Say whatever you want to in the comments to this post -- random, off topic thoughts, ideas, suggestions, questions, recommendations, criticisms (which can be anonymous), surveys, introductions if you have never commented before, personal news, self-promotion, requests to be added to the blog roll and so on. If a week goes by and I have failed to add you to the blog roll TELL ME TO DO IT AGAIN, and KEEP TELLING ME UNTIL IT GETS DONE. I can be lazy about updating the non-post parts of this site.
ALSO. You can use this space to re-ask me questions you asked me before that I failed to answer because I was too busy (but now might not be). That is often the reason I fail to get back to people, and on a blog, after a few days, the comments thread dies and I just kind of forget about it. Let's use this space to fix that, because it does need to be fixed; I look like a jackass sometimes, leaving people hanging. I will TRY to respond to any questions here.
AND you can use this space to comment on posts that are old enough that no one is reading the comments threads anymore. For example, if you thought of a great quote for the great quote commonplace book, but now no one is reading that, you could put it here.
You do not have to have a blogger account or gmail account to post a comment -- you can write a comment, write your name at the bottom of your comment like an e mail, and then post using the "anonymous" option.
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I am having two wisdom teeth out today -- so I may not be around here for the next two days.
Damn, I don't envy you, Geoff. Get well soon!
Sorry I haven't been around lately. It's hard to keep up with reading and commenting on all the blogs I follow, in addition to writing stuff for my own blog. I'm also writing reviews for Silver Bullet Comics now, so that's more for the pile. But I do like to participate in the community here, so please don't forget I exist!
I'm still catching up on reading older posts, and I figured I would put any relevant comments here, where people might see them. So:
The 400 posts/40 pies joke that Christian made was referring to an entry (the first image on that page) from the Superdictionary, an old kids' book with words defined by using silly DC characters. It gets a lot of play in this age of internet irony, especially on sites like Scans Daily.
Damn, I can't believe I missed a video game discussion! Hmmm, I don't know if I can make a top 10 "best" games, but here are some of my favorites:
Shadow of the Colossus, and its predecessor, Ico. Those were just incredible in design and scale, with beautiful graphics.
Okami, a beautiful game based on Japanese mythology, in which you play the sun goddess Amaterasu, who has taken the form of a wolf. It's animated too look like old Japanese art/calligraphy in motion, and it's just incredible. I did a post about it a while back, right after I finished it.
Katamari Damacy, the infamous "rolling junk up into a ball" game. Man, that is fun, and really fucking weird.
The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. I haven't played Wind Waker, but this one is pretty amazing; definitely the best Zelda I've played. I'm working on Twilight Princess right now, so we'll see if I like that any better, but somehow I doubt it.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Tons of fun, and really nice graphics and story. The sequels aren't as good.
Lumines. The best reason to own a PSP, although you can get it for the PS2 and probably some other platforms. One of my favorite puzzle games of all time, even giving Tetris a run for its money.
Guitar Hero 1 and 2. Makes you feel like a rock star, even though you're wailing on a silly little plastic guitar.
And that's probably it for my all time favorites. There are plenty of others that I like, such as SSX 3, Burnout Revenge, Super Smash Brothers Melee, various Final Fantasy titles, Goldeneye 64, Super Mario 64, Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal, Grand Theft Auto III/Vice City/San Andreas, and probably a few others that don't come to mind right away. Not very many first-person shooters, since I suck at those. But I would certainly try Bioshock if I had a 360; that game looks pretty amazing. And that's all for now; sorry to come in to the discussion so late.
Get well quick, Geoff! I hope you requested the laughing gas because that procedure is no fun.
For videogames to waste one's time with - may I recommend City of Heroes?City of Villains? I currently have my subscription turned off so I can get my work done - however when I have free time it is the best game a superhero geek can play. The character creation phase of the game is as engrossing as the actual on-line play. I love making and playing my heroes or villains - but the game can be a real drag when you don't have anyone else to play with.
I posted a new installment of my webcomic over at my Live Journal. It's called Love's Litterbox and it's about me, my three cats, and my crumbling love life. Enjoy!
For anyone in the SF bay area, Isotope Comics in the city is having a gallery show/ cocktail hour with JH Williams III. All the artwork from these past issues of batman will be on display, and the drinks are tasty
I was going to add this to your post about All-Star Batman & Robin #7, Geoff, but seeing as how this is more recent, and this being my first comment...
Apart from what you've already said about ASB&R, about Miller reintroducing the Grotesque to us and so on: in #7, when Black Canary jumped out of nowhere and straight into a wet sloppy kiss with Batman, it finally struck me that Miller is also applying everything you wrote in "Pumping up The Volume" in a very literal way.
I don't exactly mean that Miller is writing Batman in the same way Elllis and Millar wrote the Authority (although a case can perhaps be made that Miller is feeling some of the weight of the influence that the Midnighter has had on Batman, in a humorous reversal of poetic influence). For one thing, the amazingly overblown dialogue sets it quite clearly apart from the Authority.
But clearly this Batman is an almost literal application of the "Obscene Father of Enjoyment" figure. A father to Robin, obscenely enjoying his fights, and getting off - all at the same time? ASB&R fits "pumping up the volume" even better than the comics you cited as examples at that point in time.
Anyway, I am glad to see that your writings can now be regularly found online. Kudos.
Geoff- Any plans to see Wes Anderson's new movie "The Darjeeling Limited"? I have yet to see, but will very soon. In fact, I don't think I've EVER heard you mention Wes Anderson's movies before... "The Royal Tenenbaums" is my favorite movie of all time.
Oh- and good luck with the teeth.
Matt: thanks
Streebo: thanks
Drew: thanks for joining us -- keep up the comments. You make some seriously good points there.
Mitch: Royal Tenenbaums is one of my favorite movies too. But I did not love Life Aquatic, and am not in rush to see the new one. On video more likely. Though I will say that the scene in Life Aquatic when Muarray is asked what would be the scientific purpose of hunding down the shark that killed his friend and he answers after a pause "revenge" is one of my all time favorite movie lines ever.
Scott: if you have a good story to tell about the event you can send it to me and I will post it here.
I think The Life Aquatic is probably the least of Wes Anderson's movies, but I still like it well enough. I'm pretty excited about The Darjeeling Limited. It started playing in Chicago this weekend, I think, and hopefully it will make its way to the suburbs soon. I'll see it as soon as I can.
Incidentally, while I love The Royal Tenenbaums, I think I rate Rushmore higher. In fact, it's probably one of my five or so all time favorite movies. Just saying.
Agreed Geoff and Matthew-- The Life Aquatic is my least favorite of his movies.. I've only seen it once versus the endless number of times I've seen Rushmore and Tenebaums (and even his first movie Bottle Rocket, which I've seen at least five times). Somehow, Aquatic just came off false, you know? In his other two movies, it's these very simply motivated, almost one-dimensional characters against very deliberate, entricately detailed backdrops that somehow hit just perfect. But in Aquatic, it's like the balance was off and it didn't work. That revenge line WAS great though, and that cut-away set of the ship was neat.
A weird comparison just occured to me-- maybe Andersons (good) films run off an engine close to anime-- where the character's are illustrated very cartoony and simply and the backgrounds are very intricate. Think of every Anderson character and imagine him or her being summed up in one simple, albeit strange phrase: "a former tennis pro who loves his adopted sister" or "a bad student who loves being a student, also in love with an older teacher". But, going back to the paraphrase thing, it's the OCD collection of background details the characters are set against that make Anderson's movies unique, like the single frame sequence of Margot Tenebaum's pink glove, a pair of scissors and the cloth finger that has just been cut off; with a title card that reads "Alteration of Gloves".
Maybe that's an oversimplification... I don't know.
Anyway, Geoff. In light of the Murray line, I suggest a top 10 (or whatever #) lines from movies list sometime soon.
Mitch: you do a top ten movie lines, then I will post it here, then everyone can weigh in with their top ten, including me. I will keep thinking about this.
That's a really interesting analogy. I feel like the problem in Life Aquatic hingeson the relationship between artificial and real. Real emotions in a very artificial setting in Royal Tenenbaums works. Is the problem that the emotions of Life Aquatic are artificial so the movie feels hollow? I do not remember the movie very well, but I remember being annoyed at Owen Wilson's death. Where as you really feel bad for the Luke Wilson in Royal Tenenbaums. Is that the difference between the films? I really need to watch these again.
Rushmore is far and away my favorite.
I loved Life Aquatic and really disliked Royal Tenenbaums, but since everyone else on the planet had the opposite reaction I wonder if it was just something to do with what mood I was in when watching each movie.
My other theory is that Royal Tenenbaums just didn't have enough Bill Murray in comparison to the two Anderson films I really love.
Over the weekend, I found a Wes Anderson short film on iTunes that serves as a short prequel to his new movie. The short is called The Hotel Chevalier and features Jason Schwartzman and Natalie Portman. It's a small, little exercise in style and mood but it's not too bad.
The best part is that it's a free 12 minute film. I'd like to see more of this kind of experimentation.
For the record, I love Rushmore and the Royal Tenenbaums and really like The Life Aquatic. The sense of melancholy that hangs over an Anderson film is hypnotic I think.
Geoff,
In case you didn't see it, you're name-checked in this Paul Gravett article about superheroes:
http://www.paulgravett.com/articles/083_heroes_2/083_heroes_2.htm
SF
Stephen: I am a sucker for anyone who drops my name.
There are 0 -- ZERO -- reviews of my new book.
There are 0 -- ZERO -- reviews of my new book.
Well that sucks. Sorry to hear it.
It's probably less seen than other Anderson movies, but Bottle Rocket is also excellent. The stuff with Luke Wilson and the Hispanic housekeeper is so charming, and the Owen Wilson character is hilarious. I definitely recommend it if anyone hasn't seen it.
Oh yeah, top movie lines. I always have trouble with that sort of thing, since what I usually like is exchanges or conversations rather than just lines. And I have no idea if I could narrow it down to ten. It might be an interesting exercise though.
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