September 2003

Catwoman

For those of you who don't know, a Catwoman movie starring Halle Berry is currently in production to be released next year. A picture of Catwoman's costume for the movie was just released. Damn that's ugly. Okay, the pants and bra thing look kinda cool, but the mask... what is up with that? The gloves are odd as well. It's like they are mixing S&M, clubing, and tribal attire with a bonafide comic book costume. It's a freaky mix and I don't think it works. Huntress' going-to-a-dance-club look worked awesomely in the short-lived Birds of Prey series this last year, why not go with something like that? I could handle this costume if it weren't for the mask, but it still seems a bit much. The outfit screams dominatrix rather than slinky, sexy kitten. Perhaps this new Catwoman runs an S&M brothel on the side? Whatever.

Underworld

Hell yeah. The moment I saw the first preview for the movie Underworld I became obsessed with it. Generally this means that I will hate the movie because there is no way it can live up to that kind of expectation. To my good fortune, the movie not only lived up to my expectations, but exceeded them.

Synopsis:
Selene (Kate Beckinsale) is a warrior vampire. She, along with her kind, are at war with lycanthropes (werewolves). The lycans are after a human, Michael Corvin, and Selene needs to find out why. What she finds unravels everything she knows about her world and her cause.

Review:
Kate Beckinsale kicks ass in this role both literally and figuratively. I never once doubted that she was a vampire who was seasoned in battle. She also brought a solidity and depth to the character that went far beyond a simple action hero. I totally want to see her in more roles like this.

The costuming was inspiring as was the overall look of the film. I was sitting in awe throughout the movie by the amazing visual imagery. Though the basic plot concept is nothing new, the story played out wonderfully and felt original. The directing and filmography avoided many hollywood cliches, for which I am eternally grateful. It brought a freshness and uniqueness to the film.

Underworld was one of those movies that had me leaving the theatre feeling all powerful and invulnerable. From the driving music to the pvc body suits it was a rush and an experience I plan to repeat when it comes out on DVD.

On a side note, did anyone else notice something odd about the way Kraven (Shane Brolly) spoke? It was like he was working really hard to do an American accent, but was not quite comfortable with it. Every once in awhile I could hear an Irish accent slip into a few random words (since Brolly is from Northern Ireland, I'm assuming that he has an Irish accent). I felt it really muddied what was otherwise a good performance.

Scraping Alarm

I woke up this morning to the sound of someone scraping the ice off their car windows. My truck had a light dusting of snow all over it. Coming home from work I saw patches of snow in mostly green grass and on the back of car windows. Winter has officially arrived.

Blood & Water

I recently read the 5 issue mini-series Blood & Water by Judd Winick and Tomm Coker published by DC/Vertigo earlier this year. The main character is Adam Heller who has major health problems and has been told he's gonna die. His two best friends offer to make him a vampire so he can live forever.

What I enjoyed most about the story is the unique perspective on vampires and the strong focus on the characters. The relationships really drive the story which is cynical, humorous and intriguing. Coker displays excellent storytelling with the art and is able to give the characters tons of personality. I'm particularly impressed with the subtleties and accuracy he achieves with facial expressions. I also really enjoyed the muted, moody coloring by Jason Wright. He makes the non-glossy inside pages work beautifully. Whether the non-glossy pages were an artistic choice or a financial one I'm very pleased with the results.

Overall I enjoyed the pacing of the story. I did feel that the big revelations toward the end of the series seemed a little underdeveloped, but definitely interesting. I also felt the big crisis was resolved too easily. Basically the story was strong in characterization and weak with the big story elements. Still, as the series ended I was totally ready for more. I'm hoping the creators have more Blood & Water planned for the future. Rating: 4/5

Making Up

Happiness is making up via pillow fight.

Pours

and then there's the 80 some pictures taken of our memorial activities which are gone without a trace...

Damn

In the last week I've missed 3 days of work. When I went in today I had something like 15 projects sitting on my desk. I only work 4 hours each day at this job and I spent all 4 of those hours trying to pump out jobs. I nearly finished all the jobs that were due today. Tomorrow has at least as many due and I already have several lined up for the day after. My week is going to totally suck.

Death Goes On

My 18 year old sister was killed in a car accident a year ago today. This year has been been plagued with the ever oppressive realization that I can't count on anything, that crappy stuff does indeed happen, and that I truly have no control over my life. I've lived a year beyond her death. Is this all there is to "surviving"? They say that life goes on. That may be true, but I'm here to tell you that death goes on as well. My sister is just as dead today as she was a year ago. She will still be dead this time next year. In 20 years she will still be dead and I will still wish she wasn't. Life goes on, but death seems to go on more tenaciously than life ever could.

dMac

The Mac I use at work was having problems this week. When I returned after a few day's absence my supervisor left a note that the entire system drive had been wiped and everything reinstalled. His note included an illustration...

keep reading...

What's in a Name?

There was once a woman whose last name was Wolfe. She married a man with the last name Seaman. While his last name was already quite terrible what came from their union was even worse. In an effort to maintain her individual identity while still associating with her husband, she chose to hyphenate. She now walks around proudly bearing the name of Mrs. Wolfe-Seaman.

True story. I kid you not.

Rinse, Repeat

The friends group I hang out with has become less "the group" and more "the bunch of little groups that meets at random times." This makes information sharing a bitch. I'm getting so sick of telling the same frickin' story twelve times. I think we should start an information chain. I tell Valette, Valette tells Beth, Beth tells Rebecca, Rebecca tells Jake, etc, etc. Either that or I'm gonna start passing out weekly news bulletins. I'm sure the menial details of my life warrant a weekly press run. "Damon buys soda: News at 11"

WildCATS Version 3.0

A couple of years ago I read a few of the WildC.A.T.S. comics and enjoyed them. They began to get a bit annoying so I stopped buying them. I've been interested in checking out the new run WildCATS version 3.0, but was leary. Well, the awesome cover on issue #13 hooked me. I bought it and really enjoyed it, though I wasn't 100% sure of some stuff going on. I definitely felt like I stepped into the middle of an ongoing story. So... I bought 9-12. Wow. I'm totally sucked in. The characters are set-up awesomely. I love what they are doing with Grifter right now. The stories are very interested and just dark enough to suit my tastes. There's no happy-go-luck Justice League here. In fact, the superhero aspect of the story takes a back seat to the characters and the story, which is awesome. Kudos to Joe Casey for some great writing. I've also really been impressed with the art. Dustin Nguyen gives us beautiful scenes that are visual interesting and really help move the story along. And the colors by Randy Mayor are to drool over. All in all, I'm impressed with this creative team and really amazed at how much this team has been changed for the better in the new run. I just ordered the first trade of the new run and I can't wait to read it.

Coming Out

"I used to be a coffeemaker trapped inside of a computer's casing."

Borg Erotica

"Would you like to slip into my alcove for a little 'regeneration cycle?'"

Since the borg are all connected in the head, would one borg's sexual fantasies be like having phone sex with the entire collective?

Deedly Deedly DEEEEEEH

Check out the musical stylings of Strongbad.

Smell Ya Later

Is it bad when I become aware that a fellow employee has arrived by the pervasive smell of cigarette smoke wafting into my office? Is it even worse when I realize that they are on the far side of the store and the stench is intense enough to ooze it's way through desks, copiers, papers, and people to make it into my office?

Greetings

Happy Thursday.
That is all.

Machismo

It's true. Many men are very egotestical.
[brought to you by Terry Pratchett in the book Feet of Clay]

Lowercase Dash

I was just given an url over the phone by someone who evidently knows very little about web surfing. First she started off with "h t t p :" then said "two slashes" and slowly gave me a blow by blow of her very long url. The greatest moment of this recollection was when she said, "then it's a dash, not a slash, but a dash. You know, like a lowercase dash." Some people call that an underscore sweetie...

One Track Mind

I have a couple hours between my morning job and teaching piano lessons this afternoon. All I can think about doing in that time is sleeping. This is partly due to the 6 hours of sleep I got last night and partly due to the oozing depression I feel after last night's piano gig. Too bad my 2 hour break can't be transformed into 15.

Piano Whore

I played piano at a coffeehouse last night. I realize again how much I hate playing an audience who isn't really paying attention. Being the background track to games, discussions, books, and coffee orders feels like a complete cheapening of my music. Perhaps a coffeehouse is not my ideal venue...

Buckwheat Jim

I'm heading out for a drive up toward the Arctic Circle. Why am I doing this? Well, I enjoy driving for one thing. The main reason, though, is to commune with nature. I'm on a quest to find forest after forest to wander through and enjoy. I might even climb a few trees. Just call me nature boy.

sniff

After many years of brilliant and highly entertaining Veggie Tales videos, Big Idea Productions is filing for bankruptcy. I'm finding myself crushed. Another company will be buying out Big Idea and will continue making Veggie Tales which is good. I just can't imagine how it will ever be the same without the original creators who not only birthed each hysterical story, but also brought the characters to life with their own voices. I think I'm in shock.

The Dark Side

I realize that I've been eating more and more healthy over the last few years, but today it hit me that I've completely transformed into one of those health freaks I used to read about. The instigator of this revelation? A fruit smoothie made with the following ingredients:

banana
frozen strawberries
frozen raspberries
carob powder
honey
desiccated coconut
juice blend (100% juice)

Besides being outrageous healthy for me, this tasted damn good. What have I become!? Before you know it I'll be eating grass and communing with the trees.

Creepy

Slash Fiction. Heard of it? I hadn't. In short it's erotic fan fiction in which two same sex (usually male) tv characters "discover" their sexual feelings for one another...

Ok. Officially creeped out.

added 9/3/2003, 12:47pm: "But Spock," said Kirk, huskily, realising, finally, irrevocably, what his true self had been trying to tell him ever since the beginning of season one, "it's so huge. And it's green." "And it would be logical for you to... touch it, Captain," said Spock. [via]

eewwww...

Glory

My friends and I came up with a rather amusing phrase this weekend: Raging Inferno of Apathy. It makes me want to start a punk band.

A Gift

I wasn't looking forward to going to work after 2.5 days off last week and then labor day off this week. I had imagined my work pile to be overflowing my desk and enjoying a new found home on the floor. Well, after being at work for about and 1.5 hours I'm done with all my projects! I do have several jobs to print if/when our color printer gets fixed, but it sounds like that won't be today. Thanks God for the wonderful gift of an easy morning.

Jackass

I watched Jackass the Movie last night. I couldn't stop laughing through the entire thing. It was so disgusting and so damn funny. I was literally nauseous when the movie was over.

Out of the Blue

While on our last Caribbean cruise nearly two years ago, we met an elderly couple with whom we really hit it off. We spent a lot of time together on the ship and have written a few letters back and forth since then. It's nice to keep in contact, but I didn't expect anything more than occasional letters. Well, I just received a phone call from them... They were thinking about us and wanted to let us know that they've been praying for us with having "more than our share" to deal with this year (referring to my sister's death). I'm blown away by their compassion and friendship toward us.