It's not you, it's me...

Today I had to make a very import decision. After thinking long and hard, weighing up the pros and cons, I decided to cancel my standing order at Dave's Comics in Brighton.

Ok, it may not have been such a big decision, I have a pile of at least 18 months worth of unread comics, and not multiple titles, the same three.

However this wasn't the only reason, and for your viewing pleasure, let's go into more detail


1 - I also could never get into the new DC 52. I know what I like, and I like what I know. When the big change happened I though it was a great jumping on point, but I also didn't have the money to have a go at everything. Therefore what I did have a go at simply left me unimpressed. Surely the nature of starting afresh, to get new blood into comics, means that each issue 1 should be the best of the best of the best, not just more of the same. Anyway this leads me onto point 2.

2 - Why are there so many? I also thought the point of starting afresh was to cut down on the all the filler, however we still had multiple Batman titles, none of which were that interesting. At least at issue 1.

3 - General quality - This is kind of a combination of 1 and 2. Not being able to buy everything means I can't find what is supposed to be good. Therefore based on what I did read, my outlook was damaged and nothing seems that good. 24 pages (or whatever it's at now) just doesn't seem enough to tell an interesting story).

4 - Convergence, Endgame, Year Zero. I still couldn't keep up with all the multi title storylines. Does anyone actually go out of their way to get each individual title? Probably, but I don't. I always enjoyed the way Garth Ennis treated this with Hitman. he either took the protagonists out of Gotham for a few weeks, or took the piss a bit with it. This also ties into point 5.

5 - My final reason for leaving is that I can leave on a potential high. My major collection started with Hitman, and it will end with Section 8 (with a full collection of Fable sandwiched in the middle). This makes me happy.

Oh I'll still probably get the odd collection, and I'll always be interested in what's going on. Hell, I may even jump back in. I just feel little sad that I'm not helping with the brick and mortar stores, but then they didn't seem too heartbroken when I cancelled. I was expecting to have to answer questions on why I was going, was it something they did?

Update 26/06/2015
This blog post was written a few months ago and only just posting now. I just wanted to add somewhere that on top of all of the above, I finished reading Neal Adams; Batman Odyssey...and it's bonkers, but not really in a good way.

You know...for kids...

So I started this blog months ago, then left it mid sentence. A sentence that implies Batman & Robin is my favourite film...it's not. It's rubbish.

Anyway, I want to get this blog going again, and the quickest way was to actually post my thoughts on Batman.

Here we go...

We need to talk about Batman...

I like Batman. I may even go as far as saying I love Batman.

Being born in the early 80s I can only think that my first exposure would have been the Adam West 60's Batman through reruns on T.V. and the Movie. Going forward we then have Tim Burton's 1989 film which I distinctly remember wanted to see and being fed up that Brother Chris was allowed to go but I was not old enough.

Following this there was Batman That Animated Series and from then on I was hooked.

However this is all T.V. or film and we all know Batman began life in comic form. I did have a couple of books (book books not comic books) somewhere with early stories reprinted but it wouldn't be until after watching Batman TAS that I got into comics proper.

Anyway, long story short, due to issue numbers being so high I found it difficult jumping on. I collected a lot of key Batman collections and stand alone books (Long Halloween, Arkham Asylum etc) but despite not being a weekly collector my love for the character has always been there.

Why am I explaining all this to you dear reader? So that when I discuss the following, beloved story you will know that it comes from a fan. The story in question is The Dark Knight Returns.

Here goes.

So today I finally got around to watching the animated version of The Dark Knight Returns. I haven't actually read The Dark Knight Returns in a good few years so I could be off remembering the full story. Therefore the following is based on the animated adaptation (which in theory should be the same anyway).

I had heard a lot of good things about the film and was looking forward to watching it. However over the course of the film I stated to wonder about why this is considered by some a key book in the Batman Universe. Well maybe that's too broad. What I was thinking was how, going forward, it is still considered a key book. This thing came out in the eighties and completely redefined Batman. However when it came out all animated versions of the character were still based on Adam West. Therefore this thing comes out and shows a completely different side to the character, something for the kids that had grown up and now wanted something different. (I also understand that the comics had changed in the pre-ceding years and Adam West was no longer relevant).

My issue is that since the book was published it seems this has become the only view of the character. This was the problem that I had today. The thing I felt was missing was an element of fun.

There are rumours that they plan on using TDKR as inspiration for the relationship between Batman and Superman in the upcoming Batman Vs. Superman film. It got me thinking today that there is no easy access for younger fans. The bigger issue is the comics industry not giving a access point for younger readers, therefore if a child of 10 wants to get into Batman, The Dark Knight Returns is not necessarily a good jumping on point.

Alternatively if you've grown up on Adam West or Brave and the Bold and they want to see their hero in Live action, they have to sit through The Dark Knight?

At this point, remember that I love Batman so I'm not just moaning for the sake.

To look at the old rivalry and examine Marvel, their films are fun (they may also have fun comics but I'm a strict DC only reader). Looking at the recent Warner/DC reboot of Superman, Man of Steel, one of the main aspects it was missing was a sense of fun. It was it was all a bit too serious. I'm not saying never tell a serious story, but don't make that your main focus, especially in a reboot.

Batman's history does not a fun story make, however they managed it in the 50s/60s with Dick Sprang, Gerry Robinson and giant Typewriters.

I'm also not saying Batman & Robin was good but...

...and that's as far as I got. Since then I've calmed down a bit. Ben Affleck got cast and his 'hard as nails' picture released.

I do still love Batman, and I do still think there's room for fun. (He's even surrounded by side kicks - surely they can be the clowns).

Anyway that's enough of that.

I've been catching up on Kevin Smith's Fatman on Batman and recently listened to the Dean Trippe episode. After hearing his terrible childhood ordeal and learning of his autobiographical comic of how he came to terms with his past (with the help of our Caped Crusader), I had myself a read. I highly recommend it.

So go buy this. It's only $1 - Something Terrible - Dean Trippe

Next time I'll tell you about Screenwriting and what I've been learning.

It's KEVIN SMITH!!!!

So last night I went to see Kevin SMith live at the O2 in London. But I'm jumping the gun a little here, this story is a long and annoying one, however I shall condense it for you.

It is true that I was to see Kevin Smith, but the world being how it is at the moment, and its current dislike for all things me didn't want to make it easy, so it closed the Jubilee line, the only tube that gets you anywhere near the O2/Millennium Dome. So I spent the monring stressing out trying to find out how the hell anyone gets to this giant dome on the outskirts of civilized London. There were no bridges near so I couldn't just get to a close station and walk. I was originally planning on going to a smaller station but we found out that was at least 40 minutes away. It's not the getting there that's the problem though, it's the getting home as trains cease to exist after 1:00am. Anyway after much searching I decided the easiest way was to get a boat. Yes in this day and age the best way across London was a bloody boat. As Brother Chris pointed out it was a bit like King Kong going to some mysterious island and he advised to look out for dinosaurs. Unfortunately there where none.

So I head out to London town, nearly missing the first train I had to run a little, and those who know me know how much I hate to run for trains, or anything. So I pass stage 1. I went to London Bridge which you'd think I'd be familiar with after the E4 awards and the Paparbag filming, however I get a little lost, but eventually leave via the right exit and head to the river, pay the ferry man and get the boat. This would be quite cool if not for the fact that it still has to stop every few yards so there is no old timey magic about it. Then we approach the millennium bodge. Why was this thing even built? It really is just a massive space in the middle of nowhere that's a bugger to get to. Anyway, it was a bit like the Bond film, The World is Not Enough, if he'd paid to get to the millennium dome. So after all this mental planning i find that I'm now two hours early.

So I wander the halls of the O2. Inside there was a random security gate that seemed like an optional choise. I, despite having a bag and being prepard to be searched, chose to ignore the gate and just walked in with no hassle. Strange. Inside it's a bizarre place. There are loads of restarants and a cinema and the main O2 arena. Kevin Smith was in the smaller Indigo2 arena off to one side. After walking as far as I could I reutnred to wait with the rest of the early birds.

And wait I did. Then bouncers appeared and a queue was formed, however as I'd paid a little extra I was sent to an alternate entrance for the King's Row VIP area where I hoped to see some famous folk. In the meantime I had an awkward fandom converstaion with randoms, who will feature later into the story. Eventually the doors opened and I was told to go in, take a left and use the lift. At which point I wondered whether I should wait until more people got in the lift but then decided to go up alone.

So I got in, found my seat and wathced as the place took ages to fill up. Knowing that time was precious when leaving I became concerned when I found out he wouldn't be on until 8pm. The tickets all said 7pm so I got a little panicked but there was nothing I could do. More people came in, people sat next to me. There were no famous folk on my row, although some did look slightly familiar. However on the row behind me was sitting Noel Clarke from Dr Who. He has done other things, and directed films, however I like to take him down a peg or two.

And then the show began. Kevin Smith came out and began.

The night was excellent. Questions were asked, answers where given, both long and short. Stories of Bruce Willis were told, the teachings of Wayne Gretzky, the hatred for Jonathon Ross (with applause from the audience) and interview with a pre op transexual (who I was talking to in the queue before the show)

Towards the end people started to take advantage of the niceness of Kevin, and a lot of hugs/photos where requested which slowed down proceedings, but the night ended well enough with an explanation of how he met Malcolm Ingram, a regular on his SModcast.

Then he left. At which point I legged it to the boat as I had just enough time to make the last boat and trains home. I managed to get them all and arrive safely, however the boat is possible the slowest way to travel when full, made worse by the guy checking or selling tickets to everyone. When you have a train to catch this becomes inconvenient as you just think "Why can't he just let everyone go for free?". But it is London after all. I made all my connections, and got home safely.

On an interesting side note on the train from London Bridge I did overhear a conversation by four formal dressed party goers praising Zack and Miri make a Porno. Which was nice to hear, as it kind of showed how widely Kevin Smith's films are seen, not just by the devoted fans who pay £40 to see the man talk for three hours.

And that's it for the fun for a while.

Have a week.

London Film and Comic Con

Today I attended, as if you couldn't guess, the London Film and Comic Con. That's Con as in convention to those not in the know. It's one of many UK based conventions trying to create something on the scale of the San Diego or New York Comi Cons in the USA. They don't quite succeed, but I still enjoy them. Ask if I was having fun whilst I was there and I'd be thinking long and hard, but now I'm safely home I think all the queuing was worth it.

Before I go any further I want to set a few things straight. I'm not a full on geek, in the sense that I know every episode to Stargate. Nor do I dress up to look like a Jedi or other such Sci Fi characters. I dabble. That's all I can say. I enjoy Star Wars as readers of this blog will know, I watched a few episodes of Star Trek, not religiously though. And I've seen episodes of Stargate, but I'm not really a fan (this may disappoint one of my readers. Sorry) Anyway, I do have an inner geek, I know more about comics and films than the average joe, and that's where my interest lies. I still get annoyed when I see charity figures dressed as Batman hanging out with Spiderman. (Side note it was funny today seeing a Star Trek Captain discussing the finer points of phaser handling with a Stormtrooper) So my inner geek needs feeding once in a while, which is why I like this kind of convention. Completely from a fans perspective. There are people there that frankly scare me. Each to his own I've always said, but it is a little strange. But if they leave me alone, I'm not going to bother them.

Anyway, let's continue with point 2. Point 2 is the notion of celebrity. I've discussed many time with Brother Chris, who attended a couple of these events with me in the past. Who decides what will be charged for autographs? It is made clear that if you want something signed you have to pay a fee, which is clearly stated is for the signature not the photograph, which are considered free. (By this reasoning I could get a one of each photo available and just the one signed, but I'm sure if this was tried someone would stop me. Maybe next year) For example, today Mr Scott Bakula was charging £25 for his autograph. Fair enough, I can't afford that but I'll go to his talk, not a free talk though so I queue to get a ticket. Another £20 for this talk. Obviously I make my excuses and left sharpish, keeping hold of my monies. So who set this up. To whom is this cash going to. Not everyone was on my wavelength and forked out the cash, so he must be raking it in. But who decides? Where does it go? All good questions to which I have no answers. So I did pay a couple of £15 for signatures. Which brings me onto point 2B. You pay your money, you get a brief chat (very brief in my case 'cause I'm kind of rubbish at it) and you get a signature. When you think about it, it really means nothing. I could scribble an indecipherable name onto a photo and joe public wouldn't know the difference, or even care. So why is it a good thing? I guess it's an idol/hero thing. I guess if I said more you could say you shared a moment with someone you admired. Or you could just say it's so you can have a brief gloating moment the next time said person appears in something. I don't know for sure but, as I said. I do enjoy it. It brings the famous a little closer, even if it's in a forced transaction based environment. Anyway, I still think I'm a little different to the masses of attendees, a little more grounded, but hey, wouldn't it be cool if I started hanging out with Chris Sarandon.

So here we go. This is just the beginning.

To set the scene, as Brother Chris has a lot of work on at the moment he couldn't spare the time to join me this year. The last time we both went was about two years ago, failing to get Nathan Fillion's autograph and tiring of the day we went for a mercy greet and meet with Alan Tudyk, who had no queue. Then we left. Due to these circumstances, we both agreed that it was a little rubbish and weird and vowed (maybe) never to return. That was until I moved down to Brighton. With the convention now more or less on my doorstep I decided to go. And go I did. Alone.


So I braved London on a Saturday, not the easiest of things, especially with Tube delays, but I successfully arrived at Earls Court and entered Queue 1 to get in. This is where first photos were taken solely for this blog. Here there were Stormtroopers hanging around. I contemplated asking about their state of New Zealand-ness but instead just took the photo. There were also Clone Troopers wandering around. The same musings were thought about but I left them alone, chuckling at the fat Cylons I'd just seen. Not to mention the smallish Jack Sparrow. So I'm inside and I queue for some talks. Having missed the Red Dwarf talk I opted for the Doctor Who (Yeah, I know I don't like Dr Who) as I'd heard that Tom Baker was in attendance (see that's why) I also wished to attend the Danny Trejo talk and the Stargate talk (Again, I know I'm not a fan) which will be explained later on. This is when I literally discovered the price I had to pay to see Scott Bakula talk. No go. I then moved onto the signing alley or whatever they call it, to see who was there, and whether to get any autographs later on. Many faces were seen as illustrated with my assorted photographs.

A lonely Sean Maguire


A bad photo of Chloe Annett. Bonus points - her father directed the film The Beast Must Die as mentioned in Brother Chris' blog here

Interesting fact: the most costumes today were of Paul Foote - a character from The Beast Must Die. Which one was the werewolf though?

It's David Prowse. He was Darth Vader.

It's Bruce Boxleitner. He looks bored.

This is kind of mean. This is a funny picture of Jake Lloyd - he played young Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace. He looks the same.

The stars of Heroes - Jimmy Jean Louis (The Hatian) and Sendhil Ramamurthy (Suresh)

So I took the ticket of Scott Bakula. Number 969. The place had only been open to the general public for 40 minutes and already his tickets were up to 969. No way was I going to see him today. I got a quick glimpse of him through the queues, and that was all. Knowing it was never meant to be I took the tickets of Michael Ironside, to discover once and for all how many arms he actually had, and a ticket for Jewel Staite, star of the excellent Firefly and Serenity, and more recently Stargate: Atlantis (hence attending the Stargate talk), which I'd probably have seen if Channel 5 hadn't stopped showing it. I'd always been a fan of her character, Kayleigh, in Firefly so was happy to fork out the cash. But I'd gotton pretty high numbered tickets so I had time to kill. A lot of time.

So I wandered the hall, looking at stalls, wondering if the DVDs were legal, but generally just waiting for the first talk. Despite me spending money on autographs, I still didn't have much to spend. I can no longer buy any random thing, so I was just looking to see if any cool stuff existed. Plus the novelty has kind of worn off since the invention of the internet shop.

With still hours to kill I decided to get a present for my friend who had just passed a life changing exam in accounting, and he won't mind me saying that it isn't any more interesting than how I made it sound. As I haven't given it to him yet I'm blanking it out as a spoiler. You can still highlight it to read it, but if you're reading this Mr. Martin, just stop and wait patiently. (Click the tiny picture for a massive reveal. So as he'd passed this exam I decided to get an autograph for him from a Red Dwarfer. So after a curious text of who he like best, The Cat, Kochanski or Female Holly, and receiving confirmation that it was indeed The Cat, I entered Danny John Jules' queue. I was determined to get it super personalised, with some kind of well done, but it was hard enough getting the name across that I settled for that alone. Basically his name is Anthony and because we're all lazy we now just call him Antnee. Explaining this for an autograph is one of the most difficult things I've had to do, ending up with me just saying something along the lines of "Just spell it A. N. T. N. E. E. He'll get it, it's a nick name" Still unsure, Danny wrote it. I then got a photo to prove it's real and so I'd get something out of the transaction.)

Finally it was time for the Dr Who talk. I made my way to the talk area and joined Queue 2. For a while I wasn't quite sure what the queue was for, but it lead me into the strangest talk I've attended. Present were Alexandra Moen (from new Dr Who I guess), Philip Madoc, Bernard Horsfall (I guess) and the legend that is Tom Baker. Tom was awesome, not quite sure if he is a comic genius, or actually senile.

There were jokes and slightly detailed description of which actor he'd like to "bed" when asked in an interview for the radio (Johnny Depp by the way, and he went into some detail to do with pirates.) Very strange, very weird but excellent. An annoying follow up to this talk, a group of fans took the opportunity to ask Tom for a photograph. I was with them, however I ended up taking their photo for them, then in the time it took to return their camera, Tom was off with someone else and we were being moved on. So close.
Straight after this was the Danny Trejo talk. Not as weird as the previous talk but very entertaining. Two highlights. First off, when asked about when the film Machete was going to be made he took out his mobile and rang someone, then asked us to shout "Hurry up and Make Machete" I'm guessing, like so many others, that he called Robert Rodriguez. So in theory I'd just spoken to Robert Rodriguez. Cool. The secodn highlight was an answer to the question "Which of your films do you consider the worst?" He simply answered, "None of them. I'm in them" Awesome. He also wouldn't stop when he was supposed to and continued taking questions. Well, it's Danny Trejo, would you go and stop him. So we over ran into expensive Scott Bakula's talk. So there.

Now I had time to kill, time to collect on some autographing. So I headed for Michael Ironside. Closed it said. No reason stated, just closed. Had he left in an angry storp when someone questioned the number of arms he owned? Who knows? I had to move on.

My next port of call was Jewel Staite, who now had an open queue. Now a quick side note - when I get things signed I always like them to sign things to Pete, this is so it's a little more personal than my full name. However, it always seems to confuse everybody, and they repeat it back as though I've given them the strangest name in history. Anyway, back to Jewel. I was thinking after the bizarre interaction with Danny John Jules I'd be better at the whole experience. Not so. Foiled by the lack of interaction with the single (or dual) armed Ironside I reverted back to my good, polite, quiet self and handed over the photograph. It was still cool, and she was very nice, but I failed to get a photograph. This was mainly due to the fact that I was abiding by the "No posed photograph" sign, rather than the fact that there was no queue behind me. Bugger.

So now I felt that I should see someone else. Then I remembered Chris Sarandon. Still not too sure, I approached his stand behind what I thought was a small queue. I took this opportunity to peruse his photographs while deciding if it was the right decision. Then the queue vanished, and I was left on my own in front of Chris Sarandon. Now I had no chance to create any rapport and awkwardly began the transaction for his signature. During this I noticed a photo from Child's Play, the problem on discovering this was all I could think of saying was, "I forgot you were in Child's Play" which would further the awkwardness. Silent I stayed. But I did get a photo, so a small victory on my part. Now I'm just a little fed up that I didn't get the Jewel photo seeing as I did with every other autograph. Anyway, what's done is done.

All this didn't take as long as expected so I wandered the hall once again before joining the Stargate talk queue. Weirdness ensued when I played a couple of tracks of Guitar Hero World Tour. First off, Rebel Yell by Billy Idol. I was reduced to bass on this track, which isn't that interesting, and I began to slip up when I got a little bored. I decided to move on, but when no one took the guitar of me when offered, I stayed for one more. This was well weird due to the fact that the girl next to me wanted to sing. This is fair enough, and good on her to sing in the middle of the exhibition hall. It's not like anyone more than a couple of metres away would hear, but I don't even sing on the game at home, so I was impressed. Luckily she was good singer on What I've Done by Linkin Park. This time I was on guitar so more fun was had.

I then left but had forfit a good place in the Stargate queue. Also after the small victory of extending the Danny Trejo talk, Scott Bakula overran. Eventually we began to move and in I went. No I began to feel like an outsider. As mentioned before, I wasn't really a fan of Stargate, only there for the star of Firefly. The audience was clearly made up of fanactics who knew every episode title and synopsis, as proved when asking and answering questions. The talk was fun, even for a stranger like myself. Firefly was mentioned so I was happy.

And that was it. With no more talks to keep me there I took one last tour of the hall in case I was going to miss some free stuff or something. This is when I found out that Michael Ironside had now returned. Still, it clearly wasn't meant to be, forever wondering how many arms he has. It was time to leave. And leave I did.

So now I reflect on the day's events. As mentioned at the begining somewhere, the London Film and Comic Con still has a long way to go to rivial San Diego. There's just not enough quality really. It's heart is in the right place, but there's a lot of open space, and various stalls just look thrown together. This year the Cos-Players were out in force and there was a CosPlay contest. There was also a lot of support for the two anime voice over actors which was suprising. With a little work it could be as big as San Diego. Overall I still find these events special. Despite all the weird and strange people there is an overall sense of community. I don't think attending is a bad thing, and shouldn't be seen as so. As I said, I'm not the biggest fan in the world, but the chance to see people I admire is a chance I don't what to pass up on. I just wish you didn't have to pay for the chance. I think the stars attending realise what they are a part of. Although at times people can seem a little crazy and a little strange, they're basically keeping their fanbase alive by appearing at such events showing that they care for their fans. They're giving something back. So what if it's at a price, as they say, nothing in life is free.

As a final note, if you're interest in anything I've just said you should check out two films. The first is a short documentary directed by Bruce Campbell entitled Fanalysis, in which he examines the world of fan conventions and what makes a fan into a fanatic. The other is sort of mockumentary called Comic Book: The Movie directed by Mark Hamill. I say mockumentray but this is only half true. It stars Mark Hamill as Donald Swan, a comic collector making a documentary about the new movie based on his favourtie comic Commander Courage. All fictional, but in it he interviews a variety of personalities who, when taking about the Commander, are clearly taking about some real life experiences they've had within the industry. Alongside this he documents his journey to the San Diego Comic Con. I've tried to explain it too much but it basically explores the whole convention culture.

So in a Jerry Springer's Final Thought moment, I say fandom shouldn't be looked down upon, whatever the level of your involvement. I mean, there are thousands of people who dress up in costumes each week in support of their idols. It's just that their conventions are called football grounds.

Is it better to go out in a blaze of glory or in a long drawn out manner?

So I haven't blogged anything for a while now. There's not really much to report, some life things going on which I'm not mentioning.

As mentioned previously I finished Jimmy Fight, then completed Jimmy CV (which was pretty boring really). Now I get to work on something entirely new. I say new, but really I've got a treatment to write, and old script to re-jig a bit and something music related that I wont elaborate on until it's more official. It's basically a music video but what of and for whom shall remain secret for a while. Jimmy Music will be the code word...words. So I'm pretty covered in that respect, lots to get on with, still at the amateur hobby style level but it's all experience and fun. Therefore it's all good.

In other news we eventually saw Star Trek, which really impressed me. There are a few issues I have with it, nothing major though. And I'm not quite sure what those issues are. When I left the cinema I kinda felt it was all wrapped up pretty quickly I think, as though they'd remembered they needed to save the Captain and defeat the bad guy. But it was cool so good on Mr Abrams.

I also saw Sam Raimi's Drag Me To Hell. I think I saw the trailer to this a while back, but other than that had no idea what this was apart from Brother Chris going on about how it was supposed to be really good. Which it is. It could have been a lot better but its good to see Sam Raimi do something other than Spiderman. It has to be said that Drag Me To Hell was saved by its ending though. There were scares throughout, not many true atmospheric scares but more Boo! jump scares, and there were a couple of missed opportunities, but the ending really helped. I can't really explain any more without giving anything away, but it's cool.

As a final note, my new obseesion with the Scott Pilgrim comic continues, having finally got a copy of Volume 2, which seems to have become rarer than a golden DoDo. So I can finally continue the read the adventures of a guy to which everyday life is..well...everyday life. All with a humorous and slightly bizarre twist though.

Oh, and I think a blaze of glory would have worked better.

You kill the devil and you go free.

I had something to blog about the other day, but no time to blog. Now I have a little time and can't remember what it was. There was a catchy title as well.

Anyway, what can I say today. This is all going to be a bit random due to the unpredictableness of my internet connection so I'm just going to write things as they come to me. Just watched Mongol tonight. I was a little disappointed. I can see they were trying to round the character of Genghis Kahn out and show a side not explored, however this was told over a 2 hour running time that did drag a little, especially as he didn't become Genghis until a caption title at the end of the film. I know nothing of Genghis Kahn's life, other than he helped Bill and Ted pass history, but it seems that this film tries to neatly tell some kind of origin story, as if conquering he know world is then acceptable.

Brother Tim visited this weekend which was cool as he's off to Camp America again next weekend. We had what turned into a strange day on Sunday. Visited Brighton Pier, which was nice, then with little else planned took the mini train to the Marina. Having never been there before, and told that it was like Waterworld, I was expecting big things. It then turns out it is like Waterworld, if that film was set next to an Asda on a car park. The day was then salvaged when we came across a bank holiday market with bizarre attractions. One in particular featured a man, with demonic facial hair, presents three dancing girls, dressed in Ice Cream inspired clothing dancing in front of an Ice Cream van, in which they took solace. As I said, bizarre. We then went on to watch a Punch and Judy show. This was cool for reasons I cannot go into yet. I haven't seen a Punch and Judy show since I was a kid, but have recently become interested in the original play, in which Punch kills a lot of people and escapes any kid of punishment. I was quite happy to see he still killed the policeman and the doctor, turned his child into sausages (only to reverse the process) and end up killing the devil, after which he was rewarded and all previous crimes forgotten. I was a bit strange to here a crowd of kids screaming "It's the Devil" but Punch and Judy does bring out the weirdness.

On Monday, Ten Dead Men was release on Region 2 DVD. I'm just going ot pass you over to Brother Chris' blog who has more info on this >>>>>>>

Finally, because I can't remember what my original point was, I've recently become obsessed with Scott Pilgrim. I had no idea what this was and heard that Edgar Wright of Spaced, Shaun of the Dead, and Hot Fuzz fame was directing the live action film., but what exactly was this comic. So I bought the first volume of the manga sized, black and white comic book. And it's cool. I'm just going to link to the main website here rather than go into to much detail but it's well worth checking out. The problem is Vol 2 seems to be really scarce but It will be mine, oh yes. It will be mine.

Oh shit, yeah, I finished Jimmy Fight. It needs a second run through before I pass it over to Brother Chris but its all there. In the end I kind of got more into it but now I've freed up some time for my next project, my CV. A process I never look forward to but is required if I hope to continue living.

That's all for now.

Who Watches The Watchmen...

I do. Ok that was kind of a lame start. I'm only really posting as this marks my final post as a resident of Stoke-on-Trent. I shall soon be off on adventures to Brother Chris' abode and hopefully a bright future. However at the moment my head is exploding, and I'm trying to decide whether I'm taking too much stuff with me. Yes eventually I'll probably have my own place and all the space in the world (the contained world of said place that is), but as it goes I have a room. A room previously used as a computer room, with stuff still in it. Now I really am thinking I have too much. We all know there's no way I'll be using everything at once. And I bet some things I never even touch. It's difficult knowing this for certain though, so I like to be prepared. There doesn't seem any more than when I left for University so maybe that's it. I just haven't seen this much stuff piled up in a while.

Anyway, I went to see Watchmen tonight. It hasn't really sunk in yet so I can't decide if I liked it. I know for certain that the first half was cool, but I think it gets a bit dragged out. The problem with it is that the beginning has been reordered a bit, but as soon as you get into the origins of the characters you're just waiting for the next bit of the comic you remember.

So...the new ending. It's ok. Not great, but ok. I don't want to give anything away. I come from reading the comic and was really looking forward to seeing that particular end so it was always going to disappoint. However with the new ending, a guy I went with who has no idea of the comic didn't think it made sense, that the result was not much of a threat. In many ways he's right. They really needed to set it up through out the film, which in turn would change the story. But the base elements were there.

Finally I just want to mention the soundtrack. It's amazing. Zack Snyder couldn't really use much on his last film 300, but the soundtrack for the Dawn of the Dead remake was also amazing. Not the usual choices Hollywood films would make. Plus the Philips Glass track form the trailer is used in the film.

All in all, it is a cool film. I don't agree with other reviews where they've offered up alternative directors. IGN offered Ridley Scott or David Fincher and Mark Kermode suggested Terry Gilliam would have been an improvement. However these directors haven't really made a decent film for a while. Whoever was directing this film it still would've been a hard film to make. You can't please everyone, especially when each reader has there own interpretation, just like the adaptation of a book. I wasn't to keen on the comic elements of Mickey Rourke's Marv from Sin City as I'd always read him as a straight, hard bastard right to the end.

In closing I think Zack Snyder has done a great job. And I look forward to the rest of his career. And his soundtracks.