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A lot has been said about Scott Pilgrim. At times over the past few weeks it's seemed like there are more opinions being tossed around than people who have actually seen the damn film, and that's probably not far from the truth. So I figured I'd go and decide for myself.

The truth is, it's not a movie I was particularly looking forward to seeing. The good word of mouth and the pedigree of the people behind the film persuaded me to give it a try, but the trailer suggested a horrible "Dude, Where's My Car?"-esque experience to come. Thankfully the trailer was deceptive, but I suspect it probably had plenty to do with turning off people who had no clue about the source material. If I hadn't had a bunch of friends raving about it, you wouldn't have caught me dead going to this one. A movie where a slacker dick has to fight a bunch of evil exes in a video game style to win the alternative princess? No thanks.

And I would have missed out. Scott Pilgrim's a fun, funny and engaging experience. Is it a nerd film? Well, certainly it's a video game nerd film. I wouldn't have classed it as a particularly geeky movie otherwise. Scott Pilgrim in the movie's a slacker, but not a geek. He plays in a grunge band, has a girlfriend who worships the ground he walks on. Of course, Edgar Wright, the movie's director, is a huge geek, as Spaced proved, but the movie seems more clearly focussed towards the video game nerd than the indiscriminate approach of that show, although other influences creep in.

Not having read the comic book series it's based on, (I have the first two volumes but have yet to pick them up), I'm not entirely sure what to make of the central characters. Presumably they're a little more fleshed out in the comics, but as the movie opened I found Scott (Michael Cera) to be a self-pitying, slacker jerk with a Asian schoolgirl fetish and a basic lack in interest and respect for others. That opinion didn't really change throughout the movie. (Although Cera was actually more appealing than I expected.) Likewise, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) never seemed to be a character at all, just a trophy for Scott to attain. Deadpan and mysterious translated as bland and uninteresting for me. So, if the two paper-thin, souless central characters and the chemistry-less core relationship of the movie held no interest for me, what did?

Really, the main reason to see the movie is the supporting performers. There's not really a weak character in the bunch and everyone seems to be having enormous fun at what they do. A lot of column time seems to be going to Kieran Culkin as Wallace, and deservedly so. He has some great lines, puts in a wonderfully arch performance and it's refreshing to see the "gay best friend" trope presented without dropping into offensive stereotype or cliche territory. But by no means does Culkin steal the movie. Each of the ex's brings something wonderful to the show. Satya Bhabha is hillarious as Matthew Patel. Chris Evans totally steals the movie... for the ten minutes he's in it as film star Lucas Lee, until Brandon Routh skips in to play the evil vegan with special vegan powers. Jason Schwartzman is gloriously hammy and funny as all hell in his role as the final ex. Likewise, Alison Pill, Anna Kendrick, Mark Webber and others all pop up as well defined supporting characters you'll probably end up wanting to see more of. And special mention to Ellen Wong, who's kind of a revelation - brilliant and funny and touching as Knives Cho (Aged 17).

The plot itself is pretty slight, mostly a hook for the great characters and amazing visuals to hang on. In terms of style and direction, the movie excels, capturing the frenetic video game visuals and comic book panelling with great aplomb. The movie totally commits to that energetic style, whirlwind visuals and the genius is in the detail. There's so much humor in the direction, editing and look of the movie, as well as the performances. It's probably the closest Hollywood cinema will come to the slapstick genius of Stephen Chow. And you quickly realize you just have to go with the flow of the bizarre plot and have fun with it. And you do.

I left the cinema with a smile on my face. At the end of the experience, whether Ramona and Scott are characters I cared about doesn't matter. Because it's the ride that's the fun part and the people you meet along the way, not who's in the carriage with you.

Current Mood: geeky

So, The Expendables. What to say about this movie? Most of it people will already know. Sylvester Stallone stars, writes and directs and obviously called in a few favors from friends to join the cast.

Wesley Snipes, Jean Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal and Danny Trejo sadly didn't make the party as was originally intended, but the cast still includes the bulgingest muscularist cast assembled, bursting with testosterone and machismo - Stallone himself, along with Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Terry Crews, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, David Zayas, 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, Eric Roberts and Gary Daniels. And, of course, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger in cameo roles.

The screen's too small to contain all the bulging biceps, tattoos, gold teeth, cowboy hats, motorbikes, guns and fuck off, great big shiny knives. Yes, once the movie starts rolling, the only way they could convey sheer manliness any more is by Stallone waving his hairy bollocks in front of the camera.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: bouncy

Yeah, my experimentations with integrating Tumblr and Livejournal seamlessly together seem doomed to failure.

Mostly I've been trying to set up a dual system because I find I'm increasingly using Twitter and Tumblr for general updates. Since going Friends Only here, I've been internally re-designating this journal as more like my own personal space, where I talk about stuff that's been going on in my life, along with Twitter being for general commentary that I only want to share with specific people, rather than the whole world.

Tumblr's evolved into the space I use for other stuff - the non-personal stuff which is just link dumps, videos, pictures I like, etc etc, which I look to share with everyone. (Whether they want me to or not, probably.) But it'd be nice to integrate both personal and general bollocks under one roof.

I have discovered Posterous.com, which is a neat tool to crosspost blog entries across multiple platforms - so it will post content to Livejournal, Twitter, Tumblr, Wordpress, Facebook etc with one click, which is extremely useful. It's not seamless, however, and embedding video and pictures isn't as intuitive as Tumblr's own posting styles. I've been experimenting a little with the last few entries, as you may have noticed.

But, I think I'll most likely just scrap the idea of an integrated Tumblr and Livejournal. Instead, if you do wish to follow my Tumblr updates, they'll continue to appear as plain text links in my Twitter updates and also as full entries on a separate syndicated account that you can just add as a friend in the usual way here: angelophile_tum

Syndication appears to be a little spotty so far, with entries appearing out of order, but fingers crossed that'll clear up.

Of course, all this is probably something people have no interest in at all - I barely have any followers on Tumblr as it is. (But then, I don't follow that many people either - it's trier to keep up with than LJ, I find). But nonetheless, there's various ways of ~~stalking~~ following my activities, if you wish to do so.

Current Mood: irritated

Yes, contrary to the impression I usually convey, occasionally I do get annoyed.

Current Mood: annoyed

Just testing this new bit of kit. Just ignore me.

Not sure if it's wanted or not, but I'm trying to set up, via a convoluted method and Feedburner, a way to get my Tumblr posting to Livejournal as well in a similar way to the Twitter feed. But I'm not sure whether it's going to work, or work how I want it to, so consider today a trial.

I've been increasingly using Tumblr over the past few weeks and I'm usually obsessed with getting everything all under one roof, so to speak, so Tumblr, Livejournal and Twitter are all integrated. Of course, the other way to do it would be to create a separate account for my Tumblr feed. Say, like this as angelophile_tum, which people could subscribe to. But my obsessive compulsiveness wishes that there were a way to automatically crosspost from Tumblr to my LJ (as there is vice versa) or feed RSS directly into my existing Livejournal instead of creating a new RSS feed for it.

Although, what would people prefer? The separate RSS feed that can be syndicated through a Friends list? Or an email digest feeding directly into this journal? I guess the former gives everyone the choice of whether to read Tumblr stuff rather than have it foisted upon you. Plus it shows (or should show) individual posts rather than the digest format.

ETA: Complete failure with the email experiment, so that means the syndicated journal is the way to go. SO! If you do want to read the content of my Tumblr here on Livejournal, that's the way to go. It should all be up and running now.

Current Mood: predatory

I've been going to the movies and watching recent DVDs more than normal lately, but I'm aware I've not kept up with writing full reviews for anything. So, I'm going to skip through three reviews in one post and try and keep them more to soundbites than the usual in depth ranting I usually do.

First up:

The A-Team

There seems to be a revival in Hollywood at the moment of the big, dumb action flick. We've got The Expendables out this week, Predators earlier in the summer and the A-Team, which slinked into UK cinemas a little later than the US. However, like Predators, it successfully recreates that bygone, cheesy age where an action movie meant lots of crap blowing up, while stereotypes ran around spouting corny dialogue. For me, personally, that's the best approach to an action movie, rather than the CGI heavy , shakey cam, Michael Bay school of movie making.

The A-Team doesn't try to attain any height higher than completely stupid and is all the better for it. Liam Neeson looks uncomfortable throughout (somewhat surprisingly, because as a movie it should cause less embarrassment than The Phantom Menace), but the rest of the cast genuinely appear to be enjoying themselves. Quinton Jackson's no actor, but fills Mr. T's large shoes admirably regardless and Bradley Cooper is obviously having a ball as Face. It's District 9's Sharlto Copley who really steals the show, however, making Howling Mad Murdock even more entertainingly unhinged than the original show.

Aside from the performances, the plotting's straightforward and just gives an excuse for action sequences - each more gloriously overblown than the last - to be strung together. It tips a little too far into ridiculousness for the finale - no mean feat considering an earlier sequence involving a flying tank - but there's still plenty to enjoy. It's loud, dumb, brash, utterly over the top and vulgar and it's not the kind of movie you'd take home to meet the parents, but for a fun night out where you wake up the next day wondering where in the heck you got that traffic cone, it's perfect.

Toy Story 3

Currently ranked at 99% at Rotten Tomatoes, it's not hard to see why. Toy Story 3 has everything going it and is a hair's width from being the perfect family movie. I'm trying desperately to think of some flaw which would make it seem like I'm not simply bowing down before the false idol of Pixar, but I'm coming up blank. It's one of those very rare sequels which surpasses the original and may well be the most rounded and entertaining of all the Pixar movies, which is no mean feat.

Pixar are pretty much the textbook example of family filmmakers - they don't talk down to kids or adults - and there's no doubt that Toy Story 3 is an emotional rollercoaster. If you have any sympathy or fondness for the characters, be prepared to have your heartstrings not just tugged, but yanked firmly. Make no mistake, there's some real depths of emotion here - a kid in the cinema behind be was sobbing their guts during a couple of scenes and obviously deeply affected - and even my lower lip was wobbling plenty. But there's utter joy as well and the movie contains some of the funniest scenes of any movie in recent years. Inventive, mature, hilarious, thrilling, witty, scary, deeply moving... Pixar have done it again.

Pixar's greatest achievement is where the action is supposed to make you laugh and break your heart at the same time. The fact that they accomplish that near impossible feat deserves love and applause.

Too many brilliant moments to mention and the cast is, as always, pitch perfect, but special credit to Ned Beatty, Michael Keaton (who actually comes close to stealing the show as Ken), Javier Fernández-Peña (who does steal the show), Timothy Dalton, Jodi Benson, Kristen Schaal and others for effortlessly slipping into the Toy Story world.

Plus, you’ve got to love any film that uses the phrase ‘death by monkeys’.

Finally,,,

Shutter Island

To paraphrase Lord Melchett "this movie twists and turns like a twisty turny thing." The 50s period movie very much plays on the surprise twists and shocking plot turns and more red herrings than an Agatha Christie novel as U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) are sent to an island which houses an insane asylum to investigate the escape of one of its inmates. What follows is a story (loosely) that reminds me very much of The Wicker Man - very much all atmosphere and the central character's search for the truth of the disappearance hindered by the enigmatic inhabitants of the island.

In that, it does the gothic horror conventions proud - rich in atmosphere, all communication with the mainland disrupted by a hurricane hitting the island, sinister doctors and inmates alike. The high profile and hard hitting supporting cast (Ben Kingsley, Max Von Sydow, Michelle Williams, Emily Mortimer, Ted Levine, Patricia Clarkson and Jackie Earle Haley) add to the gravitas. It's a fascinating exercise in film making art from Scorsese - beautifully shot, rich in atmosphere, claustrophobic, tense, tightly performed, intelligently scripted - but when the final reel rolls, that's what you remember, over being entertained. I think the best description I can come up with is "engaging, but not necessarily entertaining". As another review put it, "It would be more enjoyable if you could take out your brain and experience it only with eyes and ears."

That said, the story draws you in from the first and, while it would have benefitted from losing at least 20 minutes off the running time and one subplot, it's never boring and does an effective job drawing you in. Although the soundtrack was atmospheric, but a little intrusive. After the third or fourth time the soundtrack has built to an overpowering, ominous crescendo only for nothing to happen, you start to feel a little bit like it's the soundtrack that cried wolf. Equally intrusive are the occasional exposition dumps as supporting actors wander in to deliver a chunk of exposition, then wander off again, which means the stop-start feel of the movie is enhanced.

But even then, it's still an interesting exercise in mashing as many clichés of the gothic thriller and police procedural genres into one movie as possible. You do sense that Scorsese enjoyed the challenge and playing on convention, but it may well split the audience as to whether that enjoyment rubs off on them.

Stolen, in my case, from

wal_lace

Ask me my Top Five Whatevers. Fannish or otherwise. Any top fives. Doesn't matter what, really. And I will answer them all in a comment.

Go to!

Current Mood: bored

Why did no one tell me before Neil Hannon and the Divine Comedy had recorded a concept album about cricket? And randomly played a few cricket clubs to promote it? You've failed me, friends list.

Current Mood: mischievous

So, AISN has a question and answer session with Sylvester Stallone answering readers' questions. And one of the letters happens to be from a Mr. Edgar Wright, director of the upcoming Scott Pilgrim movie, which goes thusly:

Mr Stallone, my question is this. Will you go and see Scott Pilgrim Vs The World on opening weekend if I go and see The Expendables? Bear in mind that I saw Rambo and Rocky Balboa opening day and loved them both.

Yours faithfully, Edgar Wright (age 36), UK

p.s. neither of us have to see Eat, Pray, Love.

Sly responds. This is best read aloud in a poor Sylvester Stallone impersonation, I find.

Edgar, I promise to see SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD only if you pull your spleen out through your nose with a tractor cable. Now, I admire the technology in SCOTT PILGRIM, I’m a supporter, I’m a fan of hard work and I believe this film is entitled to be a bona fide hit, but I truly believe if I were to grab the proverbial bag of bonbons and buttered popcorn and plop my carcass dead center preparing to enjoy the movie in all its glory, the ghosts of Charles Bronson and John Wayne would rise from their graves and snap me to death with oil soaked rat tail towels. So needless to say, I wish him well, but I gotta stay true to my roots so I’ll be watching EAT PRAY LOVE.

I think he may have a point, kids.

Current Mood: amused

Adding to what I said elsewhere....

I've fallen deeply in love with the Pet Shop Boys again since seeing them live the other night. It occurs to me that if you crossed New Order with Pet Shop Boys you'd have an almost perfect synth pop band. New Order always had the indie credibility and Pet Shop Boys have the tunes. Mind you, despite having one of the coolest men in pop in the duo, Pet Shop Boys distinct lack of street credibility was always one of their most endearing features when they played the whole ironic detachment card. I'm kinda glad that they embraced the theatrical aspect over trying to be relevant.

On the other hand, I admit to being disappointed with the new Divine Comedy album. It contains flashes of genius, but where previous albums had balanced the whimsical humour and tongue-in-cheekness with solid tunesmithery, Bang Goes the Knighthood is almost exclusively humour based tracks without any solid base. It's fun and funny, but more like listening to a Flight of the Conchords album than anything remotely serious.

Hannon still retains some of the ability to pick a tune up by the scruff of the neck and shake it, but there's none of the epicness or tunes-from-a-Broadway-show of previous albums. It's interesting to contrast it with Regeneration, which was the Divine Comedy album that downplayed the comedy.

This album goes to the opposite extreme, with a large number of Noel Coward-esque spoofs like The Complete Banker, Can You Stand Upon One Leg or the title track. There's some gold in them thar hills, but what's entirely lacking is Hannon's razor sharp wit - instead it's the rambunctious and bumptious japester that's on display. Which works wonderfully for a sing-a-long party song like their biggest hit, National Express, but becomes an irritant when it's the tone for an entire album. Instead of perceptive humor, it's cheap laughs and it's hard not to feel disappointed when you know what Hannon is capable of in his perceptive moments.

That said, the comedy songs are still a step above most efforts and if you're looking for an album that's essentially just a series of harmless spoofs, you could do a lot worse. In amongst it there's tracks like When a Man Cries, Down in the Street Below or Have You Ever Been in Love? to raise the tone, but a lot of the album remains trite and lacks the potency of his best work. Hannon seems a little too content with what he's doing and himself and it was the slight bitterness mixed with the sweet that always made his earlier works stronger.

The new single, I Like, pretty much sums up what's great and also a little irritating about the album. It's genuinely funny and entertainingly ridiculous in parts, lacks a focused tune and is ultimately forgettable. But still endearing enough that you can't write it off entirely.

Current Mood: stressed

So, The Pet Shop Boys. It's daunting to think that they've been going 30 years or so now. And one thing they've always been renowned for the theatricality of their live shows.

Last night they played the BIC, my local venue, to a packed house. And to say they didn't disappoint is an understatement.

I had slight trepidation when I booked the tickets. I'd seen footage of their show at the Glastonbury festival and thought they looked and rounded a bit tired.

However, last night's gig demonstrated the opposite was true. Neil Tennant might be packing a few extra pounds around the belly which made his ludicrously tight trousers all the more comical, but they delivered an amazing fresh and vibrant performance.

The main strength? Well, apart from the deadpan ironical humor that's always been part of the Pet Shop Boys' mythos coming through, they resisted the main temptation of gigging bands when they have a new album to promote - push the new tracks at the expense of the hits the audience has come to hear.

Last night the Boys did the opposite. A few new tracks were interspersed with the classics, but the main thrust of the show was playing hit after hit and classic tune after classic tune. From the opening Heart through to the closing West End Girls, they hammered almost every great tune from their decades in the business, be it Always on My Mind, What Have I Done To Deserve This (with a great tribute to the late Dusty Springfield), a barnstorming It's A Sin, complete with confetti cannons, Suburbia, Kings Cross, Being Boring, Jealousy, New York City Boy, Go West, Love etc, Two Divided By Zero, even a Coldplay cover slipped in, mixed with Domino Dancing and many medleys of classic tunes.

The staging was equally brilliant. Employing a stage covered in stackable white cubes, which alternately become video walls, dance platforms, or makeshift set pieces and barriers for performers to escape for costume changes. The duo were ably supported by four dancers (including a twins) who did and amazing job of filling the space with some amazing costume changes and the cube motif continuing as all the performers went through much of the show in box themed costumes, with boxes on their heads that looked both hilariously daft and amazingly stylized - a balance that the Pet Shop Boys have always deftly managed. The genuinely brilliant sense of design offset by the fact that it might be brilliant but it's also totally ridiculous too. It was one of those gigs where it was impossible to keep the smile off your face. And certainly when Chris abruptly stepped out from behind his bank of keyboards to do a brief dance routine. Or when the Boys entered with boxes on their heads to perform the first number. Brilliantly daft.

This all combined to create an amazing party atmosphere for the gig. I'd definitely rank it up there as one of the best live experiences of my life (although not quite up there with Madness and the day we made tower blocks dance).

Current Mood: high

Just back from seeing Predators. No, not a Roman Polanski bio-pic, (topical!), but a sequel to the classic 80s sci-fi action movie.

So, what of Predators? What can I say? It's derivative, cliched, predictable and corny.

It's also probably the best sequel Hollywood's produced in the last ten years.

( Find out why under the cut. )

Current Mood: chipper

Who needs Tumblr? I can do random picdumps right here.

Current Mood: lazy

16:11 I clearly need to find new fandoms, as everything coming out of the Transformers and X-men camps stop me from giving a flying wotsit. #
16:12 The alternative is getting a life and I'm just not ready for that kind of commitment. #
16:20 Over at Bleeding Cool: Alan Moore Says Goodbye to Comics (Again) - bit.ly/cbfYPX For a change, Rich notes his nonsensical babbling. #
18:10 Things I didn't need today: Coming in to find my assistant off sick, nothing done yesterday, his computer fucked & a work experience kid in. #
23:37 The neighbors having sex loud enough to be hear
d is irritating. When it's the neighbors across the street, I think they need soundproofing. #

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19:38 Happy Independence Day. Good job being the land of the free, US. Unlike those Canadians, Australians and other assorted oppressed colonies. #
21:14 Spent the day being run ragged by my nephews. Now watching The Lovely Bones. Not exactly a giggle a minute. #
21:43 Huh. This was a very good movie for twenty minutes, then we've suddenly got overblown CGI and Susan Sarandon comedy drunk montages. What? #
22:32 Well, this is a very touching family reunion but MAYBE WORTH INTERRUPTING TO SHARE EVIDENCE OF A SERIAL KILLING PEDOPHILE. #
22:48 Huh. I was really expecting to like that movie. And despite the best efforts of the cast, I really didn't. Disappointing. #

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10:58 Tickets for Pet Shop Boys booked. Looking forward to it. A band I've always wanted to see live for the spectacle. Always a big gay cabaret. #
11:08 How about a pair of pink sidewinders and a bright orange pair of pants? #
13:55 Okay, for those in the know who have 1GB allowance on their iphone/blackberry/mobile broadband etc, is it enough? #
15:21 "What the Font?" is literally the greatest website ever devised for graphic designers. So very very useful in my line of work. #
16:43 Inspired by @fullofwhoa I've been watching Jurassic Park again. And it threw up things I'd entirely forgotten I've n
ow been reminded of: #
16:44 1. Not wanting to sound shallow, but for a teenage boy, seeing Laura Dern in those shorts was a near religious experience. It still is. #
16:45 2. Muldoon should have lived, like in the book. Great last line, but I wanted to see him blowing up raptors with a grenade launcher, dammit. #
16:46 3. I would hire Sam Neill for the sole purpose of coming around to my house and scaring the shit out of my nephews with his raptor speech. #
16:48 4. You know more about the characters in 5 minutes of screentime than you do the entire screentime of most characters in recent event movies #
16:50 5. Jeff Goldblum is smug and unbearable and I kinda love him for it. It's a great performance. #
16:54 6. Seriously, what the hell is that accent about, Dickie Attenborough? Made me wish Hammond were eaten by Procompsognathus like the book. #
18:38 Asked about 1GB usage for a reason. Can't afford an iphone, but 3 offer the Mifi mobile wireless for £10 a month or £50 PAYG for my iTouch. #
01:30 So, Andrew Garfield. he wouldn't have been my first choice for Peter Parker but a good actor? Yes. It can work. #

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I've discovered, through listening to the Radcliffe and Maconie Show on BBC Radio 2 over the past few weeks, that Mark Radcliffe can still be relied on to deliver new and interesting sounds straight into my brain. The Mark and Lard Show on late night Radio 1 was the soundtrack to my teenage years and it was through them I first heard The Verve (Richard Ashcroft singing Drugs Don't Work years before it made any album), Oasis, Placebo, Ash, Vic Chesnutt, White Town, The Cardiacs, Pulp, Babybird, The Cardigans, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Belle & Sebastian, Ben Folds Five, Supergrass, Teenage Fanclub... Oh, wow, there's a huge chunk of my musical education that comes from them, the more I think about it. They weren't just all comedy phone-ins and the least successful breakfast show ever.

Anyway, I've started irregularly listening to Mark Radcliffe's show with Stuart Maconie and they've also had some gems. I've already waxed lyrical about Hafdis Huld. I challenge anyone not to bop around the room to this anti-love song.

Even more randomly, last night's guests were Coope, Boyes & Simpson, an a Capella trio from northern England who sing traditional folk as well as their own compositions. What I didn't expect to hear was an a capella folk trio singing a tribute to Kurt Cobain from Nirvana, but they do, and slip in their own take on In the Pines, covered by Nirvana in their Unplugged session, in the process.

It's... unique. And just the kind of stuff I love. Something I'd never have heard anywhere else.

So, a glass raised to Mark Radcliffe. Providing ear worms for me for 16 years.

Current Mood: quixotic

11:36 Morning. After a few days of flashing, I'm now packing a 22 incher. #
11:48 Pet Shop Boys? Next month? Oh, I think so... #
17:08 I've said it before and I'll say it again. I make no secret of it. I like Wonder Woman in pants. #
17:27 Equal opportunity demands that if Diana gets pants, Batman has to get a thong. #
17:34 "CLARKE LOOKING AT ALTERNATIVES TO PRISONS." Given the Tory's usual response to law and order, I'm going to predict the answer: Hanging. #
17:46 The variant cover for "One Moment in Time"
;. A cover I can't look at without feeling the need to yell "Oh, FUCK YOU." bit.ly/azV2C0 #
19:37 You know, hate on X3 all you like, at least Beast was wonderfully cast. Nothing I hear about X-men: First Class fills me with confidence. #
19:38 Take the rumors of Caleb Landry Jones as Banshee. He's a 20 year old Texan. Sooo... uh... wut? Ken Branagh was not available, I guess. #

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And so, it's over. Not with a whimper, but a bang. A big one, in fact. And since it'll be impossible to discuss the last two episodes of this series of Doctor Who without spoiling my colonial cousins, time to take it under the cut.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: dorky

Current Mood: bouncy

10:38 "He got an agent and a roadie named Bart." CHOON. #
11:38 Reason #456 why the vampires vs. X-men event will never be as cool as CB&MI13: Dracula shot vampires at Britain from cannons on the moon. #
11:46 The Daily Mash - VIDEO TECHNOLOGY CONFIRMS ENGLAND ARE VERY BAD AT FOOTBALL bit.ly/bzGwSE #
00:11 It's all a bit quiet today. That makes me nervous. #

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10:26 It's kinda interesting to see just how quickly someone can plunge in my estimation. Brb, off to comic store to cancel subscriptions. #
10:48 Was out all day yesterday. It's a scorcher today, but I have work to do. Why do I feel vaguely guilty about not spending the day outside? #
14:31 My dramatic gesture of canceling certain comics off my pull list was spoiled by the fact that LCS guy hadn't put them on in the first place. #
14:38 I did drop Daredevil and New Mutants, though, which I bought but haven't read in months, and replaced with Young Allies and Heralds. #
15:53 Look, England's defending is terrible, Germany are deservedly in the lead. But, even so... I'm staggered by that disallowed goal. #
16:34 It that goal hadn't been disallowed, it would have been a completely different game. For a start, we'd have been beaten 4-2 instead. #
22:34 I haven't reviewed last week's Dr Who yet because I wanted to judge the finale as a whole. Now I've seen it, I want to watch again to decide #
22:52 Another review for my play, saying I "conveyed the disturbing (and disturbed) teenager Alfred with wide-eyed and frightening intensity". #
22:53 I wasn't playing a teenager at all, but I'll take the indirect compliment, thank you very much. #

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Poking at covers of Billy Joel's New York State of Mind earlier with

skalja has prompted me to revive my "great and… not so great cover versions" feature again.

Previous entries saw stuff like Lady gaga covered by Faith No More, the Theme from Shaft played on ukuleles, rockabilly ACDC, a cappella Nirvana, Marillion covering Britney Spears and more…

Under the cut, stripped down New Order, Shirley Bassey covering Pink, truly unique a capella Coldplay, punk Banana Splits, more Gaga, gratuitous lesbians, sea shanties and more.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: predatory

After today's trip to the comics store, my current "Not Enough Hours In The Day List" stands at:

Comic Trades/Collections:

Queen and Country - Volume 1.
Strangers in Paradise - Volume 1.
Scott Pilgrim - Volumes 1 & 2
Chew - Volume 1
Age of Bronze - Volume 1
Long Hot Summer
Four Letter Worlds
Mouse Guard - Autumn 1152
Superman - Greatest Stories Ever Told
Powergirl - Volume 1
All Star Superman - Volume 2
Incredible Hulk - Boiling Point
The Unwritten - Volume 1
Jack Staff: Soldiers
Victorian Undead
Honour Amongst Punks

Currently Reading:

The Walking Dead Compendium - (Collects Volumes 1-8)
X-Campus

Read:

Fell
Underground
Johnny Cash - I See A Darkness
Bone
Phonogram: Rue Britannia
Phonogram: The Singles Club
Invincible - Ultimate Hardcover Volume 5

That's not including my current pull list for single issues, which I did some adjustments on this week. Currently I have a stack of single issues from my pull list, which includes:

X-men Forever, X-Factor Forever, Daredevil, X-men Legacy, Astonishing X-men, New Mutants, Batgirl, Young Allies, Heralds, Girl Comics, Prince of Power, Black Widow, Age of Heroes, Marvel Zombies.

I actually thought I had more on my pull list, but I'm shedding New Mutants (which has drifted off into a two crossovers in a row and lost my interest) and Daredevil (which I've been picking up, but haven't actually got into since Diggle took over and even before that my interest had waned). The jury is out, too, for X-men Legacy and most likely I'll drop that too. I just have no interest or enthusiasm for the current X-men status quo. I've dropped Astonishing X-men: Xenogenesis and there's only one issue of the standard and much delayed ongoing to go, apparently. I assume it's quietly being killed after that.

Which leaves Batgirl, X-men Forever, Black Widow and whatever they're calling the Hercules book this week as my only ongoings. Okay, Young Allies too, but is anyone thinking that'll last over 10 issues? And I'm wavering on the Black Widow book. I'm enjoying it so far, but there's a new creative team after issue 5, I believe, which'll probably see me jumping off.

Who knew he day would come when my regular comic store order would drop to one DC book and my only Marvel book a Chris Claremont glorified X-men What If?

That said, as Andy, my comic store guy said today, there is tons of good stuff still out there. The Bristol Comic Expo was an eye opener for me, in tandem with the enthusiasm of the more indie-friendly blogs I've started frequenting and Scans_Daily, bringing into focus that there's a bunch of good books around that creators and fans are enthusiastic about, but they're most likely not anywhere near the top of the sales charts. I'm going to start trusting Andy more, as it was on his recommendation I bought Underground and Fell and thoroughly enjoyed them. The store do a blog as well, which focuses on the creator-owned as well as the mainstream and I'll be reading that more often to know what to ask for when I go in.

I've also, as you can see, pulled a bunch of trade collections to try out certain titles on recommendation or pure whim.

I'm going in. Wish me luck.

Current Mood: contemplative

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Angelophile

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