My Watchmans: Has you seen them?

Well, I saw the Watchmen movie. I really wish I could be unbiased about the whole thing, but I love the comic too much. So, here is my brief review, trying to separate my movie fan and comic fan tendencies.

Movie Fan: The opening fight was awesome. Pretty brutal. It really lets the viewer know that Comedian is not someone to mess with, yet his attacker can mess him up.

Comic Fan:Attacker white male. Very strong. Can see his face. Obvious.

Movie Fan:Er, yeah. I guess. Anyway, nice opening sequence, though the music is a little obvious. Still, what a great way to dish out exposition without it feeling like exposition.

Comic Fan: Hurm. Comic did it better. Mason’s book. Playboy interviews.

Movie Fan:Yeah, but you can’t put that in the movie. Let’s fast forward…the costumes are great! Rorschach is dead on, Dr. Manhattan is amazing, Night Owl/Dan looks awesome-

Comic Fan: Dreiberg is flabby. In comic. Too young in movie. Manhattan looks ridiculous. Does not translate well to film. Night Owl costume is second-rate batman.

Rorschach good though. Hurm.

Movie Fan: The entire soundtrack is obvious. ESPECIALLY “Sound of Silence.” And “Hallelujah” goes on for-fucking-ever!”

Comic Fan: Agreed.

Movie Fan: AH! Common ground! Anyway, about the “Hallelujah” scene…it felt out of place, didn’t it?

Comic Fan: Comic version proves a point; movie version gratuitous.

Movie Fan: Why are you talking like that?

Comic Fan: Hurm.

Movie Fan: Without spoiling anything, the ending worked. I know that a lot of comic fans hated it, but with time constraints, the original ending would take to much time to set up and wouldn’t have made much sense.

Comic Fan: Book ending better. Should not have compromised. Terry Gilliam would have made 5 hour movie to keep ending. Zack Snyder weak. Possibly homosexual. Must investigate further.

Movie Fan: Hey! None of that here. We are not speculating on anyone’s sexuality based on stereotypes and hate!

Anyway, overall, the movie was alright. It lacked subtlety, but it was interesting and it managed to keep most of the book’s philosophical questions in tact. Three and a half out of five stars.

Comic Fan: Joking, of course.

Movie Fan: What’s that?

Comic Fan: Joking. Movie insult to original material. Insult to Alan Moore. No stars.

Movie Fan: Come on! You have to admit, it wasn’t that bad!

Comic Fan: Never compromise. Not even in the face of Armageddon.

Movie Fan: Well, I liked it. I hope they make a sequel!

At this point, the Comic Fan in me throws the Movie Fan down an elevator shaft.

I’m going to watch the Watchmen.

Well, I’m going to break down and see it tonight. Until then, here is something so perfect, I had to share it.

If you’ve read the book (or seen the movie, I guess), there are so many in jokes here…I love that Rorschach is a “friend to the animals,” especially to those dogs. My god, that’s funny stuff.

Who Watches ?

I’m not sure how I feel about these. They are the internet promo films for the Watchmen, a movie that I fear will completely bastardize the comic it is based on. The first of these things makes me happy:

The second one has some problems, which I’ll address after you watch it:

OK. First, I’m not buying that it’s a 1970s film. It looks too modern, and it seems artificially aged. the previous film looks like old video…this one lopoks like new film. Also, the CGI key is distracting.

From a plot perspective, I’m not sure what the Commedian is doing there, as he worked for the government after the Keene Act, so he is not a criminal.

The 1st film is nearly perfect, but the second one is trying to hard to be cool.

Still, I’ll probably give the bastards my money when this comes up in march.

How I Spent My Vacation: North Carolina

Well, the semester’s over, so the otter and I took a short vacation to celebrate! We went to North Carolina to visit with an old friend of the otter’s, Lesley, and Lesley’s boyfriend, Adrian. Here’s how it all went down:

At about 7AM on Saturday, the otter picked me up and we headed out towards NC, passing through West Virginia and Virginia. It was snowy throughout Ohio, WV, and Virginia, but one thing we noticed is that the snow looked cleaner in Virginia. It almost looked unreal, like those Christmas trees with the snow painted on them. Besides that, though, and besides driving through the mountains, everything pretty much looked like Canton, Ohio.

We pulled into Chapel Hill, NC at about 5PM. Again, it surprised me how much it looked like the Canton, Akron area; the trees were the same kiind of trees, and it was about 45 degrees, so I really felt like I was at home. Anyway, we met up with Lesley, Adrian, and their friend Alan (or is it Allen? It doesn’t matter; they called him Steve). We immediately, without even unpacking at the hotel, went to go see a Tarheels game at North Carolina University.

The game was cool. I’ve never been to a college basketball game before, and those North Carolina fans take that shit SERIOUSLY. North Carolina won, getting 100 points. One thing that confused the otter and me was that when the score got close to 100, the fans started shouting “Biscuits!” As it turns out, this is because when NC gets 100 points or more, the Bojangles’ restaurant, which is kind of like a cross between McDonalds and KFC, has a special on sausage biscuits and gravy. You gotta love the South.

Anyway, the next day, we met up with Lesley and Adrian at their apartment in Durham. I was excited about this because John Darnielle, the lead singer of and creative mastermind behind the Mountain Goats, lives in Durham. We hung out at the apartment, talking about music and pop culture for a while, then went to Chapel Hill.

Chapel Hill is nice; it kind of reminds me of Kent, Ohio, a typical college town. We started out at the Ackland Art Museum , which was great (they had some really cool modern art on the second floor). From the museum, we went to some of the local stores, like a comic book store and CD Alley, an independent music store. It was there that I tested my hypothesis that it would be easier to find Mountain Goats stuff near Durham. My hypotheisis was correct; I picked up Ghana by the Mountain Goats and Martial Arts Weekend by the Extra Glenns (a Darnielle side-project).

After the stores, we took a tour of the UNC campus, and Adrian treated us to some awesome Italian food. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the name of the place, but it was goog stuff. After all that, we went back to Lesley and Adrian’s apartment and watched Be Somebody…or Be Somebody’s Fool!, starring Mr. T! Here’s a clip!

The next day, after getting breakfast and the aforementioned Bojangles’ (which had GREAT Sweet Potato Pie!),Adrian gave us a tour of the Duke campus, which was beautiful but imposing. I think I would have gotten on better at UNC. After Adrian went to work, we hung out with Lesley at the apartment and watched the Youtubes. Then, we went to Twisted Noodles, a Thai restaurant, which was delicious (I had the Panang Curried Tofu…WIN!). After that, the otter, Lesley, and I had coffee at Franchesca’s Dessert Caffe (which, despite the bad reviews, had good coffee and good service). Then, we called it a night.

We met up with Lesley and Adrian one more time for breakfast before heading out again for good old O to the H I O. While it is good to be back, I definately miss the weather (which was almost 70 degrees on Monday), and I can’t wait until Lesley and Adrian visit Ohio!

Adventures in Tremont

This saturday, the otter and I went to Elyria to visit my brother on his birthday. On our way, we stopped in Tremont, just outside of downtown Cleveland.

This was obviously an economically depressed area. After driving through the projects, we made it to a little neighborhood with little houses packed close together. Across the street was a park where a man was selling The Homeless Grapevine for a dollar (I didn’t buy one…there was a crowd of people engage him in political discussion). All over the park and neighborhood were Obama/Biden signs and various other Democratic signs, including many bright yellow ones with “Dennis!” written in big, friendly, black letters.

We walked to our objective, Visible Voice Books. If you’re ever in the area, you should definitely stop there. They have lots of new books at list price, as well as cheap used books. It seems they also have poetry readings, chess games, and themes presentations (they are celebrating Charles Bukowski right now). Not only that, but there’s a wine bar at the front counter. We spent about 45 minutes there, and I bought Adrian Tomine’s 32 Stories, John Darnielle’s Master Of Reality(To replace the one that was stolen from me), and two gifts for my brother (Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s The Push Man and Other Stories and Shotaro Ishinomori’s Japan, Inc.).

After the book store, we went to a cafe, the name of which escapes me right now. The coffee was a little dark but smooth.

Zombie Webcomic

Everyone should read The Zombie Hunters by Jenny Romanchuk. Now.

Incredible?

Last night, I went with the otter to see The Incredible Hulk at our second-run theatre. It was…better than the last Hulk movie. There was much more action, better effects, and a (somewhat) believable villain. Still, it felt two-dimensional. Not as two-dimensional as Liv Tyler’s acting in it, mind you, but still…

The best part is when The Hulk uses a ripped-in-half police car as a pair of Hulk Hands!

Anyway, here’s a clip:

Watchmen!

I’m sure that this will be pulled off the internet before long, but here’s the trailer to Watchmen.

NOTE: I’ve read the graphic novel MANY, MANY times, so if I say something that doesn’t match up with the book, I’m being deliberately misleading. I encourage EVERYONE WHO READS THIS POST to read Watchmen.

Here’s what I think:
1) Opening scene with Jon/Manhattan-OK, we’re off to a good start. I like the pause to marvel at what’s happening right before he is torn to atoms (literally).
2)The Owl-Ship (Archie)-Looking good. Actually, this looks exactly like the comic. Color me impressed.
3)Laurie, Laurie, Laurie…what the fuck are you wearing?
4)Nite-Owl kicking the guy looks alright, but a little too 300. Still, the costume doesn’t look to armored, which is what I was afraid of. I can believe I guy could move around in that get-up. Nite-Owl from the book could have never pulled that off.
5)Comedian goes out the window. THIS! IS! NEW YORK!!!!!! (Too special-effecty)
6)Hey Ozy…why so emo?
7)Manhattan scares a janitor, just like in the book. Good, good…
8)Owlship and City…again, this looks just right to me.
9)RORSCHACH!! Burn those muthafuckas! (This is identical to the book. Very nice.)
10)Laurie goes to the Nerd Prom (San Diego Comic Con)in cosplay, apparently.
11)Three Doctor Manhattans are better than one. (He looks great!)
12)Nite-Owl dresses like Batman, acts like Batman, still manages not to look like Batman. I’m down with that, as long as he doesn’t do that through the entire movie. Oh, and he’s too skinny.
13) Funeral looks great. Only our enemies leave roses.
14)Vietnam. It looks like a cartoon (or a stage production). Not impressed. Comedian looks good, though.
15)Protesters, I’m assuming in the 70’s. That’s the only place in the book I can think of that would have firebombs. This would be during the police strike.
16) Nice placement of the “God help us all.” I can’t think of who is saying that.
17)Manhattan! This looks EXACTLY like a shot from the comic.
18)Nice kiss. Nice interaction with CGI, as it looks like he’s really there. Reminds me of Star Trek, the Motion Picture. (NO, I’m NOT a Trekkie)
19)Comedian vs. the guy who broke into his apartment. I can see why the Comedian was considered a badass.
20)Rorschach is a badass, too.
21)So is Ozy. The effects in this fight are OK. I imaging Ozy would fight using lots of effects. I’m not sure what that last sentence means.
22)Don’t cry, Nite-Owl! (I wish his suit were less leathery)
23)TAKE THAT, CHARLIE!!! (This shot looks EXACTLY like the comic. It seems they spent some extra time with the Manhattan scenes.)
24)More 70s riots, I presume.
25)THE DARK RORSCHACH RETURNS. Not a fan of these two shots, though I said the line with him.
26) Again, Manhattan’s stuff looks great. This scene looks different than the book, but it still looks great.
27) I LOVE that they didn’t fuck with the logo.

So, what do you all think?

Incredible.

When I saw the 1st trailer for The Incredible Hulk, I wasn’t impressed. The second trailer was a little better, but still just “meh.” However, I love this new trailer.

Compare that with the opening for the TV series with Bill Bixby:

Awesome.

What I’m Working On: Untitled Lucha Project, Excerpt 3

This is the third part of a script I’m writing, eventually (I hope) to be a comic book, once I have money, an artist, etc…

A few notes…first of all, this will make little sense if you haven’t read the other parts, which are linked below.

Also, click on “Read More” at the bottom of this post to see the fuill excerpt.

Part 1 is HERE

Part 2 is HERE.

And now…part 3

PAGE 9, PANEL 1: ESTABLISHING SHOT—A MAKESHIFT STAGE OUTSIDE. News vans surround the stage, and a throng of people push to get a better view. Spotlights hit the stage, which looks like it was constructed in a hurry. There is a microphone on the stage.

PAGE 9, PANEL 2: CLOSE UP OF A REPORTER, looking at the “camera.” He speaks into his own mic.

REPORTER: “…and we’re still waiting for a spokesman for the police department to comment on the shooting of Defensor Valorosa, who was reportedly wounded or killed in front of the [NAME OF RESTAURANT] restaurant, on Mascaros Blvd. So far, there is no update on the world champion luchador and crimefighter’s condition…”

PAGE 9, PANEL 3: BEHIND THE REPORTER, CABALLERO ESTRELLA and A DETECTIVE walk onto the stage, with several officers. The Detective is wearing a suit and tie. CABALLERO is wearing a dark suit and tie, and his Luchador mask, which is cut open at the top to expose his black hair. There is a star design around his eyes, but the mask is dark enough that it does not look fey (I’m not going for a Paul Stanley thing). The REPORTER looks back.

REPORTER: “..though we hope…wait a minute. It looks like a spokesman is on stage, along with Defensor’s protege, the Star Knight Detective himself, Caballero Estella!”

PAGE 9, PANEL 4: CLOSE IN ON THE STAGE. THE DETECTIVE IS AT THE MIC, BESIDE CABALLERO. POLICE flank them, and one officer tries to quiet the crowd.

DETECTIVE: “Attention, please…[Attention, please]…At approximately 6:45 this evening, Defensor Valerosa was leaving the [NAME OF RESTAURANT] with an acquaintance, one Sandra Rose, when he was shot by an unknown assailant, apparently from a nearby rooftop. Paramedics arrived at the scene at 6:52 PM, but where unable to revive him.

PAGE 9, PANEL 5: THE CROWD GASPS AND BEGINS TO GET RESTLESS. A POLICEMAN tries to signal them to calm down.

DETECTIVE: “Defensor Valerosa was pronounced dead at the scene.”