wadsworth comes forward, only to be shocked by Ann leaping from the shadows with a butcher knife.  Ann misses, they struggle, and Mrs. Wadsworth gets the upper hand and chases Ann down the stairs.

Ann ducks into the darkened living room.  She hides waiting to see if Mrs. Wadsworth enters the room.  She does and starts searching for Ann.  Ann grabs a fire place poker and strikes Mrs. Wadsworth, then she bolts up the stairs, pursued by Baby’s mother.  However, at the top of the stairs, Mrs. Wadsworth is greeted by Mother-In-Law!  Who is holding a hammer!  She hits Mrs. Wadsworth, who stubles and falls over the rail, landing on the ground and breaking her legs.

They tie her up and take her out to a large pit in the back yard.  In the pit is a smaller pit, with now holds Mrs. Wadworth and her daughters.  Mrs, Wadsworth is still alive as Ann and her Mother-in-law start to fill the smaller pit up.  Afterwards they go back into the house and open a door.  There they find Baby, in baby clothes.  Ann takes him upstairs, asking if he will be good now.  She opens a door, where we see a baby nursery.  But that’s not the surprise… we find that she has her husband in the room-ALSO dressed as a baby.  See, she mentioned an accident…it left his mind in an infantile state and she was looking for a friend/brother for her husband.  That’s the reason she took the case in the first place!  The very next scene we see the pit has been replaced by a pool!  Mother-in-law sits by the pool, Ann and her “babies” swim in the pool, one happy family!

Um.  Okay.

Lyrics by Dave Bazan

i could hear the church bells ringing
they pealed aloud your praise
the member’s faces were smiling
with their hands outstretched to shake
it’s true they did not move me
my heart was hard and tired
their perfect fire annoyed me
i could not find you anywhere
could someone please tell me the story
of sinners ransomed from the fall
i still have never seen you, and somedays
i don’t love you at all

the devoted were wearing bracelets
to remind them why they came
some concrete motivation
when the abstract could not do the same
but if all that’s left is duty, i’m falling on my sword
at least then, i would not serve an unseen distant lord

could someone please tell me the story
of sinners ransomed from the fall
i still have never seen you, and somedays
i don’t love you at all
if this only a test
i hope that i’m passing, cuz i’m losing steam
but i still want to trust you

peace be still (x3)

Over at the Hannity and Colms page (I wanted to get some of the choice comments from Rick Santorum, who always impresses me with his ability to whine and claim victim hood for right wingers). They have a section devoted to sexy teachers who sleep with their students. A whole section.

Did you know Time Magazine readers did not choose George Bush in their top 100 most influential people? He made the top 1,000. According to Rick Santorum, this is very disrespectful. The President should automatically get a pass and make the top 100. No questions asked. And see, this is just proof that Time Magazine hates the President (Bush Hater, ah, the tired continual refrain of the robotic workers who appear on TV to spout off platitudes in favor of the president). And the fact that Time’s readers didn’t include him in their votes for the top 100 proves they (the readers) are all left wing commie Bush Haters (okay, the commie thing was my addition). But then, it’s hard to take Santorum seriously, as he is a “sleazy attorney out of central casting” (to quote my friend Kevin-who was talking about Edwards, but man, Santorum has that slicked up, shiny hair that screams “Ambulance Chaser”).

I tried watching more of the discussion, but I can only handle so much crap before I risk an aneurysm.

Instead I watched a movie from Netflix. The Director’s Cut of Christmas Evil. Interestingly, when the film starts, the title card actually says “You Better Watch Out.” Apparently they changed the title. Written and Directed by Lewis Jackson, I am a little surprised this was not a bigger hit. I mean, sure, the original Black Christmas had already come out, and certainly the holiday themed slasher films were in full swing, which could make this one get lost in the shuffle…but still.

Here we have the tale of Harry, who as a young boy is thrilled to see Santa Clause come down the chimney of his family home. He, his younger brother and mother sit hiding on the stairs and watch Santa. Later that night, Harry’s younger brother Phil tells him there is no Santa Clause. It’s really just Daddy. Well, being the smarter, more mature older brother Harry freaks a little. He runs down the stair to see Santa kneeling in front of Mommy caressing her leg. This traumatizes little Harry who runs to the attic. For some reason he throws a snow globe on the ground. He cuts himself and screams. Mom and Dad are to busy getting it on to hear Harry scream.

We jump ahead to find Harry fully grown. And apparently, he likes Christmas a little. He sleeps in a Santa Hat…keeps a countdown of “days until Christmas” on his wall, has pictures of Santa everywhere. All in all, a pretty normal guy.

Well, except the part where he watches the local children with binoculars. But, before you freak, dear viewer, give it a chance. He’s no pervert(well, except for the whole peeping thing). He’s just noting how good the kids are. Well, all but Moss Garcia. He’s bad. Harry sees him holding a Penthouse. Harry runs back to his apartment and pulls out a giant book. Turns out he writes down all the naughty and nice things the neighborhood kids do. And does Moss have a rap sheet!

Later, we see that Harry works in a local toy factory. This factory makes the most boring toys ever. Seriously boring. This makes Harry sad. He dreams of making beautiful toys for good boys and girls. He hates the greed he sees in the owner of the company and his co-workers. He even gets conned by a subordinate into doing a shift on the assembly line. But this is not what pushes Harry over the edge, people. Not at all!

Harry is walking home with his groceries. He sees all the neighborhood kids sitting on a porch and asks what they wish they could get for Christmas. All the kids say something nice. Except Moss Garcia. He asks for a lifetime subscription to Penthouse. This is just to much!!! He bolts home (for some reason his erratic behaviors never weirds anyone out) to add Moss’ latest indiscretion to the Naughty Book. Then he grabs an action figure and starts to rub it. Like, really hard. And then he snaps! We know this because the action figure snaps and Harry gets a wacky grin on his face.

We then get a montage of Harry smiling like the Joker and making his Santa suit and dangerous toys. And then? It’s Christmas! What’s a homicidal Santa supposed to do? Go give toys to the kids at the hospital. Go figure. He makes all the kids happy and then goes to the town church. Church ends, and we see his boss and another superior at the office. Harry has his targets! Until some snarky twentysomethings start teasing Harry. So, in front of everybody, Harry stabs one kid in the eye with a soldier and uses a toy axe to kill two others. Then Harry the killer Santa waddles quickly to his van and speeds away.

He then goes to the co-worker’s house who conned him and tries to smother him with a pillow. When tat does not work? Harry gets creative and kills him with a Christmas tree star. Then Harry runs away. Harry falls asleep in the van, that the police are scouring the city for. Apparently, they didn’t notice the lone big white van with a red sleigh painted on the side in the parking lot. I can understand that.

On Christmas night, Harry starts driving around again, no one seems to notice him, even though there are police reports (STAY AWAY FROM SANTA CLAUSE!!!). But then his van gets stuck in the snow. Harry starts to wander around and suddenly runs into a gaggle of kids who apparently were not warned to beware of Santa. Their parents come around the corner and get scared, causing a dad to pull out a switchblade. The kids surround Santa and the guy’s daughter takes dad’s knife away and gives it to Santa.

This is starting to look bad as people are starting to step outside, so Harry runs off. Suddenly? The film become Frankenstein. Really. The towns people gather up torches and run down the street chasing Harry. Oh yeah, I left out this whole subplot revolving around Phil’s family. Remember little brother Phil? He is apparently really mean to Harry, and his wife and kids adore Harry. His wife and kids are clearly poor judges of character.

I bring that up because Harry gets his van unstuck and drives to his brothers house. Apparently, his brother does not approve of him killing people. Go figure. So Phil strangles Harry. Then he drags the body out to the van and puts it in the drivers seat. Then he stands there confounded. Apparently, he did not think this whole “killing one’s brother” thing through.

BUT HARRY’S NOT DEAD!!!! He punches his brother and drives right into the crowd of torch wielding mob and then loses control… the van breaks through a fence, flies over an embankment into the sky and…well, that’s it. Movie over. Can’t you totally see this as a modern re-make with, say, Steve Bescemi as Harry?! Come on Hollywood! Don’t let us down!

The best thing on the disc was the special feature that lets us see the comment cards from the test screenings. Apparently, this film did not test well with anyone… can’t figure out why…maybe the film was just ahead of it’s time?

To be honest, I have never cared for appeals to nature as defenses for human behaviour.  In social and political debates, it happens quite frequently from all sides.  Christians will appeal to nature to denounce homosexuality and promote “traditional family”, gay rights activists will appeal to nature as proof that it’s entirely natural to find love within the same gender boundries.  Never mind the fact that very few animals reflect human relationship and animals often lack the emotional complexities of human beings…people trot these comparisons out like they are damning.

I heard a preacher once declare that you will never see dolphins bowing to a statue of a person.  I didn’t really see the point then and I still don’t now.  I mean, if you take the model of Dolphins to Humanity as a “comparison” to the relationship between Humanity and God…it is pretty flawed.  I mean, man routinely abuses and subjugates the dolphin community.  We kill em, we force them to do tricks for our entertainment and so on.  So, do you really want to cast God in that role?  We are just God’s toys for His amusement?  If you take it as an accusation that man will worship himself and idols?  Well, apparently, God’s top creation (the one made in His image!) is stupider than Dolphins (admittedly, they are smart creatures).  Doesn’t really say much for God’s design.

But the main reason I do not like the appeal to nature as defense?  There are a lot of things in nature that I am not sure I want people adopting.  Killing children?  Many animal species do that.  Older males are especially prone to killing younger males as a show of dominance is the norm with many creatures that walk this planet.  You know what else is common?  Rape.  Incest.  Animals do these things.  Frequently. 

You can’t just use nature to defend the stuff you “like”.  And if you think Penguins doing something noble defends your family choices?  That means rapists and child molesters have a defense to.  I just think we need to leave the “You find in nature” defense far behind.

I think my favorite “It’s natural Defense” is in the Bible.  Paul states in 1 Corinthians:

14Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him,

Which I gotta point out…the very nature of things tells me hair grows.  I don’t think this is a new discovery.

Before going to sleep last night, I watched the re-make of Dawn of the Dead.  In my opinion, this is one of the stronger movie re-makes.  Most of the re-makes, especially in the horror genre, are weak at best.

For example?  This week gave us a re-make of the Rutger Hauer classic, the Hitcher.  Instead of Hauer, we get Sean Bean.  And Bean is a fine actor, and certainly makes the role as menacing as he can.  But this re-make doesn’t try anything original.  The single difference?  The lead does not meet the love interest half way into the film. They are a couple at the start.  And instead of the male being the focus, it’s the female.

The new version follows the original faithfully.  Which frankly?  Is annoying.  I saw the Hitcher already.  Don’t need to see it with another set of actors.

The re-make of Dawn of the Dead, on the other hand, uses the original film as inspiration.  Zombies over run the cities, panicked residents hole up in a Mall.  But that’s it.  We don’t get the same set of characters.  The opening is entirely different.  And it’s probably one of the top film openings.  Seriously, it starts out kind of mellow.  We meet our hero Anna who is a tired nurse, trying to get home for the night (already an hour past the end of her shift).  There are random comments about people being brought in with bites.  But everything seems calm.  But when she and her husband are awakened by a neighbor-everything goes wrong.  The movie gives this grand sense of confusion and disarray and culminates in the strumming guitar of Johnny Cash’s the Man Comes Around.  The song is perfectly fitting for a zombie apocalypse.  And the opening credits advance the story with footage showing news reel footage of military and police attempts to stop the zombie hordes.

Anna is joined by Ving Rhames’ as Kenneth, a police officer.  He’s an imposing presence, a character driven to find his brother in the chaos.  They quickly meet up with even more characters, who warn Anna and Kenneth not to go in the direction they (the other three) came from.  The five opt to set up shop in the Mall.

Now we get to one of the biggest complaints from some who did not like the film.  The mall is not crawling with zombies.  The zombies can’t get in.  And I say, so what?  The zombies do not need to be inside the mall for the threat to be there.  When you stand on the roof and look at a sea of the undead, that’s horrifying on it’s own.  One of the accusations was that this removes the subtext blasting mindless consumerism that was in the original.

But you know, when Dawn of the Dead was originally made?  Malls were not common.  It was kind of creepy and malls represented something different.  Now?  Malls are everywhere.  They don’t have a “frightening persence” anymore.  In fact, Mall as safe haven makes more sense in this day and age.  Because I tell you, when the zombies attack?  I am going to the Mall of America.  I think the film makes a stronger statement now about how people are able to insulate themselves from the horror of reality.

The film has all sorts of nice character moments.  For instance, Matt Frewer plays a guy who has been bitten.  He knows he is going to die, so he spends his last few hours comforting his daughter (who is, understandably, distrought at losing the only remaining family member she has) and telling her how proud of her he is.  It’s  a shame Frewer’s character is only on screen for a few minutes. 

The film brought a lot of new things to it, but the one other change that drew wrath was…running zombies (which we also saw in the psuedo-zombie film 28 Days Later).  I never had a problem with fast zombies.  And I find them way scarier than slow and lumbering zombies.  Why?  Because, when the zombie masses come, if they are the slow and lumbering?  I have a chance.  If they a fast?  I am overweight and out of shape.  I am dead in about the first ten minutes.

So, yeah.  I really do enjoy the Dawn of the Dead re-make…and I sure wish more of these lame re-makes would follow the lead and ind a new perspective on the same story.  I mean, I saw the Original Dawn, if all the remake did was update the gore?  What’s the point in that?

I am not sure what I make of this.

“We’ve long suspected that cannabis is linked to psychoses, but we have
never before had scans to show how the mechanism works,” said Dr. Philip
McGuire, a professor of psychiatry at King’s College, London.

“THC is switching off that regulator,” McGuire said, effectively unleashing
the paranoia usually kept under control by the frontal cortex.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance question here.  I am currently attempting to stop the self destruct mechanism on the Shiar ship.  Supposedly, when you destroy the “nodes” it gets you an extra 30 seconds.  When I destroy them, the clock keeps ticking away, never adding the additional time.  What am I missing?