Unexpected Collector’s Item?
Permalink | June 29, 2006 by John in Uncategorized
“Original copies of the book sell for $400 and more!”
I bought Wisdom from the Ninja Village of the Cold Moon (scroll down a page or so) by Stephen K. Hayes back in ‘86 in hardcover. It’s in a box somewhere in my garage. I think I’ll hold onto it for a little while longer. I’ve got all of his books from the 80’s - wonder if they’re worth anything?
I FORGOT! I had him autograph “Cold Moon” at a Buddhist meditation seminar in Denver in the early 90’s. He was very surprised to see a copy of it. SCORE!
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Superman Returns **SPOILERS**
Permalink | June 28, 2006 by John in Uncategorized
Overall? Spectacular. The action sequences were superbly done. Unlike The Matrix sequels or the first Spiderman movie, the “cgi actor” never looked fake, possibly because he was moving so fast.
Something is nagging in the back of my mind though. I need to see it again (and maybe again and again) because the first part of the movie was tainted by some assholes sitting behind me who felt the need to explain every little detail to their brat kid. I mean everything. I knew we were in trouble when they read the prologue text out loud at the very beginning of the movie.
I’m not so sure I buy all the plot elements. Yes, I know it’s a comic book and I need to suspend disbelief, but I’m talking about logic errors, not simple believeability. For example, we know that in Superman II, Kal-el became human to sleep with Lois. Obviously we know now that she had his kid, but as far as we know she always thought the kid was Richard White’s. But if he was human when the kid was conceived, how does the kid have powers? And if he didn’t transform into a human, albeit briefly, if the device merely “turned off” his powers, how is Kryptonian physiology even remotely compatible with human?
The other nagging problem I have is the actors Routh and Bosworth themselves but that’s more about the difference in my age. In ‘78 I was eleven, and Chris and Margot looked like adults to me. Routh is roughly the same age (24) as Christopher Reeve was in ‘78 (25), but Routh looks like a kid to me. Superman should at least appear to be in his 30’s by now, assuming Kryptonians age the same as humans (and I believe it’s been established in comics that they do). And Margot Kidder seemed like she was in her 40’s back then, but Kate Bosworth looks like she’s 22 (oh, wait, she’s actually 23). FIVE YEARS have passed, people. That said, Kevin Spacey was simply perfect. I’ve never doubted his acting chops and he looks just a bit older and rougher around the edges as you’d expect in a guy who has spent 5 years in prison after surviving the events of the first two Superman movies. And Parker Posey was a retread of Valerie Perrine, minus the blond hair, boobs and ditsy voice. In a lot of ways Valerie was more endearing, even before her character “turned away from the darkside.”
Back to suspension of disbelief for a moment. I know Supes is strong, super strong. But strong enough to slice through a giant island full of Kryptonite bits with his heat vision and then carry it into space? Granted it kicks his ass and he almost dies, but still, c’mon. Unfortunately I can’t think of a better way to stop what Luthor had set in motion. Seems a bit trite to me.
Anyway, gotta go to work. I’ll try and add to this later.
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Ipod Killer?
Permalink | June 27, 2006 by John in Uncategorized
I can’t find a price for the new ZEN V Plus but it looks pretty sweet. The only thing that bothers me is the embedded battery.
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The Anticipation is Palpable
Permalink | by John in Uncategorized
I was never a big follower of the big blue bird’s comics (I was more of a Marvel fan, Spiderman and the Hulk, mostly), but when “Superman: The Movie” debuted in 1978 I was eleven years old and absolutely captivated. To trott out the old slogan, I really did “believe a man can fly.”
I’ve rediscovered a tiny bit of that excitement in anticipation of tomorrow, the big premiere. I’m not excited enough to go to the midnight showing, but I’m definitely eager to see the new movie. All preliminary reviews and clips seem to indicate a really good movie, possibly even great, although some have complained about a few of the plot points surrounding Lex Luthor’s latest scheme - mostly that it’s not epic enough.
One of the big things for me in the original movie was the music (I still have the soundtrack on vinyl). Maybe it was because I was still in band. Maybe it was because John Williams is a movie music god. I listened to some free online samples of Ottman’s adaptation of the classic Williams score for the new movie and this might be one of the few non-Star Wars (::cough::Williams::cough::) soundtracks I buy.
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Letterman Quote
Permalink | by John in Uncategorized
With quotes like this it’s hard to believe I don’t actually like David Letterman:
“Celebrity birthday today. Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mack
turned 68 today. He admitted today that it might be time to
stop thinking about tomorrow.” –Dave Letterman
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