Musings

Off I Go!

2008-08-06T17:57:00.000-04:00

I hope to see you over at Digital Fare. :)

The end is near

2008-08-04T01:50:00.003-04:00

I've decided I'm finished with this blog, but don't worry--I'm not done blogging. I want to move on to something different.

I've posted a lot of things on this blog (and it was mostly Smallville for a year), but now I'm starting a new one that will be more focused on media and entertainment. That's the current plan. Still working out the idea, so I'll post the link later.

This blog will stay up more or less. I don't have much of a reason to delete the whole thing, and some of the posts will have a new home on the new blog. This site will be 4 years old this September anyway, and I'd hate to get rid of it so close to an anniversary.

Thank you to everyone who visited and a big thank you to the handful of regular readers. Please check out my new blog when it's up, and you can always find me at imacynic.

Al Gore Places Infant Son In Rocket To Escape Dying Planet

2008-07-30T17:12:00.005-04:00

Al Gore...Gore-Al = Jor-El...Get it?

Every now and then, I love the Onion.

"He will be faster than a speeding Prius, stronger than the existing Superfund program, and able to leap mountains of red tape in a single bound. These superpowers will sustain him in his never-ending battle against conservatives, wealthy industrialists, and other environmental supervillains."

A job at Daily Planet for our young hero seems like the perfect fit.

Read the article | digg story

Dr. Horrible back on Hulu

2008-07-29T10:36:00.004-04:00

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is back up on Hulu.com. Go watch it if you missed it the first time around, and of course, it's there to re-watch. :)

Technorati: drhorrible, whedon, hulu

Dr. Horrible's End

2008-07-21T15:32:00.006-04:00

I watched Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog in its entirety one more time last night, and I'm still not sure about the ending.

I like seeing Dr. Horrible being, well, horrible. The last song in Act II sets him up to go after Captain Hammer, and that's exactly what he does. Neil Patrick Harris' singing is excellent throughout the show, but his song after freezing Captain Hammer is chilling and menacing. I love it because we see Dr. Horrible as a full-fledged villain--not a bumbling mad scientist regularly beat up after botched heists.

Penny's death, however, feels like a let down. I understand the innocent bystander gets hit idea, and her death is what propels Dr. Horrible into the Evil League of Evil. Acts I and II make Penny likable enough, but her character comes across as being weak. She's timid, hesitant, and quiet. Sarah Dobbs pointed out that you even have to strain to hear Penny when she's singing alongside Dr. Horrible or Captain Hammer (both of whose words are much easier to pick out). It's not an act, there is no twist--that's how Penny's character is. I'm sad when she dies at the end, but I don't care as much as maybe I should.

We find out plenty about Dr. Horrible. His personality, his desires, and his problems are on display the entire time. Captain Hammer, while not a likable guy, is a strong character. Penny's just...there. Dr. Horrible has a crush on her. Captain Hammer wants to irritate Dr. Horrible by dating her. Penny wants to help out the city by converting an old building to a homeless shelter, but she needs Captain Hammer's influence to get the building. So when she dies I'm sad, but not that sad. Dr. Horrible has my sympathy at the end, when he puts on a confident face for the League and then back at home, we see he's grief-stricken over losing Penny.

If you haven't seen Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, I suggest you check it out some time. (Now it's only available on iTunes.) Joss Whedon's intentions aren't completely clear, but the acting and singing is superb nonetheless.

Technorati: Dr. Horrible, Joss, Whedon, Neil, Patrick, Harris, Nathan, Fillion, Penny, Act III, musical, comedy

Whedon's Dr. Horrible is simply wonderful

2008-07-18T17:53:00.007-04:00

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is a mini-series starring Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother, Doogie Howser, M.D.) and Nathan Fillion (Firefly). It's an internet-only thing made of up three acts. You can see Acts I and II at drhorrible.com and Act III will be up Saturday. The idea came out of the writers' strike standstill when Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly...and Dollhouse coming this fall) wanted to make something significant with less money and no major studios.

And so we get this wonderful, funny, quirky musical comedy. Dr. Horrible (played by Neil Patrick Harris) is a sub-par villain with a crush on a girl he sees at the laundry mat. Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion) is the superhero of the story, but he's not necessarily a nice guy.

The music's good, and the story's entertaining. Thank you, Mr. Whedon, for giving us something to look forward to in the middle of the summer.

You can watch it for free online until Sunday night. Then you can get it off iTunes or on DVD later on.

Technorati: Dr. Horrible, Joss, Whedon, Neil, Patrick, Harris, Nathan, Fillion, Buffy, Firefly, musical, comedy

151

2008-07-02T21:41:00.003-04:00

Sitting in the waiting room, she wondered why it was called a "doctor's appointment" when it was for the patient.

Honda's ASIMO scares me

2008-07-02T16:18:00.004-04:00

ASIMO ("Advanced Step in Innovative MObility") is a robot developed by Honda Motor Company. It's not available to the public, and Honda hasn't made many of them yet, but ASIMO has been on display at conferences, most recently at the Youth Engineering Show in Newcastle, England, on June 25.

It can walk, it can speak, it can recognize faces and moving objects, and look up information on the internet. You can find a listing of its capabilities on its official site as well as a summary on Wikipedia. I'm all for using technology to improve our lives, but I want that technology to help us work better, more efficiently, and whatever else--not do work on its own.

I'm into science fiction, and I watch a lot of movies. I have an overactive imagination that's mixing ASIMO with Terminator and I, Robot, and I don't like what I'm seeing: a human-like robot that can act independently and possibly turn against humans.

ASIMO even has its own commercial, and I'm creeped out--rather than impressed--by it. Sarah Connor told us Skynet was humanity's biggest threat. I'm thinking differently.

Technorati: Honda, ASIMO, robots, technology

150

2008-06-28T22:54:00.001-04:00

Fireflies hovered in the front yard blinking Morse code to their friends across the street.

149

2008-06-28T22:53:00.002-04:00

Drops of perspiration lined her wrist, mimicked condensation on the back of her wristwatch.

148

2008-06-28T22:52:00.002-04:00

The band stopped playing but the drumbeat continued in her mind, dictated her footsteps.

imacynic

2008-06-22T20:12:00.003-04:00

I have a new article on imacynic: Sleep in on Saturdays.

Technorati: imacynic

147

2008-06-21T15:03:00.003-04:00

The constant voices, the growing clutter made her body tense, her mind numb.

146

2008-06-21T15:03:00.001-04:00

Look for the silver trumpet.

145

2008-06-06T23:39:00.000-04:00

The muse lay undisturbed, sleeping on her bed of whispered inspirations.

144

2008-05-31T22:37:00.003-04:00

A photographer without a camera, a writer without a pen.

143

2008-05-31T22:37:00.001-04:00

Keep your ear to the ground but your eyes to the stars.

142

2008-05-28T00:48:00.001-04:00

She organized everything she touched, wove order out of chaos. Logic was her loom and reason, her needle.

Imacynic update

2008-05-26T20:42:00.002-04:00

Imacynic now has a new layout (and a new logo). Easier to navigate, and still a work in progress. Check it out.

Technorati: imacynic

Marvel and DC Movies

2008-05-22T17:30:00.000-04:00

Since I saw Iron Man last week, I've been thinking about a few differences between Marvel and DC comic book movies. I like movies from both and I'm not saying one side is necessarily better than the other.

For the sake of brevity and to keep me from rambling too much, I'm not counting sequels. The Dark Knight comes out in July and Spiderman and X-Men both had successful sequels. But I'm not talking about those--just the first installments.

Here's the list of why I think Marvel is more willing to take risks but still respects the comic book origins of its characters.

1) Marvel jump-started the superhero movie genre with X-Men.

I think most people consider Spiderman the beginning of the current trend of comic book movies because it was so successful, but mutants were in theaters two years earlier with X-Men in 2000. We had the Superman movies in the late 70s and early 80s, and Marvel brought back spandexed heroes in the 21st century.

2) It's okay to change the costume, but be sensible.

Brandon Routh's Superman and Tobey Maguire's Spiderman donned darker colored suits than their traditional bright costumes, and that worked out well. Hugh Jackman's wardrobe went a step further by replacing Wolverine's yellow suit with black leather. This change might have offended classic fans, but it was a smart move. Silver-screen Wolverine in sunshine yellow just wouldn't have been as intimidating. Or nearly as cool. Marvel knows when comic book and cartoon colors won't translate to real life.

Click for larger images

.....

3) Main characters can be serious and funny in the same movie. Really.

Every comic book movie to date has its bright and dark moments, but I think Marvel does a better job of balancing the two sides. Peter Parker's geekiness and the younger X-Mens' lack of control add some comic relief to their movies. "But wait," you say, "Clark Kent's dorky. That's funny sometimes." That's not enough. You need smart, funny dialogue. A broad sense of humor that appeals to a lot of people.

Iron Man has it: Tony Stark's snarky, sarcastic personality, his flops in developing the suit, his quirky robots. Comedic timing in there throughout the movie.

Sure, Clark's a dork, but I'm not laughing when he gets stabbed with Kryptonite seconds after Lex mocks him. I am, however, cheering on Iron Man even as he's fighting a machine 3 times his size. Batman Begins has it's moments, but I mostly remember rain, sewers, and Batman's cape billowing across the screen. Uplifting moments have to stick out if you're going to remember a movie's light-heartedness.

4) Changing minor things is okay, but please leave major aspects of the character alone.

I can make this point brief. Giving Spiderman organic webbing is (arguably) cool. Giving Superman an illegitimate son is (definitely) not.

5) You can appeal to more than superhero fans. (Yes, it can be done.)

Marvel movies do a great job with giving the audience a brief origin story and necessary background information with plenty of time left for an awesome movie made of action scenes, character development, suspense, humor, and a little romance. We see Peter Parker get bitten by the spider, and then he gets his powers. Does the movie have to tell us how his parents died? No, so it doesn't. Tony Stark builds his iron suit while being held captive, but we don't hear anything about his mother (and that's okay). We meet the heroes and then they're off to save citizens and fight crime.

DC has a different method. We see Bruce Wayne watch his parents' murder. We see he's afraid of bats, and he becomes Batman to overcome his fear and fight crime in Gotham. That's really great, but is all of that introduction necessary? Even with the movie reigniting the franchise? I don't know. I would have been fine going into the movie knowing this Batman was slightly different from past incarnations. I wouldn't need multiple scenes to explain it to me. Then there's Superman Returns. Good fun if you're a long-time Superman fan and enjoy spotting all the references to past incarnations of the Man in Steel. The film's crew obviously spent a lot of time working those references in, but that work will be appreciated only by a small audience who already loved Superman. What good are those homages to the casual viewer?

The scene where Superman catches Kitty's speeding car is well-shot and exciting. But how many people know that Superman's stance as he lowers the car to the street is a throwback to Action Comics 1, the first comic book in which Superman appeared?

Or for another example, how many people saw the bartender near the beginning of the film and thought he looked familiar? Superman fans know the actor is Jack Larson, and he portrayed Jimmy Olsen in the 1950s live-action Adventures of Superman series (with George Reeves as Superman/Clark Kent).

Those bits in the movie are great for existing Superman fans, but the general audience doesn't care. Superman Returns is a decent movie on its own, but there are several confusing things in the plot-holed script. What's going on with Superman's son? Since when does Perry have a nephew (involved with Lois)? Is the Fortress of Solitude broken? More knowledgeable fans can guess answers to these questions, but everyone else is lost.

6) Marvel makes movies for its lesser-known heroes.

DC have given us Batman and Superman, and that's great. But everyone knows Batman and Superman, so their movies both had a pretty good chance at success. Marvel, however, takes its chances with lesser known characters (or at least looks past its most popular franchises). Marvel gave us the X-Men, Spiderman, and the Hulk, but it also gave us Daredevil, the Fantastic 4, and Iron Man.

DC could risk a little more. They've got Green Arrow, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Hawk Girl, Green Lantern...all those characters have potential to be great movies. So where are they? I really want to see a live-action Batman Beyond. With Inque. Hey, I can have high hopes.

Comic book movies are in right now, and they're successful at the box office among a broad audience. Marvel seems to know what its doing with its characters. I'd like to see DC step up and give us more characters, smart (and tidy) plots, action, and humor. The films can be deep and thoughtful at times, but really, I want to be entertained. Give me super-powered escapism and I'll enjoy every minute of it.

Superman Returns screencaps are from Follow Tomorrow.

Technorati: movies, DC, Marvel, Spiderman, Iron Man, X-Men, Superman, Batman, comics

141

2008-05-21T22:50:00.003-04:00

One more time she walked past the empty, darkened office. When would he return?

140

2008-05-21T22:48:00.000-04:00

He knew his limits and yet he pushed further.

139

2008-05-16T13:48:00.001-04:00

The first mate bucketed the surging water, tossing it off-deck in an inadequate attempt to keep the ship from sinking.

Flickr and PostSecret on Imacynic

2008-05-16T13:20:00.003-04:00

I wrote my second article for imacynic.org. This one is about the use of computers in producing images for Flickr vs. PostSecret. You can read it here.

Technorati: Flickr, PostSecret, photography

138

2008-05-08T11:13:00.001-04:00

Sickening green leaves trembled in humidity's haze.