Focus!

Ok,  this blog has tried to be too much…

I enjoy talking about my geeky proclivities, and many people share my interests and I hope they enjoy them – So that is where I am going to focus on here.

So if you like Comic Books, Science Fiction, Fantasy,  Indy Music,  and other Geek-tastic things, lets talk about it here.

Wednesday is New Comic Day -  So Thursday will have my Comic Pick of the Week.

Saturdays will have reviews of other comics for the week.

I will update TV/MUSIC/BOOKS on Mondays for the previous week.

Coming soon -my thoughts about  FAST FORWARD, SMALLVILLE, HEROES and THE BIG BANG THEORY

Is there a show you think I should be following?  Leave it in the comments.

FILM reviews will happen but with no set schedule – I will try to get things up in a timely fashion after their release.

NOW…  If you were following my personal exploits – the comic stylings I call a personal life -  well those blogs will continue -  over at my new blog  GEEKY IN THE CITY

I am also blogging about my experiences pursuing writing professionally -  See what’s up at The Writes Stuff

Too much technology?

This is my first attempt to write a blog directly on my iPhone.

I am using the wordpress app which is free from the Apple App store on Itunes.

Do I really need to be able to blog from my phone?

Does this mean more updates more often?

Do you even care?

Who Watches the Watchmen

For nearly 3 hours I sat, in the dark, with this beautiful woman, a woman I waited years to be with… and then she proceeded to give me a hand job, a hand job that, while technically proficient failed utterly at its true purpose, and failed in giving the intended conclusion.

No Happy Ending

I just described my experience with the film “WATCHMEN”. It was gorgeous to look at, and in the end had little heart in what it was doing. That is not to say there weren’t moments I enjoyed, it just didn’t truly fulfill on its intentions or promises.

What did I like…

James Earl Ray as Roarshach – given the most to act in this movie, he did really embrace the character. He was quite convincing as the hero turned psychopath – and his story, more than anyone else’s survived the transition to the screen with minimal disruption, though I missed the details of his origin and his connection to the true story of Kitty Genovese. More importantly also missing was his discovery of his “face”, finding the fabric…

Jeffery Dean Morgan – as the Comedian – I think his task was far more daunting, to play this truly despicable person, and make him someone we have to care about. It was uneven at times, which I actually blame on David Hayter’s screenplay, which almost slavishly followed the letter of the graphic novel on which it based, but some how missing the heart.

Visual/Art Direction… Much like his previous comic adaption (300) Zack Snyder again took his cues directly from the source material, recreating several key images from David Gibbons original artwork. The fight choreography, particularly in the brutal
prison riot, was a ballet in carnage,p and the final showdown was a sublime as it was savage. But what Mr. Snyder has in technical skill, he lacks in subtly. The images in the original graphic novel had to be so striking, because they didn’t move. Each frame has to do the job of hundreds of individual movie frames. But when moving, and 60 feet wide on the screen, the come off over the top and cartoony.

What I didn’t like..

Pretty much the rest of the movie. This is not to say I thought the actors were bad, just poorly cast, and not given all the colors their characters had in the comic. (well except maybe Matthew Good as Ozymandias, he just seemed so blah, but then his back story was the one least explored, who knows what may lie on the cutting room floor and that we will see in the directors cut DVD someday)

The screenplay, was clearly written by someone with a great admiration for the book, only changing what had to be for time constraints and clarifiction, even the major plot change in the final act works, and makes sense, and I didn’t have any great sense of “how could they have changed..” this or that, even the alteration of the ending didn’t bother me, I almost wished that he had taken a little more liberty. Cause I think more of the heart of the story could have been served. But this movie was beng made by people who were well aware of Alan Moore’s (the writer of the original comic) feeling about adaptation of his work, and Hollywood’s poor track record. (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, anyone?)

Some stories are just intended for their medium. Alan Moore created a dense, complex world in an alternate reality, he used parallel story telling, and supplemented his story with additional character pieces, news reports, all done in different styles reflect the 40+ years of history and these segments do not necessarily translate all translate well (though the tv interview Wally Weaver was successful, and I enjoyed the inclusion of stories from Hollis’ book “Under the Hood”.

Was anyone else bothered by the vamped up attention given to the Silhoutte lesbian story, but complete ignoring the gay relationship between Captain Metropolis and Hooded Justice?

The thing is, there was plenty in this movie to like, but sadly it was not greater than the sum of its parts, which is something that a great story is. After all that, I do recommend seeing this movie, if only to see how great it could have been. Also to deliver to the studios the message that we want movies that take these kind of chances, and hopefully someone who has never picked up a comic book in their lives went to see this movie, and was intrigued enough by it to go and track down a copy of the graphic novel, and see what it really was all about.

Hi, Remember me?

Hi

Remember me?

If you don’t I understand – its been months since I have done any blogging.

Life is at an interesting point right now, some  ups, some downs.

I will try to get on here more.  I promise.

I do have a lot on my mind, and a lot to share with you.

Crawling from the Wreckage – or just moving forward.

I think i see the light at the end of the tunnel…

Did you hear a train whistle?

Now, I don’t want to seem overdramatic.

I know my life is not “bad” per se. I have had fortunate to have had so many opportunties given to me.

I know that the only person who is responsible for any anxiety I feel is me, and outside of those people who have known me through my various incarnations, and known the me beneath it all, what I do and say here will not affect you much.

There is something about tracking one’s progress like this, in open forum tho that motivates someone like me to get off my ass, get in the game. By putting it here, you can call me on it. I am making a commitment to the universe, but really with myself

OK – I have 4 days off in a row. (it has been since Sept 2007 since that happened)

The writer in me wants out, so I plan on spending from tonight til sunday working on a 1st draft of a pilot script. 4 acts, 45minutes in length Single camera family drama, which I am currently calling “My Generation”

By the end of 2008 I want to try character work, so I plan on trying to write 3 spec scripts, for current shows.

Thoughts?