Friday, October 05, 2007

Free Form Comments

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.

If you think your free form comment here might be better as its own post, but you do not want it to be public yet, email it to me. My email address is availible on my blogger profile page. If I think it will work on this site, your post will be published here with your name in the title of the post. You can propose what you will, but this week I am looking for reviews of The Kingdom, the new Weakerthans album, and Michael Clayton.

11 comments:

Geoff Klock said...

and i am always looking for good quotes for the commonplace book.

Anonymous said...

It took me a while and some trolling around on imdb, but I came up with ten movie quotes/dialogue-bits that I like.

Jack Sparrow: "I know those cannons. It's the Pearl."
Man in Jail: "The Black Pearl? I've heard stories. She's been preying on ships and settlements for near ten years. Never leaves any survivors."
Jack Sparrow: "No survivors -- then where do the stories come from, I wonder?"
-- Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl


Ginger: "You mean you never actually *flew* the plane?"
Fowler: "Good heavens, no! I'm a chicken! The Royal Air Force doesn't let chickens behind the controls of a complex aircraft!"
-- Chicken Run
(Geoff, this is your weekly reminder to review Chicken Run on your blog sometime.)

Lucille: "If just one person vomits in my pool, I'm divorcing you."
The Shoveller: "That's fair."
-- Mystery Men


Alexander: "See, that's your problem, Jason. You were never serious about the craft."
-- Galaxy Quest (all in Alan Rickman's delivery)

Dr. Teeth: "This is a narrative of very heavy-duty proportions."
-- The Muppet Movie

Doc Brown: "There's that word again -- 'heavy.' Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the earth's gravitational pull?"
-- Back to the Future


Max: "The truth is, neither one of us has the slightest idea where this relationship is going. We can't predict the future."
Rosemary: "We don't have a relationship."
Max: "But we're friends."
Rosemary: "Yes, and that's all we're *going* to be."
Max: "That's all I meant by 'relationship.' You want me to grab a dictionary?"
-- Rushmore


"Not counting the mezzanine."
-- The Hudsucker Proxy

"Yes, that's right, [men and women] can't be friends. Unless both of them are involved with other people, then they can. This is an amendment to the earlier rule. If the two people are in relationships, the pressure of possible involvement is lifted. [pause] That doesn't work either, because what happens then is, the person you're involved with can't understand why you need to be friends with the person you're just friends with. Like it means something is missing from the relationship and why do you have to go outside to get it? And when you say 'No, no, no it's not true, nothing is missing from the relationship,' the person you're involved with then accuses you of being secretly attracted to the person you're just friends with --
which you probably are, I mean, come on, who the hell are we kidding, let's face it."
-- When Harry Met Sally

And finally, in Geoff's category of "Great things to say to someone before shooting them"...

Cheech: "Olive, I think you should know this: you're a horrible actress."
[Cheech shoots Olive dead]
--Bullets Over Broadway

Anonymous said...

Since there's been quite a bit of talk on here about Morrison's Batman:

A friend just got me the trade. Kubert's art was a big motivating factor for me (I must admit, back in the day, when he took over for Jim Lee on X-men I was less than impressed... but I've been a fan since his run on Ultimate X-men and 1602) I was pleasantly suprised that I enjoyed the Batman and Son arc more than I thought. Morrison's depiction here is consistent with his take on Batman: that he is a well adjusted individual who has long since gotten over the murder of his parents (as hinted at at one point in this story when Bruce simply says "I got over it") and has positive, healthy relationships with his surrogate family. Basically, there isn't a great deal of difference between Morrison's Batman and James Bond (also referenced in this run "I'm much cooler than James bond") Is this version of Batman more interesting than Miller's? Nope. Is it any less valid? Not really. (for my money, the best take on the character, the one that manages to best represent the charcter at his most iconic and encapsulate the best of all previous incarnations is the Dini/Timm animated version).
I really loved the Joker story as well. The Morrison/Kubert run takes a dive toward the end (Bruce Wayne rubbing sweaty shirts on himself to intimidate the Bane-Batman? That's just silly. I also don't like the way Morrison writes Batman's dialogue... He sounds too normal... too much like any other costumed hero... but I guess that's the point (interstingly, it also seems he writes Tim more like the mature Dick Grayson from the years before he became Nightwing).
I Liked the last issue with Damien Wayne as the future Batman... it was fun. I do think its interesting that Morrison continually challenges Miller's Batman when It seems as thought Miller could care less about his.

On a slightly amusing side note, with the idea of him having a son and the romance with Jezebel (worst. name. ever.) there does seem to be this subtext throughout that says "See! Batman's not Gay! He's not Dammit!"

Anonymous said...

Oh, and for your quotes:

I've been listening to a lot of Who lately... specifically latter day Who... so here goes:

"Meet the New Boss. Same as the Old Boss"- "Won't Get Fooled Again" (this line sums up the whole song really)

"I spit out like a sewer hole yet still recieve your kiss. How could I measure up to anyone now after such a love as this"- "Who Are You"

"Magically bored on a quiet street corner." - "5:15"

"You can cover up your guts, but when you cover up your nuts, you're admitting there must really be some kind of problem" (I'd say)- "Naked Eye"

"He Had a snake the size of a sewer pipe livin' in his rib cage."
-"Athena"

"If there really is a God, we should get laid today."- "Mike Post Theme"

"Son, in this long line, there's been some real strange genes and you got 'em all, you got 'em all... with some extras thrown in"
-"Real Good Lookin' Boy"

"I don't mind other guys dancing with my girl"-"The Kids Are Alright"

and of course:

"I Hope I die before I get old."-
"My Generation"

Ping33 said...

My favourite movie quote is from Bottle Rocket: "I'll do the job on 3 conditions: #1 You're in charge, #2 we let Bob back in the Gang and #3 I get one of those Jumpsuits!"

James said...

I didn't know the Weakerthans had a new album; it is like new albums from great Canadian bands season! Feist, Broken Social Scene, Stars, Most Serene Republic, now the Weakerthans. Not intended to be a Commonplace book contender, but this lyric from Pamphleteer is really cute/funny: "How I don't know what I should do with my hands when I talk to you.
How you don't know where you should look, so you look at my hands."

I am all over the place with comics lately, but I wanted to mention something from All-Star Batman #7 that lept out at me, but I haven't seen picked up on. Batman mentions someone who can fly, and "the idiot doesn't even know he can". I thought that was a great line akin to DKR's "why do you think I wear a target on my chest"? It offers an explanation for the first Superman comics where he couldn't fly, and simultaneously paints Batman as such a badass that he knows more about Superman's powers than Superman does.

Anonymous said...

I agree with james, I love the line about Superman in AS Batman & Robin.

sean witzke said...

I was just listening to your and Matt Fraction's interview podcast and I just wanted to run something by you regarding Kill Bill.

Basically, I think you've both got it all wrong. Kill Bill is about, well, Tarantino's predilictions.

The film is basically him cataloging everything about film that he loves and fetishizing it. You can see that as the foot fetish occurs over and over and over again. This is a movie that Tarantino can get off on on every level, intellectually and viscerally.

Bruce Lee is now something that Tarantino fetishizes already, namely Uma Thurman. He is rewarded on every level.

Anyway, that how I look at it.

Geoff Klock said...

Sean -- What on earth could I have said in that interview to make you think I disagree with what you just said. Seriously. Because I agree with you 100% and cannot imagine how you got the idea that I think so differently from you that you have to say "I've got it all wrong"

sean witzke said...

Oh, well it seemed like you were thinking of it more as an artistic argument when its really less high-minded than that. Its Tarantino getting a nut. ... maybe I worded that wrong.

Did not mean to offend, more to start a conversation.

Geoff Klock said...

no offence dude -- you and I totally agree. It is just that I would describe poetry the same way you describe tarantino.