Big Guy Thursday

"Whats in the Booooox?"

Only because I think its funny (and the Lodge is dead)

What was in the briefcase?

Quentin Tarantino & Robert Rodriguez are obviously Lodge favorites. But in this "Artist on Artist" interview on MySpace, the filmmakers discuss how they met and Quentin reveals what was in Marsellus Wallace's briefcase in Pulp Fiction. Of course, it would have been better to have an "Artist on Artist" vignette of Rosario Dawson & Rose McGowan... but this will have to do.

"Artist on Artist"

Something New & Good

I recently received a pre-screening invitation to HBO's new comedy show Flight of the Conchords. Because we live in an internet world where we control our media bereft of commercials I had never heard of these Conchords -- Google power w/youtube has enlightened me to something brilliantly entertaining. Its sort of like a Mighty Wind for Gen-X'ers. Overall, they're insanely creative.

An improv comedy/music duo swing songs over guitar strums like you do at your best when drunk with buddies, but they do it all the time. Folk Parody Power!!!



ALSO - bringing you the best hits from New Zealand like Albi the Racist Dragon.

*bonus song* RhymeNocerous VS. Hip-HOPopatamus

*bonus bonus song* Ode to David Bowie



Stay tuned for the HBO broadcast of this new gem. I will sit with mouse ready at my torrent site.

(my favorite new phrase is now: "Ohmigod, she's so hot - she's a curry."

How long is is Blackout?

Since the Lodge is nearly dead again, with 3 no-hitters and 2 one-hitters in the last week, how long before we can have a Lodge discussion on season 3 of LOST?

The Season finale definately opened up some need for discussion (and we havent discussed it all season)

Ronald Jenkees

Some of you know about the genius that is Ronald Jenkees from reading the Sports Guy's blog. But for those of you that haven't seen the Jenkees. Well... you are in for a treat. I'll leave it at that. It's no joke. The guy is a full on super-nerd slash musical genius. Amazing to watch. You can check out his phat beat for the Sports Guy's Podcast at the link above (along with his other creations), or view the video below of our boy rockin' out to the Rocky Theme. Enjoy!



Also, three new episodes of Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager have been posted since we last tuned in. God bless the internet.

Welcoming Jimbo back to Seattle (A little bit of your favorite Seattle team)

I couldnt find the Rondo call.
But the play does speak for itself...just hear it in your head....
"Hailing Mary, and she answers the call......"

Z-Awareness

When zombies get loose, the federal government provides an emergency number.

The 1st Annual Lodge Golf Tournament

Set your calenders and polish off the rust. We are hitting the links

Saturday June 9th

Location.

We have some choices. and Im still working on this.

One option that is interesting if you want to play a nice course, Washington National is $49 with Cart after 4:30pm on Saturdays. Home of the Huskies? If not I'll find a a course and set up a 1pm or so tee time

Teams

I'm thinking the initial grouping of teams is as follows but is up for discussion

Team "Chewbacca" Goose, Jimbo, Joe, and Devo

Team "Bruno Kirby" Dude, Seatown, Train, and MCP

(Im not sure of Dude skill level)

18 holes Best Ball

Each member of the team will tee off, and the best shot of four will be used
The other members of the team will then pick their ball up and play from the spot of the best shot by their partner. This will continue until the ball is holed.
Rules can be discussed as per how many shots by each person must be used.

Let me know if this works for everyone and i will set the tee time

Top 5 Podcasts

Since Jimbo has only a few days left in India and not much is going on until Saturday's FA Cup Final at the new Wembley Stadium, to pass the time, I've included below my updated Top 5 Podcasts list to give Jimbo something to listen to the remainder of his trip and plane ride back to the States. Please note that Ask A Ninja should be mentioned for being occasionally funny & The Onion Radio News must be mentioned for being consistently funny. Both barely missed the cut and are well worth a listen and/or watch. I subscribe to each podcast on the list below on iTunes.

Top 5 Podcasts

5. ESPN Soccernet Extra
Jimbo and Train might know of better football podcasts out there, but this one is easily accessible and well done overall. It's available each Thursday for download & covers all football around the globe, not just the Premiership. It's produced by ESPN, but the hosts are English and true fans, each not afraid to call out clubs, players and broadcasters alike.

4. KCRW's Film Reviews
The podcast is a little short. But it's amazing how little words you need when you are a good writer. And Joe Morgenstern is a great writer. I guess you must be to earn a Pulitzer Prize. Morgenstern drops a word like denouement as easily as Train eloquently mentions yabboos. Quality stuff.

3. Strong Bad Emails & More!
From the classic HomestarRunner site, comes a video podcast of Strong Bad Emails & other video clips. Trogdor the Burninator came from this creative collection, so you know it's good. Genius all around.

2. Filmspotting
Most of these podcasts are about movies... but these guys give a Lodge-style podcast, complete with fights over each others reviews, Top 5 Lists and Massacre Theaters where they butcher select scenes that you can email in answers to for free DVDs. Each show ranges from about 45 minutes to an hour.

1. The Treatment
Do want an interviewer to finally ask the questions you want to ask? Well, The Treatment is your show then. KCRW's Elvis Mitchell gives the best interview on the planet. And his subjects range from directors to writers to designers to musicians. It is easily my favorite podcast out there.

Best Early 90's Fight

It's been a while since I've posted a useless youtube video.

It's Going On

In ending of Jimbo's international excursions, summer weather, and feeling hot; i thought it would be good to remind the lodge that Miss Universe is going on right now.

As always, I feel Latin America will dominate the TOP 10 again. (Thanks to the P-I for today's swimsuit guide. On NBC May 28th 6pm)

Spiderman 3 Review

Before we get into this, I apologize to anyone that hasn't seen Spider-Man 3 yet. But it's been out 2 weeks, and after hitting the cinema last night (when the wife suggests going to a comic-book movie, a massive rarity, you have to take advantage of the situation, even if you postpone writing a paper due the next day), this film deserves a review. Unfortunately, it's for all the wrong reasons.

First off, I have to premise the fact that Spider-Man is one of my favorite comic-book characters. I used to collect the comic as a teenager, and know the villains & story lines very well. In addition, I loved the first two films of the Spidey Series. But Spider-Man 3 is overall a terrible movie.

The film is written so poorly, I couldn't even really enjoy it. I'm not going to get into details of what scenes are so bad (and not in the so-bad-its-good camp either), for those that haven't seen it yet. But the script was extremely slow, the dialogue was campy and poor, and the action was missing. It's so bad that I think X-Men 3 was a better third installment. And that's saying something. Walking out of the theater, I lamented to Jenny that you could have edited down the good scenes in the 140 minute running time down to a 30 minute serial, with 20 minutes of those scenes being in the last 20 minutes of the film. Jenny agreed, but added that she'd, "only give it a 0.5 out of 5 stars." Ouch.

For those who are not familiar, Spider-Man switched to the black suit in the standard continuity after Secret Wars. This was short lived, leading to one of the most successful Marvel villains of all time, Venom. I assume this introduction of the black suit sets up Spider-Man 4 to be centered around Venom as the primary villain.


On some podcasts I've listened to, critics of the film believe that 2 villains is one too many. I disagree. The villains are the best thing about this film. Topher Grace is an outstanding Venom. And Thomas Haden Church plays a solid Sandman. Also, the always classic Bruce Campbell is amazing in a brief Maître d’ cameo.


The bottom line is that the cheesy and campy script plays to the average American so much it's sad. And it must have worked too, because on the opening weekend of Spider-Man 3, they made 2 new world records. These include biggest opening day and opening weekend. Going dark is always better for comic-book films (see Batman Begins), as the best comic books have a sinister bent and wary outlook on the world.

I truly wish I had enjoyed the movie, but my cynical nature prevailed in the end... an ending sequence that should have come at the 80 minute mark instead of the 120 minute mark. It will be interesting to see what our resident comic-book geeks, Casey and Devo, have to say about the film. But as an ex-comic-book geek, I'm disappointed. I'll be going to Spider-Man 4, but I'll now be gun-shy when entering the theater. I think I'm going to go watch a true work of genius to get this bad taste out of my mouth.

The Wilhelm Scream

So I was checking out some cool Lost ark trivia inspired by Jimbo's trip to India.

I came across a topic that has a great place in "unknown movie history" Lots of this post is taken from some other pages, and while it is not original material, it is interesting nonetheless

In 1951, the Warner Bros. film "Distant Drums" directed by Raoul Walsh starred Gary Cooper as Captain Quincy Wyatt, who leads a group of soldiers to stop some Seminole Indians from threatening settlers in early 19th Century Florida. During a scene in which the soldiers are wading through a swamp in the everglades, one of them is bitten and dragged underwater by an alligator.As is usually the case with the making of a movie, the scream for that character was recorded later. Six short pained screams were recorded in a single take, which was slated "man getting bit by an alligator, and he screams." The fifth scream was used for the soldier - but the 4th, 5th, and 6th screams recorded in the session were also used earlier in the film when three Indians are shot, one after another, during a raid on a fort.

So this scream after being dubbed by Warner brothers has been used in multiple movies and has been heard by everyone many many times. It has a name...the Wilhelm Scream. Star Wars sound director Ben Burtt researched the history of the sound. Burtt named it after "Pvt. Wilhelm", a minor character who emitted the same scream in the 1953 movie The Charge at Feather River.

I found a great compilation on youtube.

For Some of you geeky movie people (And you know who you are), this is old news. I found the topic interesting, and while I knew the sound, I did not know the history behind it.

Day 18: Morning Market Time

Back again…UEFA Cup Final on the Tele…Gold Label to my left and I do believe the captain has turned off the no smoking sign in stately manner 232.

For the past two and half weeks I’ve left my job on average at around 0445 everyday. Along the way from work to the hotel I cross what can only be described as Pike Place Market if it were really interested in selling goods and produce. I learned today the how-to’s of the marketplace from Sagar, my man with the wheel on the streets of Bombay.

The gist goes like this…the train brings in the goods from the country from the day before…the first drop-off comes at around 0415…last sell around 815…in between is simply pure unadulterated capitalism the likes of which even Jay Z would be proud of.

I stare in fear every morning of the pure rush of selling and potential damage some of this produce would do to the urinals of Bombay. This is the breeding ground of urinal social criminals. Despite my fear for the Rocamarket I realized today that my 1730 commute home on the viaduct will never deliver the same level of visual stimulation.

So as I dwindle down my days under the Bengal-Sun I reminisce on this delightfully odd period of my life in the year 2007. The lights flicker on and off in the 232 right now, which might be an indication that my Wednesday is coming to a close, much like Espanyol's UEFA cup chances and my last glass of Gold Label. Cheers.

Days 15-17: a Change for the Better, the House of Gandhi, and Relegation

So here we are…Wednesday morning 0504 sipping Haig Gold Label, watching a Valencia v. Zargarvaeraevaouiouopqzu replay (50th, 2-0 Val) and trying to think of something that would make for even a semi-interesting read….

…Well, since I don’t have any of that I’ll go ahead and stick with my formula, so webmaster please….

1116 UTC // 13.05.07


Sunday morning, last full day off of the trip, good night sleep after shaking off the hang over from Friday night. After hitting up the world famous Meridian breakfast buffet I decide to that I really should get out of my 200 sq ft apartment and “see the city.”

Back-story:

The one continuous issue that has remained a constant since my arrival on Indian soil has been my turbulent relationship with the company that was pre-hired to drive my ass from one rock to another for three weeks. Long back-story short, 11 days of drivers averaging 1.9 trips a day and approximately 19 drivers, one failed pickup and many lost in translation moments.

End of back-story

As I type in the numbers to the original driving company from week one, I notice that no one has picked up the phone for them the last six times I’ve tried. Since, this was the original company and there was a sudden change to another company half way through that I did not posses the number too, I decided that good things come in threes so it was time for a change. Week three, driving company three.

After negotiating a 35% discount through the in-hotel travel agent, I agree to his charges even though I believe I could’ve worked 45.

1142 UTC // 13.05.07

Immediately I noticed a difference in class with my third company. A 2005 Toyota Camry awaiting me with a driver who anticipated my needs and soon became my Indian best friend for the next 4+ hours. Jah-red new the deal, I’m sure the new came down from HQ that another bloody westerner wanted to see the lay of the land, get the photos, haggle with prices and tip well. I think we eventually got most of these accomplished.

I wish I had an amusing story I could tell you, but Jah-red was 30, married with two kids and worked all the time, some things I guess are universally blue collar everywhere. He hooked me up with the sights of the beach, a Hare Krishna, Muslim and Ganesh temples respectively, which quenched my religious vibe for the next decade. I suppose all the synagogues were off the main road.

We progressed throughout the afternoon, hitting only one notable landmark.

1302 UTC // 13.05.07

The House of Gandhi

Knowing nothing more than the name, or that Ben Kingsley did a remarkable job of winning an Oscar for portraying an English version of him, I entered his former home to witness the amazing pictorial archive and library that is this modest three story home in the heart of Bombay.

If Friday was the pinnacle of my visceral experience in Bombay, then the House of Gandhi was my emotional heart of my experience. Despite the all of the things that I will never adjust to about the Bombay way of life, I believe ever human feels some sort of connection with the concept of power through peaceful actions and figurine narratives of his life (sorry, the zoom got the better of the focus for this pic)

The entire scene at the House of Gandhi was uplifting and peaceful, something that is hard to get on the streets of Bombay. I left thinking a little higher about the humanity of us all, until I got back to the car and had to evade three different street-capitalists trying to give me a good deal on “post cards”. I have now made it a priority that there will be no post cards from India that will invade the Seattle city limits.

I leave you with this final image of the House of Gandhi, yes; the room has been kept in tact with full maid service for almost 50 years.

1713 UTC // 13.05.07

Jah-red drops me off after a full day of touring; I thank him for his troubles and steady information on religious temples throughout inner-Bombay. I settle into my room and prepare for one of the biggest nights of the English Premiership.

1930 UTC // 13.05.07

YOU’RE LOOKING LIVE!!! At Wigan versus Sheffield United on channel 23 and West Ham versus the Glorious One’s on channel 24, we also have the two hour Tom Cruise Behind the Actors Studio finishing up on channel 27 for those non-football fans.

For the next 50 minutes we have cut-ins from both games on both channels showing missed goals and goals alike as the excitement in both matches reaches…umm…ahh…fever pitch. After a few glasses of the Haig Gold Label I’m into the relegation battle between Wigan and the Blades, and as the rain continues to pour my emotion rises as I try to sway the results of the match with my whiskey soaked cheers from stately manner 232.

As all know now…Wigan captured the flag and won the all important Premiership millions and then…the coach quit. Only in English Football.

2130 UTC // 13.05.07

After the match I got to watch the Boys in Red prance around and raise the trophy, props to Wayn-o for the hat…nice touch.

So that was Sunday and following that “monumental” day I’ve been back in the grind with nothing really to report other than Sportcentre India is in Hindi, which is actually surprising.

A few days to go and probably only a final recap post remaining, unless of course something “major” goes down on Lower Patel road between now and then.

As always, thanks for reading.

Days 11-14: The Pinnacle and The Bill

(post from Sunday)After stating continuously that I have nothing better to do than type two page posts for both the Lodge and Fiesta, it might strike regular readers as odd that we’ve gone almost a half week without any sort of content, not even an amusing photo of dogs in heat on the side of the freeway, well worry no more friend: (sorry for the poor focus, but it’s hard to keep the camera steady in a situation like this)

Well without further ado, let us get to the timestamps, the quote and the recommendations.

“I hate to say this, but this place is getting to me. I think I'm getting the fear."

Following my last communication where I confessed my utmost affections for all things Will Wheaton I found my week playing out almost exactly the same as that which preceded it, the monotony, the night, the 55 degree hotel room. I’ve tried to replicate my mentality to mirror Andy Dufresne, (minus having to deal with the Sisters) and just get my time done and attempt to “do it like a man.”

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, they were all the same day just altered by the room service and completely random B movie from the 80’s or 90’s, until Friday night at about….(queue the block timestamp please)

2125 UTC // 11.05.07

I progress through my Friday shift thinking mostly about how I’m going to kill the nest 48 hours of R&R at the Meridan and keep myself sane, when I get the heads up that 0200 is the witching hour at the call center, what this entails I’m not exactly sure, and at this point any break in the action is welcomed, even if it means being stranded in a remote Bombay with a couple of hundred rupees in my pocket. Hey, at least it would make for a good post!.

0325 UTC // 12.05.07

The 0200 departure time fell prey to the hindrance of work, but “go-time” was finally amongst us. The journey begins with trepidation, normally risk taking involves heading out to a bar outside of the 935, but tonight I was placing faith in people I had known for the small side of 8 days and confirmed only by the conversation about the finer aspects of Kingfisher.

The mission begins in the back of non-descript Ford Claire heading back north along the same path I’ve now traveled approximately 23 times. We pull up to a boarded up corner stand that resembles a corner “wine shop” during the day, but doubles for a bootlegging shack “after hours.” Order are placed, I wait in blur of nervousness and sleep deprivation, but maintain a consistent optimism.

After a further thirty minutes of driving, half of which include back roads without lights or pavement, we arrive at the set destination, somewhere along the northwest coast of Bombay far away from corner cricket matches and signs of the impending Z-apocalypse.

0406 UTC // 12.05.07

The mood initially was a tad bit uncomfortable as we setup two car trunks back to back and began to poor mixed drinks for approximately a dozen people. Luckily I had an American brother with me to commiserate the oddity of this late night Indian tailgate, but as I soon found out, I had all of my Indian brothers with me too.

The drinks included whiskey (scotch as they know it), rum, vodka and Kingfisher regular and strong (8%). I believe I impressed the bunch (or at least that is my recollection) with my taking of Indian Scotch straight without mixers to open up the Indian tailgate. I followed this with my first taste of Kingfisher Strong and shortly after that I met “Bob”(name changed to protect the guilty).

Bob had been keeping the same pace as me (this data is purely speculative) and quickly I found his inflections of Hindi jokes hilarious. He politely translated for me and my American brother so that I would fully understand that he is the type that would always be welcomed at any tailgate of mine.

The drunken banter remained for the next several hours as we listened to 80’s Metallica followed by 90’s Eagles, followed by Nirvana until the Sun peaked its head over the horizon. I quickly realized that tailgaters across the world only differ in language and mode of transportation, but the enjoyment is universal. As the sun continued to rise and the bottles continued to stack up I realized that I had reached the pinnacle of my journey on the other side of the world from my home. The sense of familiarity and collective enjoyment made it a little bit easier to be so isolated from the things I’ve been missing so dearly.

0812 UTC // 12.05.07

The night/morning ended with a game of football played on the beach by a group of drunken brothers using beach trash for goal posts and a flat volleyball as the necessary equipment. The game ended 0-0 after a solid 10 minutes and all of us realizing it was too hot and we were too gone to complete the match.

This is the point were I tell you about certain memories will last with you forever, and that’s true.

1617 UTC // 12.05.07


“Our room service tabs had been running somewhere between $29 and $36 per hour, for two consecutive weeks. Incredible. How could it happen”

I finally pulled the eyes open around the timestamp and realized that I have nothing to do for a long time and my only goal for today is to stay up until around 0200 to prevent the Monday crash during work. What to do when you have time and no Premiership on Saturday?...Well you pop on disc one of Firefly (lent to me from yet another American brother) on the laptop and put the Real Madrid Athletico Bilbao on mute.

Prior to my slack marathon though, I woke up to a letter under my door requesting a call to the front desk. Immediately I thought the worst. The gig is up. I wonder how long I can exist on the streets of Bombay. How does Western Union work? Fortunately this was just a check up on my bill (and for financial purposes the number will not be disclosed), where I broke down my per hour rupee count at the hotel and laughed. Yes, I’m still in the hotel, for now.

As I mentioned in my comments on MCP’s overly long previews post, this series is better the second time around and the guy playing the captain has actually grown on me, much like overly long travel diaries. Anyway, I by the time I finish this post I’m probably going to be done with the series, and I have to say, I think I’m finally ready to give the movie a go. I feel like I’ve crossed a line that I may never have a chance to go back from, or maybe it’s just the frickin’ water around here, but “when I’m wrong…I say I’m wrong”, and I may or may not be wrong about this, I’m still not sure.

I’m going to cut this now to save space. Thanks for reading.

Jayne's 2007 SIFF Preview

The Seattle International Film Festival starts up on May 24th, and I thought I would offer up a preview of some of the films.

Currently I have tickets to 23 movies over the course of 24 days...lets get started.

Son of Rambow - UK
The new flick from Garth Jennings (The Hitchikers Guide To The Galaxy). It's the story of two little kids who get a hold of a pirated copy of "First Blood". They love the flick so much that they decide to make their very own Rambo movie.
Early reviews of the film have been absolutely fantastic and this has even been the film selected to open the festival (and here's hoping that Mr. Jennings makes an appearance at the opening night gala!)


The Aerial - Argentina
The film is described as taking place in "the year X, in the city without a voice" and is about a fascist government that keeps everyone forcible silent.
The film is supposed to emulate the look of early 20th Century German expressionist cinema and is primarily a silent film.
I really don't know much more than that about it, but it looks fascinating.

Trailer:


Red Road - Denmark
The story of a widowed security guard who sees a man from her past appear on a security camera. Naturally, things kind of unravel from there.
I know very little about this film, but it did win the Jury prize at the Cannes Film festival, and the director won the best short film Oscar in 2003. Still...it's been compared to the works of Michael Haneke, a filmmaker I loathe.....

Trailer


Paris Je T'Aime - France
This is a movie I've been dying to see for a long time now (it came out a year ago in France). It's a series of 18 short films all about love, and they all take place in Paris. A lot of really great filmmakers took part in this project, including:
The Coen Brothers (Big Lebowski), Wes Craven (Nightmare on Elm Street), Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men), Vincenzo Natali (Cube), Alexander Payne (Sideways), Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) and Gus Van Sant (Drugstore Cowboy).
This really looks to be really cool film!

Trailer:


Superbad - United States
From the guys that made "Feaks & Geeks" and "The 40 Year Old Virgin". That's pretty much good enough for me.
The Trailer looks hysterical!

Trailer:


Severance - UK
A movie described as a cross between "The Office" and "Deliverence". An office has a team building weekend in the mountains, only to become the victims of a group of crazed killers. So far, I've heard nothing but really great things about this movie.

Trailer:


Glue - Argentina
A coming of age story about a couple of 15 year old slackers who have a weekend tripping out on glue.
I really don't know much more than that...sounded interesting though.

Death at a Funeral - United States
The new Frank Oz film! I've heard really great things about it, and it stars Alan Tudyk from "Firefly" (Just had get a geeky for a second). Here's to hoping the film is less "Stepford Wives" and more "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

Trailer:


Never On A Sunday - Mexico
A man trying to bury his dead uncle gets sent on a gruesome adventure. From what I've read the film is supposed to be an exceptionally dark comedy. I've yet to come across a bad review...should be interesting.

Eagle versus Shark - New Zealand
A quirky looking movie that has a bit of a Napolean Dynamite vibe going for it. The big draw for me was the fact that it stars one of the members of the comedy duo, the flight of the conchords. From all I've read, it's been pretty well received on the festival circuit. The trailers really what sealed the deal, though...

Trailer:


Fido - Canada
This looks wonderfully wierd....
Little Timmy wants a pet more than anything in he world...instead he gets a (mostly) housebroken zombie.
It's the kind of premise that reminds me of something a young Tim Burton would do.


Trailer:


The Last Winter - United States
Ron Perlman starring in a horror film that has a very strong "The Thing" vibe going for it.

Trailer


The Ten - United States
Most of the cast of the 90's MTV sketch comedy show "The State" reunite for this comedy about the ten commandments. Joining them is a pretty stellar cast, including Jessica Alba, Paul Rudd, Famke Janssen, Winona Ryder & Liev Schrieber. I've got pretty high hopes for this one.

Trailer:


Black Sheep - New Zealand
It's a movie about killer sheep. I couldn't say much more if I wanted to.

Trailer


Waiter - Netherlands
The premise of this flick seems awfully similar to "Stranger Than Fiction" (a film I really enjoyed). It's about a disgruntled waiter hates his life in the movie, so he leaves the film to take up his grievence with the screenwriter. I've been assured this movie is awesome, but we'll have to see. I've been burned by the Dutch before (see Director Christopher Boe. I've given that guy way to many chances...but that's another story for another time).

Trailer


Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten - UK
A documentary about the guitarist of the only band that matters! I love the Clash and I'm really excited to see this. Word from Sundance is that it's a fantastic documentary....

Trailer


The Perverts Guide To Cinema - UK
I'm not 100% sure what this film is going to be. I've read some reviews that just rave about it, and apparently if you're a movie buff it's a really enjoyable viewing experience, but it looks kinda wierd.
It seems to be about this documentary filmmaker who goes to the locations where various movies were filmed and psychoanalyzes them.

Excerpt from the film about Coppola's "The Conversation":


The Signal - UK
Strangely this film has exactly the same premise of the Steven King novel "Cell", so I'm actually a little bit skeptical. Still, I've heard the movie is really well done and even the person who sold me my SIFF tickets mentioned that it was a really great flick.

Trailer


Expired - United States
I really couldn't find anything on this movie. No official website, no real reviews, nothing. I know it played Sundance, it's a comedy about a parking meter attendant and it stars Samantha Morton. That's really just about all I know...

One Day Like Rain - United States
This film is actually having it's world premiers at SIFF, so I have heard zero word of mouth about it. It's described as a kind of cross between "Donnie Darko" and "Ghost World". Imdb lists the plot as "A teenage girl living in California suburbia devises a metaphysical experiment designed to save the world from what she sees as an impending doom...but the results of such an experiment prove to be both beneficial and destructive."
At the very least, the preview looks pretty interesting...

Trailer:


Alien Autopsy - UK
A film based on the true story of a couple of guys who made a fake Alien Autopsy video. The preview looks funny as hell, and is supposed to feature some great cameos from Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek), Bill Pullman (Independence Day), and Harry Dean Stanton (Alien).

Trailer:


The Interview - United States
The new film written and directed by Steve Buscemi about a fading political journalist. Starring Buscmi, and Sienna Miller. It seemed to be pretty well received at Sundance, and I've enjoyed Buscemi's other directorial features "Tree's Lounge" & "Lonesome Jim".

Aachi and Ssipak - South Korea
I think I'm just gonna have to past in the premise of the film: "In the future, societies have depleted all natural resources save one: human excrement. Good producers are rewarded with highly addictive—and rapidly mutating—Juicybars. However, scatological pandemonium ensues when the title characters meet Beautiful, a wannabe actress who earns a wealth of Juicybars every time she "powders her nose."
Uhm...yeah.

Trailer:



Stuff that I'm not gonna be able to see at the festival, but may be worth checking out....

Rescue Dawn - United States
The new Werner Herzog film starring Christian Bale. It's a vietnam film about a pilot whose plane is shot down and has to find his way through enemy territory. This will be getting a theatrical release later in the year.

Trailer:


Slipstream - United States
Anthony Hopkins writes and directs this film about a screenwriter who lives in two planes of existence. I'm actually pretty bummed I'm gonna have to miss this one...

Angel-A - France
The first new live action Luc Besson film in a decade. Sadly the reviews have been less than kind. I'll probably catch this one on DVD.

Trailer:


Outing Riley - United States
I actually have no desire to see this movie except for the fact that it stars Nathan Fillion (Firefly). Let's just move on...

Daywatch - Russia
The sequel to "Nightwatch" is finally here. The preview looks awesome, and the only reason I'm gonna miss it is because it's getting a theatrical release in June and you can rent the imported DVD at Scarecrow video

Trailer:


2 Days In Paris - France
Actress Julie Delpy's directorial debut. I do love me some Julie Delpy...

Trailer:


Mushishi - Japan
The new film from the director of Akira. Apparently the reviews have been pretty awful so far...

Trailer


Goyas Ghost - Spain
The new Milos Forman movie starring Natalie Portman. Not sure why I'm not going to see this...

Trailer:

Circa 1979

Day Ten: Mumbai Wildlife, Will Wheaton and the Hight Water Mark

I really don’t have much and I have even little since being distracted by Stand by Me that started the moment I got back to my hotel room. So I leave you with a photo before I turn in for the day…and remember the age old question:

How do you know if a Frenchman has been in your backyard?

Cheers

Day 8 and 9: So I Lied

“The best-laid schemes of mice and men oft go awry”

Ok, so I’m not posting everyday, since I refuse to comment about the mundane existence of traveling in a cab the same 15 mile stretch to and from work. I will comment however that I did experience my first Indian mall experience yesterday and I can honestly report that my disdain for shopping utopia on the other side of the world matches that to my own corner.

It did make me feel a little comfortable in a perverse capitalistic way, but it quickly evaporated. I would like to report that there were unique elements to major chain stores, or Indian replicants, i.e. Foot Locker is now Shoe Zone or something, but alas globalization has painted this corner of the organized shopping world with the same beige tone that exists in Tukwilla, not that I really have a problem with that and to prove it, please view exhibit A.(The pear is for artistic freedom)I would like to report that my experience has been taken to another level after the adventure that was Elephanta Island, but that would be like saying MCP is a casual comic fan, (p.s. I’ll see what I can do about the Bollywood FC, I was unaware such a thing existed, you better not be f’n with me.)

I sit here with the sun coming up watching a “live” showing of the Nets/Cavs game, (forty-something to fifty-something at half) enjoying a nice Kingfisher wondering what the next several days will bring. I have to say, as sad as it sounds I’m actually enjoying my work now more than I have in approximately 16 months, for whatever that’s worth. There’s a level of community and hospitality amongst the residents-of-Mumbai-that-work-at-this-particular-call-center that is warm and welcoming to an outsider from the 935.

That’s all I got until next time.

Longest. Lodge Post. Ever. AKA The Comic Con Post

Well, I said I’d get around to a comic-con post eventually, so here it is. Be warned, there’s a helluva lot of ‘geek speak’. And this may possibly be the longest Lodge posting ever. I’m just that nerdy.

Anyway...here’s how it all went down:

Giveaways:

At every con, there’s always the freebie area full of various promotional swag from various comic & film companies. I’ve long since given up on bothering with this stuff, because it usually all just ends up collecting dust. Truthfully it’s mostly crap (Although there’s the occasional gem). It is pretty funny to watch the initial swarm of people when the doors open. It’s as if they think they’re going to find the arc of the covenant lying around. The only cool promo piece I managed to snag was the theatrical teaser poster for ’28 Weeks Later’. I was a little bummed to see I missed out on snagging a teaser poster for the new Star Trek flick. It’s a pretty cool design, and I’m totally psyched to see what JJ Abrams is going to do with the franchise.

Guests:

When you boil it all down, this is the main reason I go to the con. Comics are the one creative medium that really gives you the opportunity to actually interact with the people who are behind the art form.

Some highlights....

---The first booth I hit was for Terry Moore, the writer/artist/creator of ‘Strangers In Paradise’. It’s one of my all time favorite comic books, and is one of the most lent out titles I own. I had him sign a copy of the ‘I Dream Of You’ trade paperback which is bashed to hell from letting people borrow it. I kind of felt embarrassed having him sign it, but he actually perked up when he saw it, saying “it’s always nice to see my books look like this” which led to a little chat about books people use to get non-comics readers to try the medium while he did a sketch for me. He really was just a fantastically nice guy.

---One of the other biggies for me was an artist by the name of Georges Jeanty. He is the guy who is currently doing the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8” comic with Joss Whedon.

A little background: Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended its 7 season run back in 2003. A year later it’s spin off, ‘Angel’ followed suit. In the years since, there’s been talk of direct to DVD movies, and TV mini-series to continue the show. Sadly none of these projects ever came to pass. So last year, Joss decided to reunite many of the original writers of the show and continue the series with an 8th season done in comic book form. So far only 3 issues have come out, but they have all been fantastic! A must read for any Buffy fan (and now there’s word that Joss is going to do a 6th season of Angel as a comic!).

Anyway, Georges was a really cool guy. He was nice enough to do a Buffy sketch for me, and I got to pick his brain about working with Joss Whedon and taking on such a unique process. Interestingly enough Jeanty had to, for lack of a better term, audition for 20th Century Fox to prove that he could accurately depict the actors likenesses.

---One of my favorite comedians, Brian Posehn (Mr. Show, Comedians of Comedy) was in attendance promoting his graphic novel “The Last Christmas”. He’s described the book as ‘Santa Claus meets the Road Warrior’. It’s a fantastically sick and twisted book that actually had me laughing at loud (which can be awkward when reading in public). Still a foul mouthed, alcoholic Santa taking on a world of Zombies can only equal pure gold. And if you haven’t had the chance to check out Posehn on the Sarah Silverman Program, you totally gotta check it out! Where else are you going to learn the wonders of Tab?
(And his comedy CD is really good too!)



---A highlight of the con was provided by Michael Oeming, the artist for the book ‘Powers’, which is another book I really highly recommend. It’s like if NYPD Blue or Homicide was set in a world of super beings. It’s a really solid book, even for the non-super hero fan. Anyway, Oeming did a fundraiser for the Hero Initiative. For $10 you were given a chance to arm wrestle him. If you won you got an original page of art from a comic he worked on. This video features oeming versus Chris Giarrusso, the artist of the mini-marvels.



---I got to chat with writer John Layman for a few minutes. Currently, John is writing the ‘Marvel Zombies vs the Army of Darkness’ mini-series (which rules!). But on the horizon, he’s going to be writing ‘Stephen Colbert’s: Tek Janson”. With a project like this I really wouldn’t expect for Colbert himself to have much involvement, but apparently he’s been extremely active and hands on with the project.

Layman was telling me that for a while, every draft of the script he sent to Colbert would come back covered in notes and changes. After a while of this he finally got up the courage to give Colbert a call to ask if something was wrong, thinking that he hated the work he was doing. Colbert responded saying that he actually loved the scripts he’d been getting. The constant revisions are just his process. When working on the Colbert report, he and his writers rewrite and work on bits over and over up until air time. Layman finally had to point out that eventually someone had to actually sit down and draw the thing.

I thought it was really cool that Colbert (A self confessed comic fan) would be so involved in this book. It turned from a title I really didn’t have much interest in to a book I am really looking forward to pick up.

---Former local boy Tim Sale was also in attendance. Sale is one of the few artists whose work I follow regardless of the book he’s on. This guy could draw how-to manuals and I’d probably read them.

These days, he’s probably best known for his work on the show “Heroes”. Sale is the artist of the paintings done on the show by the character Isaac (The guy who sees the future). At his table, Sale actually had quite a few of the original pieces from the show, including a few that I had never seen before.

Tim Sale is also the artist of one of my favorite Batman stories ever called “The Long Halloween”. If you haven’t read it, I totally recommend it. Read it. Lock it in a box for a year. Take it out of the box. Read it again. You will be transformed (Man I love James Lipton). Still though, it’s a great read and is usually the first book I’ll hand someone who is interested in Batman. The highlight though was that he was nice enough to do a quick little Joker sketch for me!!!

---I managed to grab some words from Dexter Vines. Vines was the inker for Marvel’s Civil War series. He’s a really great guy and he was one of the first inkers I really grew to appreciate. Because of that I had to throw a little love in this blog towards and inker. They don’t have it easy.




---The two biggest lines in the whole con belonged to a pair of Marvel’s biggest writers: Ed Brubaker and Brian Michael Bendis.

Ed Brubaker (another local boy) is probably now best known as the man who killed Captain America and at least 90% of his line was there to have him sign the death issue. As big as that issue was, this guy has a bunch of other books which are just amazing work.

For the non-superhero type his book “Criminal” is one of the best books out there. It’s total pulp-noir title that I can’t recommend enough. To those that love good crime fiction this is 100% up your alley.

Of course it’s hard to talk about Brubaker these days without bringing up Captain America. Ed’s been on this book for 25 issues or so and it’s been the best run of Cap stories I’ve ever read. If the whole death thing has perked your interest in the writer or the title I recommend you check out the “Winter Soldier” storyline (available as a trade paperback collection!).

Both Brubaker and Bendis have combined for what I consider to be the best run on ‘Daredevil’ I have ever read, and that’s saying a lot coming from me. I’m a really big Daredevil fan. The Kevin Smith run is great, the Frank Miller stuff is amazing, but the stuff being done now is so spot on in tone that it’s usually one of the first books I read after a trip to the comic shop.

The overall story of the arc deals with Matt Murdock being ousted as Daredevil by the press. Suddenly the media is camping outside his apartment at all hours, the FBI are investigating him, villains are showing up at his front door & his life goes to absolute hell in such a complete way you have no idea how he’ll possibly get out trouble. The series really shows what happens when the fragile house of cards superheroes build with their secret identity comes tumbling down.

Sometimes it feels like it’s damn near impossible to read a Marvel comic that hasn’t been affected in some way by Brian Michael Bendis. The guy has written so many titles for the company in a relatively short span of time that sometimes it’s hard to keep up. His line at the con really reflected that. Every year I’ve seen him at a convention his lines seem to get longer and longer. Yet he hasn’t lost any of his graciousness. Even after signing comics for 6 straight hours, Bendis is still talkative and personable. In chatting with Bendis he revealed that while he was in town he visited the Microsoft campus to discuss a project he’s doing. He and artist Alex Maleev (one of my favorite artists, but a really rude guy in person) are going to be doing a ‘Halo’ comic book series. The project sounds really cool and Microsoft seems to really be taking the project ultra-seriously, which should mean that it’s not going to be one of those lame comic book tie-in’s & adding a write of Bendis’ caliber is a sign of quality. I’ve really been impressed with Microsoft’s handling of the ‘Halo’ franchise. They really seem to understand how important quality is. Bringing in Peter Jackson for the ‘Halo’ film was a stroke of genius.

Outside of the superhero realm, Bendis has made a name for himself in the world of independent comics. His graphic novel ‘Jinx’ has recently been green lit to become a film, with rumors of Charlize Theron to star. And you really can’t go wrong with his book ‘Powers’ (Drawn by the arm-wrestling Oeming).

Other Guests

It wasn’t all comic book guys there. A few actors and actresses were also in attendance....

---Most important to he lodge, was Chewbacca himself, Peter Mayhew. I didn’t bother meeting the man. I had met him a few years ago and I wasn’t in the mood to drop $20 for him to sign something (That’s what I like about comic guys. They don’t charge you to write their name on something of theirs you’ve already purchased).

---There were a few actors from the show ‘Farscape’. I’ve never seen Farscape. Although the grey chick is kinda hot. Lets just move on....

---Lois Lane herself, Margot Kidder was signing autographs as well. I hate to say it, but the years have really not been kind. I almost didn’t recognize her. These days when someone mentions Kidder I think more of this video than Lois Lane.



---But my favorite of the group had to be Feedback. Feedback was the winner of the sci-fi series “Who Wants To Be A Superhero?”

The show was like a train wreck. It was horrible, but it was so bad you simply can’t look away. Before the show aired ‘Feedback’ was usually known as the guy in the commercial who cried like a little girl when he got to speak to Stan Lee.

Still...I have to give the guy some props. He was an exceptionally friendly and good natured guy. So nice, that I almost felt bad for ragging on him (except for when I’d make fun of the crying thing. That will always be funny).

Costume Contest

What con would be complete without a good ol’ costume contest?

Let me preface by saying that I am so @#$%in’ tired of Star Wars costumes. Every single slightly geeky event always seems to be filled with a bunch of Stormtroopers and overweight Jedi. The novelty is gone. Long, long gone. They’re slowly starting to make the kids who used to where Starfleet uniforms to school look good. I get the these guys dropped hundereds of dollars for their costumes and they want to get the most out of their investment, but it just feels like they’re everywhere. Hell I’ve seen them wandering around the waterfront area taking pictures with tourists. They look like mental patients who got lost. The prequels pretty much sucked...let’s move on.

Anyway...

Costume contests are always an amusing beast. The costumes always seem to bounce between awesome and awful. This is how it usually works:

Entrants are brought up on stage one at a time and post while a host reads an introduction and synopsis about the character their dressed up as written by the entrant.

Most of these people have a lot of fun with it. They realize they’re playing dress up and just want to have fun with it....

...and that’s what made “Punisher Guy” so damn epic.

Punisher-guy wrote up this long ultra-serious synopsis talking about the Punishers mission, blah, blah, blah. So while the MC is reading this little novella Punisher guy marches out to the front of the stage and just stands there, kind of posing, and not really even moving. He just stands there and stares into the crowd trying to look dangerous but cool (like David Caruso in Jade), instead his just looks slightly constipated.

Stomp, stomp, stomp.
Stare.
...two minutes pass...
Stomp, stomp, stomp.
Classic.

It wasn’t all bad, though. There were some pretty solid costumes including a fantastic Hellboy and one of the most chauvinistic DC comics costume ever made: Power Girl.

Don’t get me wrong, who doesn’t want to see a good looking girl in that outfit? But lets be honest, it’s possibly the most un-practical costume in comics, unless you need somewhere to stuff dollar bills.

The Panels

Most years, I’m a panel-whore. Web-comics panels, Indie panels, breaking into comics panels...you name it, I’m usually there. This year though, I only caught a couple: The DC writer’s Panel & the Marvel writer’s panel.

Marvel Editor in Chief Joe Quesada once spoke about the difference between working for DC & Marvel. He said that DC were WASP’s. They’re straight laced, and kind of dull and boring. Marvel on the other hand was more like a family of Sicilians. They’re loud and obnoxious, but way more entertaining. And for me that statement proved true with these panels.

Don’t get me wrong, the DC crew is a really nice bunch. They’re panel consisted of Kurt Busiek (Astro City), Mark Waid (Kingdom Come), Greg Rucka (Queen & Country) and Gail Simone (Birds of Prey). Don’t get me wrong, they’re great writers and they’re really friendly people, but their panel was just a little dull. And maybe I’m biased. I’m a Marvel boy, tried and true. It’s like the whole Beatles Man/Elvis Man argument. Also, I think it may have had to do a bit with the age of the writers. Outside of Greg Rucka it was an older batch of writers than Marvel has in the bullpen.



(although they did announce Ultimate Spider-man artist, Mark Bagley is leaving the title and moving over to the New AvengersThe Marvel writers didn’t have much to offer as far as breaking news and announcements go) but they were an entertaining gang. The panel comprised of Michael Avon Oeming (Omega Flight), Brian Bendis (Ultimate Spiderman), Brian Reed (Ms Marvel), Ed Brubaker (Uncanny X-Men) and Jeff Parker (Marvel Adventures). Most of the questions dealt with the fallout of Marvel’s Civil War and also many of the real world issues the series brought up.

I think that’s one of the coolest things about the whole Civil War concept. Most people think of comic book discussions as two nerds arguing over if Thor could beat up Captain Marvel. Now there was this huge event that managed to get national media attention and it’s asking socially relevant questions like “which is more important? Your personal Freedoms or Civil Liberties?”

It’s one of those things that really gives me hope about the future of the comic book industry. You’ve got movies like ‘300’ and ‘Sin City’, shows like ‘Heroes’, comics like Stephen King’s ‘The Dark Tower’, Brian K Vaughan’s ‘Pride of Baghdad’ and yes ‘Civil War’. It’s all steps towards showing the rest of the world that comics aren’t the stereotype you think they are.

So that just about wraps up this short little post. All in all, it was the most enjoyable Emerald City Con I’ve been to, and I’m already psyched for next years.

Something tells me Joe won’t be asking me for a 2008 con post.