I've been reading books

On the plane ride home from Illinois a few weeks ago, I rediscovered my love for a good book...or two...or three. I finished two on my way home and started another. And then another. I've been in a groove ever since. I forgot how much time you don't mind wasting when you read. Here's my list:

Reading:

A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle (Finished.)

The Ruins, by Scott Smith (Finished.)

The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho

The Black Arts, by Richard Cavendish
(UPDATE:)

Just a Pilgrim, by Garth Ennis & Carlos Ezquerra (Finished.)

Just a Pilgrim: Garden of Eden, by Garth Ennis & Carlos Ezquerra (Finished.)

Invincible, by Robert Kirkman & Cory Walker (Issues 1-21)

Watching

AC/DC: Plug Me In

Last Night

The Beaver Trilogy -- Here's more. (Recommended.)

Experiments in Terror

Mae Brussell in Santa Cruz -- Good conspiracy theory stuff.

Playing:

Assassin's Creed (PS3)

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3)

Rock Band (PS3)

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Rock and/or Roll

So I picked up Rock Band for the PS3 the other day. It's fun, but I do have some gripes. First, my Guitar Hero 3 peripheral isn't compatible with Rock Band. Until someone issues a patch, I have no bass player. Also, the guitar that came with Rock Band already broke. Sure, EA's customer service was thorough and satisfactory. In fact, they're sending me a new guitar that should arrive tomorrow, but a broken peripheral after only two days' use? Unacceptable.

Gripes aside, the game DOES make one feel like a rock star. Jessie and I have already started a band called "MC Whiskerton"--named after the little man--and we've built a fan base 300,000 strong with her being the esteemed vocalist and me, the modest drummer. Not only do we get to sing/drum/simulate guitar or bass to some fantastic songs, it's made me curious about rock and roll history. I'm starting with some major names in classic rock (AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Doors) and moving on from there (some Metallica, a couple of albums from Rush so far). It's pretty interesting stuff, and it means I'm rocking out pretty much constantly. It's rare that a game bleeds over into my reality like this, but I don't see it stopping anytime soon with promised weekly downloadable content.

Reading:

A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle

The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho

Watching:

"Battlestar Galactica: Razor"

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The New Guy

Sooooooo, I haven't posted here in a long time.

There's not too much going on right now. I survived the recent fires. The WGA strike won't affect my gig, luckily, because we don't have union writers. Along those lines, however, we're between shows right now, so I'm not working anyway. I just have to play video games all day. It's a rough life.

I also have time to play with my NEW CAT! His name is MC Scout Whiskerton I (or just "Scout"). He had crawled up into my buddy's wife's car engine compartment about a month ago for warmth, and she discovered him only after she had driven home from work--a 45-minute commute. He somehow survived the ride, and my buddy offered him to Jessie and me because he and his wife already had two cats of their own. I'd been wearing Jessie down for a while about getting a pet, and she finally caved with this one because he was a Miracle Cat (hence the "MC" in his name) for surviving a 45-minute ride under the hood of a car.

He's really playful and sociable, which is great because we have people over all the time. It'd be pretty terrible if he just hid under the bed the whole time.

Here are some pictures and movies of the little guy:

 

Here's the little guy hanging out with me as I play some video games.

 

Here's him all bundled up.

 

Here's him asleep with his bear.


Here's the little man on the prowl.


Like a dog, he takes his toy bear with him everywhere. (Or at least he did that for a good half an hour today.) He was multitasking, too. He would have the bear in his mouth while scratching me, for instance. Or while scratching the couch. Or did I mention he's getting declawed?

Watching:
I won't even go into everything.

Kung Pow: Enter the Fist

Little Children

Half Nelson

30 Days of Night

Playing:

Super Mario 64 (Wii)

Ratcher and Clank Futute: Tools of Destruction (PS3)

Guitar Hero 3 (PS3)

Metal Gear (NES)

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (PS2)

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2)

Listening to:
AC/DC

Reading:

The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens, and the I Ching, by Terence & Dennis Mckenna

The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho

God Knows, by Joseph Heller

And If You Play Golf, You're My Friend: Furthur Reflections of a Grown Caddie, by Harvey Penick

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Ingmar Bergman: 1918-2007

Ingmar Bergman: 1918-2007

Ingmar Bergman died today. He was one of my favorite directors.

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The Con (2007)

The Con (2007)

I got back from the 2007 San Diego Comic Con today, and it was eff-ing crazy there! 120,000 nerds around every single day. It's the first time that Comic Con sold out. (Of tickets, that is. The whole event is a celebration of selling out to the nerd within.) Unfortunately, I didn't bring a camera along, so it's all just written description here.

So many cool people that I got to see in person there: J.J Abram, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse, Jon Favreau, Frank Miller, Clive Owen, the cast from Get Smart (the Comic Con crew loves The Rock), Paul Dini, Roy Thomas, Brian Posehn, Ed Brubaker, Ridley Scott and more that I don't care to mention.

We got a live feed from the Indy 4 set with Spielberg, Harrison Ford, Ray Winstone, Shia LeBeouf and Karen Allen.

I got TONS of free swag, including a Dave Gibbons original mock-up poster for the upcoming Watchmen movie, about six XL t-shirts from various movies, more posters including some for 1/18/08, the new Star Trek movie coming out, Tim Burton's upcoming take on Sweeney Todd, and a smaller Iron Man one, and various other stickers, pins and flyers.

I got to attend The Eisners, which has been a dream of mine ever since I was little kid. It was boring as hell in person, but it was so cool to be in the same room as so many legends of the industry. So cool.

I got to see a five minute trailer for next summer's Iron Man, and it showed EVERYTHING. We saw the explosion that shoots the shrapnel inches from Stark's heart and the machinery that keeps alive. We saw Tony Stark building the Mark I. We saw the Mark I in its first full action sequence. We saw flashes of the iterations of all the Iron Man suits between the Mark I up to and including the most current. Of course the crowd erupted after seeing the primary suit for that instant, when the screen cut to black. Just when we thought the trailer ended, we got to see the suit in the air. After a few seconds of the suit flying facing us, two F-16's pulled up in formation with Stark and all three peeled off out of frame. I know I'm a total geek, but it gave me goosebumps. I had so many reservations about Favreau directing Iron Man, and that all went away after seeing that trailer. That movie is going to be absolutely amazing. I saw this trailer at the Paramount Pictures panel on the first day.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to make it to the Marvel Studios panel, which had Favreau return along with Robert Downey Jr. and, I believe, Terrence Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow for the Iron Man segment. My friends attended it, though, and as blown away as we all were by the Iron Man trailer, they were much more impressed by the Incredible Hulk panel. Using their analogy, if Iron Man is Spider-Man, then Incredible Hulk is Batman Begins. Iron Man looks like it's going to be a lot of fun, but they're going to make Incredible Hulk a cerebral comic film a la Batman Begins. And apparently Ed Norton wrote the script for it and is a huge Marvel geek. Good news.

Also, if haven't seen the trailer for 1/18/08 (or Cloverfield or Slusho or whatever [NOT Monstrous as the mock-up poster would have us believe]), do. It looks amazing. If The Bomb was the genesis for Godzilla, 9/11 is the genesis for this monster. It's in format of the working title, even.

And the Wes Anderson's new film trailer for The Darjeeling Limited looks like a return to form for him after the stubbornly opaque Life Aquatic. It seems to split the difference between the tones of Rushmore and Royal Tenenbaums. I'm very much looking forward to this one, too.

PS - If anyone is planning on attending Comic Con next year, let me know. I'm 98% sure I'm going again. We can maybe hook up a series of rooms close to the convention center. To give you an idea, I registered early this year (about two or three months ago), and it cost me $55 for four days plus the preview night on Wednesday. That's a steal for what you get to see and do. Anyway, you know how to contact me if you're interested.

PPS - For any Blade Runner fans out there, I got a sneak peek at the 5 DISC ULTIMATE EDITION of the film that will come out around Christmas time. It's got four different versions of the film with commentary and features on each of those discs. The fifth disc has more special features, including a THREE AND A HALF HOUR documentary. It also comes in an a small attache case. It's an AMAZING package.

Watching

"Arrested Development - Season Three"

"The Wire - Season Three"

"Lost - Season Two"

"Police Squad!"

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Batman Begins

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Phantom Museums: The Short Films of the Quay Brothers

The 39 Steps

Faust

Gamera: The Guardian of the Universe

Reading:

Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla : Biography of a Genius, Marc Seifer

At the Gates of Spiritual Science: Fourteen Lectures Given in Stuttgart, 22 August to 4 September, 1906, Rudolf Steiner

Fables Vol. 1: Legends in Exile

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Radio, Radio

Radio, Radio

I just stumbled across this little piece of TV history on YouTube this morning. Elvis Costello on SNL.




The story goes thusly: Columbia Records (Costello's label) didn't want him to play his song "Radio, Radio" on coast-to-coast TV because of its damning critique of modern day commercial radio. Columbia didn't want him to play it, and neither did Lorne Michaels. So Costello had the idea playing that false opening to mask his true intentions, and the result is what you see. Costello was subsequently banned for 12 years from Saturday Night Live because of this rebellion. He's the man.

Also, as of 12:01 AM this morning, I have aged one quarter century. So old. So wise.

Watching:

"The Wire - Season Two"

"Arrested Development - Season Two"

The New World

The Bridge

Max

Zoetrope

"Masters of Horror: Stuart Gordon: Dreams in the Witch House"

"Masters of Horror: Takashi Miike: Imprint"

The Bank Dick

1408

Live Free or Die Hard

Transformers (2007)

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Sicko

Sicko

I just finished watching Michael Moore's new one, Sicko, and it's his best to date. I say this respecting the man's viewpoint but rarely how he presents that viewpoint. He's a one-sided spotlight-seeker, and his films are typically the weaker because of it.

Unlike his previous two films, Moore didn't add to the sensationalism to already sensational events (namely, the Columbine shootings and 9/11). In fact, no "event" as such triggered the making of the film. With regards to Moore's tactics, there's nothing new here, but the subject matter lends itself better Moore's typical approach. The human interest angle works better here because we don't need to identify with people involved in extraordinary situations half a nation away. We only need to think of all the times we ourselves have had to sort out an insurance nightmare to empathize with those interviewed.

And like any Michael Moore film, there are plenty of shock moments and plenty of tear-jerker moments. I don't mind telling you that I stayed strong the whole movie until an American woman became bankrupt battling her illness (and her insurance company) for twenty years broke down crying after arriving in Cuba and having her illness treated for free. All the hospital needed from her was her name and birth date. There's something wrong when a Third World nation provides better health care for its people than the richest nation on Earth.

Watch it and be outraged.

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Amateur golfer, party animal

Amateur golfer, party animal

Apparently I won the British Amateur golf tournament this weekend. I celebrated today by watching a movie, then by washing my car and doing some laundry.

This weekend I also worked, went to the beach and watched Lawrence of Arabia in 70mm. And that was just Saturday (in addition to winning that tournament, obviously). Sunday was my sister's birthday and a party celebrating mine and Jessie's engagement. The following are some highlights (and lowlights).

 

The happy couple.

 

Jessie facing down our superhero friend, The Irritable Jake.

 

Our gracious hosts.

 

Me mid-bite and D minus 30. The 'D', you see, stands for drunk.

 

Jessie with our friend, Julia.

 

A photo of the engagement party crew.

 

Our cake, made with much love and little skill.

 

Momma, I'm 'unna be a star!

 

Drunken Beastie Boys karaoke. The cornerstone of any fine soiree. That's our buddy, David spitting rhymes next to me.

And that was the weekend in a nutshell. Pretty busy. It's actually kind of nice just to sit around and watch a movie, wash a car, do the dishes, do the laundry, run the errands, finish my book, plan tomorrow's movie binge, have dinner with a friend...

Oh, wait.

Watching:

"The Wire - Season One"

"Millennium - Season Two"

"Masters of Horror: John Landis: Deer Woman"

"Masters of Horror: John Carpenter: Cigarette Burns"

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Kwaidan

The Spirit of the Beehive

Diary of a Lost Girl

Reading:

Absolute Watchmen, Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons (Finished.)

The Atomic Bazaar: The Rise of the Nuclear Poor, William Langewiesche (Finished.)

Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla : Biography of a Genius, Marc Seifer

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