“Let’s make some choices.” (or “It doesn’t really matter does it!”)

Not too long ago Simon Pegg was quoted (or mis-quoted) as saying something along the lines of wanting to “retire from geekdom”. Granted he was pretty much talking about growing up rather than lording over the things we loved as children (superheroes and such).

However I’m starting to see his point, but not for the same reasons.

2016 has been a bad year for geek culture. It’s been pretty bad for a lot of other reasons as well to be honest, but I haven’t go the patience to write a Chilcot report. So let’s focus on the geeks.

We suck. It’s not all our fault. In a lot of cases the stuff we wanted to see sucked, but it’s how we’re reacting that is making the city of Geektropolis a terrible place to live.

Years ago there was a sleepy little village called Geekton. It was small, only had a few permanent residents, but a hand full of visitors. It struggled to strive, being overshadowed by it’s sister city – erm, Jocktopia? Real Life City?  It’s not the best, but let’s go with Real Life City, mainly so we can talk about the Adult-hood later. All you need to know is there’s a place to go other than Geekton.

Anyway, people used to laugh when you visited Geekton. You needed thick skin to go there, and that’s if you told people what you were doing.

But then something happened. Business in Geekton started to boom. People were visiting and staying. They were investing, expanding the small quiet village into the massive place it is now. Over the last few years Geekton has become Geektropolis.

Real Life City on the other hand still exists. Business continues as usual, investment has gone down a little. It will always survive, but at the moment it’s coasting. The Adult-hood is still a scary place to be though. Basically it’s just a little bit dull. Whereas next door, Geektropolis is booming. It’s like Vegas on acid, or one of those sayings. So more people are moving over.

However there’s one thing missing from Geektropolis. One thing that the settlers forgot to establish when they invited all their friends in to play. Tired of being looked down on for what they enjoyed, they decided that anyone living in Geektropolis would have a voice. You don’t need to shy away from your likes and dislikes here. This isn’t Real Life City where you have to be careful what you say in case someone calls you ignorant, or gets you fired, or punched in the face. No, in Geektroplis, say whatever you want to, you deserve your say.

And that’s the problem.

Most of this is actually covered in this article – but it’s my launching off point. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/herocomplex/la-et-hc-comic-con-fan-entitlement-20160722-snap-story.html

 

So why is having a voice a problem? Isn’t free speech a good thing?

In theory it is, unless you’re going to be a dick about it. As Buckaroo Banzai said “Don't be mean; we don't have to be mean, cuz, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.”

 

There have been several films released this year that have not been received with the open arms that the makers expected or would have liked. I’m going to discuss a few here to given my opinion. You don’t have to agree, it’s just my opinion.

Ghostbusters (2016)
The worst thing about this film was that it makes us have to quote a year next to the title to distinguish whether we’re talking about Ghostbusters (1984) or Ghostbusters (2016).

This film got a lot of flak. A hell of a lot of it was undeserved. Apparently a lot of people out there don’t like females and they needed to tell people about it. This wasn’t even really an issue. The main problem with this film was the fact it was a remake, in a slew of remakes. It was generally agreed that the weaker parts of the film were the references to the original Ghostbusters (1984). If they’d just made a sequel I think it may have fared better. It would also have helped if it was funnier.

I still enjoyed it, and there is a lot in there to like, and technically if it keeps the brand alive, gathering more fans, that’s a good thing. However I found the main problem with the film is that you couldn’t talk about it without mentioning the shit-storm that surrounded it and the people using their voices.

However in this case, it’s not just the fans using their voices but also the film makers. There were a few interviews with the cast and director where they made a few snide comments about the Geeks who were complaining. The problem with this is they don’t help the matter. We all know the best response to a bully is to ignore them. Even in the film, a key theme is about the protagonist, Erin Gilbert, being was teased as a girl because she saw a ghost, and how we all need to learn to accept each other rather than pointing and laughing.

Surely the filmmakers should have taken this to heart and possibly used it to promote the film. Why is this an issue? Well, it’s not, the mouthy geeks were not helping things, and were far from being right. The fact is though that they got a rise out of the filmmakers which most likely gave them boost. Their voice was heard. We should have just ignored them all, then we would all agree that the film could have been better, the jokes funnier etc and that Kate McKinnon’s Holtzman was the best thing about it. Rather than jumping on one of the band wagons of either side’s arguments. At the end of the day all that matters is whether you enjoyed the film.

Enough about that one. What’s next?

Batman V Superman (and possibly a bit of Suicide Squad)

Ok, this is a big one. Mainly because I really like DC Comics and they struggle bringing their characters to life, but I want to defend BvS a little.

The problem here is in a similar way of trying to talk about Ghostbusters (2016) without mentioning the anger over women in proton packs, it’s hard to talk about BvS and DC’s films without comparing them to Marvel (and I’ll hopefully show how pointless that is). There will be a bit on that, but there will mostly be an explanation as to why I’ve grown to like it. Let me say form the get go, Batman V Superman is far from perfect, but in no what deserved the backlash it received.

I was looking at past releases to see what comic book films were being released and it seems the trouble started in 2008.

In 2008 we had The Dark Knight, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and Indiana Jones 4. (But that’s not a comic?!?!? I know, it was an interesting year for blockbusters).

Ok, we need a little background before steaming ahead with this. It’s good to remember that Warner Brother’s own DC. Therefore the only studio making DC films will be WB.  However in the mid-nineties or whenever, Marvel went bust and had to sell off a load of characters. Therefore Marvel’s output has technically been a lot larger than WB as each studio releases their own titles. (Sony had Spiderman, Fox had X-Men etc). As far as WB were concerned they had 2 heavy hitters that had done well in the past Batman and Superman, so why bother spending all their money on more Superheroes when they can just focus on 1 of the heavies every few years. Superman was pretty much run into the ground after the excellent Superman 3 (I’m ignoring Superman 4 and Canon bought the rights) so they pulled out their 2^nd heavy hitter Batman in 1989. Then they ran him into the ground with Batman and Robin. Time for Superman to return in Superman Returns. Ohh, maybe not. Let’s go back to Batman with Batman Begins in 2005. Yay – a hit. There was much rejoicing. WB decided to run with this and ordered a sequel so in 2008 we get The Dark Knight – more rejoicing. However, whilst WB were making their single super films, Marvel were gathering money and thinking of the long game and how to make a shared universe. They released Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk in the same year. Iron Man good, Hulk not so much. Before then WB weren’t paying attention and were happy proceed and end the Nolan trilogy. They did try to get a Green Lantern film out, but there was no rejoicing so they focussed on closing the Nolan trilogy with Dark Knight Rises. There was a little less rejoicing, but rejoicing none the less. Marvel’s plans however were now known. Captain America and Thor were released, along with Iron Man 2. They were ready for the game changer, creating a fully shared universe with Avengers. WB suddenly sat up and needed a follow up for Batman, back to the drawing board – Superman. If they could also set it in the same, “realistic” world as Nolan then maybe, just maybe they would have a shared universe. Man of Steel is released as well as Avengers – everything blows up – including lots of buildings. The shared universe wins. Marvel are happy and off they go into Phase 2 with all their money! WB need to sort themselves out. Nolan no longer wants to make Batman films - fair enough, but they have Man of Steel – this becomes their Iron Man. Their planned shared universe will sit on the shoulders of a film that technically should have been part of a previous shared universe. Combine this with WB wanting to speed up the process, bad decisions were being made all and so we end up with BvS. Marvel went out on their own, set themselves up as their own studio for creative control and could make all the decisions (until Disney bought them, now the House of Mouse presumably makes the decisions).

Now I’ll be honest, I made most of that up. It could have gone that way, it could have gone another way. However it seems that if they truly wanted a shared universe form the get go, they should have drawn a line under Man of Steel and started from scratch – maybe from a lesser known character. But everyone knows this, and that forms a lot of their flak. However they made a choice to not do that.

So why is BvS good? Is it because they have the same name as my Mum? No, because they don’t but here’s a man crying which I think pulls it into focus a little better. https://youtu.be/rKRmMQaLZz8

When I first saw Batman versus Superman I was disappointed – it was grim, long, not very “Yay, Batman!” But then you start to look at in in another light. Sitting at home looking at a pile of different batman comics. They’re all written or drawn by different writers and artists but they are the same characters. At any one time there were issues of Batman, Detective Comics, Batman Beyond etc, all being released simultaneously. Basically what I’m saying is BvS is one iteration of Batman. A lot of the reviews mention something along the lines of him not being “my Batman”. However, there’s a bloody high chance they’ll never make your batman ever again. Adam West could be your Batman, but I doubt we’ll see Batman dance or surfboard again (Except they kin dof did that in Batman and Robin)  So his new Batman kills, is mopey, but most of all is addicted to being Batman. He’s flawed – aren’t we all? Except this flawed hero has an Alfred always telling him to calm down, maybe go out as Bruce Wayne a bit more. On top of that he’s older, tired, had years of being Batman, which means each night he’s going out because of a childhood oath he made to his parents, a childhood oath, meaning that despite his age, he never really grew up.

Then this new kid flies in and moves in literally next door, who can do all this amazing stuff, and most of all, he can go out in the daylight. He isn’t hiding in the shadows and although lots of people still hate him, he’s getting a lot of love – more love than Batman. Grumpy Batman hates this, and the only way to fix it is the only way he knows how – to punch it. Hence they fight. Now in back in Real Life City, this makes no sense. You’d have to talk first etc, but we’re in Geektropolis talking about a man who dresses up as a Bat fighting a Man who flies. Common sense doesn’t exist here. You’re dealing with character so pumped up in their own world that they are threatened by any kind of outside influence. They just had to punch each other.

In another time and place, we also saw Captain America punching Iron Man but their reasons are more clear meaning it’s easier to relate. It’s the difference between fighting for a strong, thought out belief or fighting for the sake of it (on the surface at least).

Anyway as I’ve segwayed, Civil War is good. There are more people fighting but I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t a sole Captain America adventure, rather than Avengers 2.5. My main issue though that is starting to annoy me a little, is that all the Marvel stuff tends to look the same – to have a shared universe I guess it means they all need to look and feel identical. Which means you come out of Civil War and think you’ve seen Avengers. You watch Thor and it could be Iron Man 4. This is something that I think may restrict them in the future, and a worry that eventually they will reboot everything to start again.

A good thing to say about Warner Brothers is at they are making choices. To proceed with a darker Suicide Squad was a bold move. To have a Comic book film with Suicide in the title was a bold choice. The problem here is they continued to make choices when they should have stepped back, trusted in the director to make the right choices and trusted there would be an audience.

So the state of DC, they may not be the best, they may be listening to the wrong people, but still choices are being made in an attempt to make their films stand out; and I think that is a good thing. Just because Zack Snyder’s choices are not mine or yours, doesn’t mean he’s wrong.

So how does all this tie in with the Noise Pollution of Geektropolis? Well, I understand that I’ve been having my say and gone on about how Geeks are being too vocal and expecting their voices to be heard, and rambled on for however many words. But I’ve said my piece now. I’ve started to try and accept the choices made by directors in a hope to enjoy the films a little more. It’s hard to accept a lot of their choices because it’s not what I wanted to see. But you can’t please everyone. It’s one of the first things you need to learn as any kind of artist. If we all liked the same stuff the world would be pretty grey. So someone casts an actor you don’t like as a character you love – see how it goes. It may go well, it may not. Someone remakes a film you loved as a child, it could improve on it, it probably won’t (just my opinion) but see what happens. (I also realise that’s a whole different blog post about remakes and reboots. I think we’d all like to see more originality out there. Someone made Star Wars in the seventies. Surely we should be able to make something as awesome and original now, without just making a new Star Wars? (Once again, my opinion, and I like Star Wars)).

 

Basically everyone just needs to calm down, take a second to think before you start typing, and ask yourself “Does any of it actually really matter?”

 

I’ll leave you with a transcript from Spaced that could have replaced this whole essay:

Bilbo Bagshot:
I was like you once. Blond hair. Scraggly little beard. Childlike ears. Full of beans and spunk. I let my principles get in the way sometimes. I punched a bloke in the face once for saying "Hawk the Slayer" was rubbish.

Tim Bisley:
Good for you.

Bilbo Bagshot:
Yeah, thanks. But that's not the point, Tim. The point is I was defending the fantasy genre with terminal intensity, when what I should have said is "Dad, you're right, but let's give Krull a try and we'll discuss it later."

 

Growing up, networking and such…

 

I say growing up, but it’s more of a getting my life/priorities in order. By life and priorities, I mean work. It’s become all too easy stay comfy in the day job, however the typewriter has started to call.

 

(Hopefully you get what I mean. I could have said keyboard but you may have thought I was on a path to become a great pianist. Now I mention that I do have it on my list of things to eventually do).

 

Brother Chris has been writing for a while, however this year, there have been a few more opportunities for myself to help out on a couple of projects. For real life money. Basically as of this year I too can say I am a paid writer.

 

But what of the day job? Well, we’re not that well paid yet, so I must continue in my war with free time.

 

That’s where the growing up comes in. Brother Chris and I are starting to get organised. With 3 screenplays currently optioned we have a body of work to start building on. Hopefully at least one of these will see the light of day to carry us further.

 

And with this, the networking comes in. As we started to take things more seriously I decided  to attend a course back in June – First Draft with Pilar Alessandra of On The Page.tv

 

This 2 day course provided excellent information on getting a first draft together quickly, and then beefing it up in the 2^nd/3^rd drafts. It was also an excellent place for networking…except I’m terrible at networking.

 

The main issue I have with this is I’m not one to shout about myself. Also, a certain percentage of people who can shout about themselves, come across a bit arrogant. I’m sure in their day to day lives they’re entirely pleasant. However as soon as they start telling me they have the best idea, and they only ever had a specific actor in mind for a role, and will settle for no other, but the script is so good that they’re definitely going to take the part; when I’m being told this, I zone out, and lose interest. They start to sound like a…let’s just say they are annoying.

 

I have a constant battle with this as here, in this very enclosed forum, I know I have a great idea. I just don’t like having to shout about it at the risk of coming off as an arrogant sod.

 

So there’s that to work on.

 

In many ways the reclusive feeling more than anything qualifies me as a writer. It also helps that I trained as an animator, another introverted profession.

 

So I need to grow up. Break out of my shell. Get networking. Speak to people about my amazing idea.

 

It seems that’s the only way to get things get made.

 

Unless you not the only one in the crowd shouting. Then it’s just a case of who’s the loudest.

 

You wouldn’t have guessed that I once made a film called Jonny the Pessimist.

I really need to blog...

So the last couple of months have been a bit mental, some good stuff, some bad.

I should really do an extended blog but I'm at work so can't.

Maybe next time.

It's all been done...

So I really should have blogged about this whilst it was all going on. I just couldn't find the time.

But I'm still not ready. See it's the end of my long Easter break, and I don't fancy spending my time blogging when I need to really find a distraction from the fact that I now have to go back to work tomorrow. Unfortunately I can access my emails at home, and thinking I could lessen the blow if I check now rather than starting blind tomorrow. This blew up in my face as I now find I have an extremely stupid amount of emails to contend with on the morrow.

So now I'm depressed. So I'm going to play games instead.

I'll blog properly about the Jenny Ringo making of, about the status of Everyday Joe, and about any writing projects I may be working on.

Bye...

100 posts = 100 things to talk about...

So here’s how it was...

I started the blog about just under 3 years ago. On Thursday 14th August 2008 to be exact I’m not particularly sure of the reasons off hand. I was going to mention that according to my original post it was because of this...but I don't seem to have given a reason. I think I started it, as Brother Chris said, so that I can look back on what I was moaning about months ago. That, and people will want to know how it went down.

It’s always been difficult continuing to blog when you can count your readership on your fingers, and see most of them in real life regularly. I have managed to keep it up over time though.

So over the last couple of years I’ve talked about things that annoy me, things that excite me, things I’ve been working on and a lot of complaining. I also gave up at one point, only posting occasional musings.

Fun fact time, whilst this blog has existed I’ve lived in four houses/flats, 3 towns and had 4 jobs, included a period of unemployment.

I’d just finished a making of, completed a shorter making of, made a 2nd E4 ESting and a music video. I’ve seen a number of bands, seen a load of films and mused a lot of random musings.

So that’s basically how it went down...

...and here’s how it is.

So right here in the present I'm still busy. I'm still working, which yes is good because I get money, but it does take up a hell of a lot of time, and is a bit annoying. I've lived in my current house for over 6 months which is looking good. And I'm still playing games. Got my hands on a PS3 now thank to the Girlfriend's gaming madness. Uncharted is amazing by the way.

So with all the above going on I'm still busy with the creativity. I wrote a list recently of all the things I have to work on and there were about 10 items on there, and they're all in different stages. Some are more urgent than other, some are writing based, some making of based. 1 is a whole animated film. Not feature length of course, but long-ish. I am quite confident to announce, over the next year or so I will be working on:-

Lost in 5 Towns: A Tale of an Everyday Joe.

Did I juts break a rule and announce a project... oh crap. I wont divulge too much information, just that it's a film close to my own heart, set in good old Stoke-on-Trent. Now, if you never hear of this again, I will have learned my lesson about announcements on blogs.

Still I've still got the secret writings I've got going with Brother Chris which will hopefully come to fruition in the near future. And on that note, you're all up to speed.

So here’s how it will be...

Some stuff I guess.

Here's to the next 100 posts.

A little normality here please...

Ok, so nobody said moving flats was simple but I never anticipated on it being this complicated/annoying/hazardous/idiotic/stupidic and most of all toatally stressfull. And I've kind of done the main part.

Anyway I've been trying to get back to normal for a while now without the slightest bit of luck. For a short time it was working, begining with character sheets for a new script I'll be workign of with Brother Chris'. However with his impending wedding and writing hiatus I may go it alone for a while.

Then things got stressful once again and I lost the ability to write (this wasn't really due to the stresses of life more the joys of life when I replaced my TV/Monitor with a larger TV which I temporarily use as a monitor so any prolonged exposure to slowly burns out my already damaged retinas.

Anyway the latest adventure of normality I had was showing the music video I finished before Christmas, Bitter Ruin's Soldier, at Son of Moviebar last night. The crowds seem to be dwindling, which is a pity as the nights are always interesting but the film went down really well. I managed to spit out a few sentences this time around and was excited to find out that someone in the audience knew the story of The Steadfast Tin Soldier, on which the video was based. So finally a small victory it would seem.

Anyway, I'm cutting this short as I need to do some "proper" work. Breaks over guys.

However, before I go, without further ado, the most excellent Scott Pilgrim trailer:-


It really is awesome.

Busy busy busy.

Too busy ot blog properly. PC broke, then was ill, finally back to editing music video and there's quite a bit to do to get it perfect. Just wanted to mention that I'll be taking part in the Boris Karloff blogathon in November.

Check out details of the Boris Karloff Blogathon here. Or at Brother Chris blog here.

No mini-crumble for me then.

I thought I'd best update as not to look like a fool. I'm guessing that I haven't made the final of this years esting competition as a friend has just informed the world, via facebook, that the sting he contributed on has made it. Therefore, as I have received no email I can only fear the worse.

I am happy for the guy but a little disappointed. It would have been nice to finalise once again, especially with my current feeling about the competitiveness, and not to mention CG-ness, of the current animation industry. It will be interesting to see what the quality is like this time. There were a few dud ideas last year, some that even won.

So back to that drawing board I go.

For a final time, this is what the world was missing out on.





Bugger.

My memory sucks.

So I'm trying to remember how this years Esting competition is going to work. I know from the 800 entries there will be only 15 finalists (whether this changes due to the amount of entries) and then those 15 get sent on a secret mission of sorts. I just can't remember when. I know it was supposed to be sometime in September, 15th I think, but I can't be sure.

Anyway, no point worrying about that when there's more on the cards. Today I finished principal photography on the music video. I say that but there's still a bit to do, but most of it now takes place on the computer, which failed to turn on for the last two days. Seems fine now though. So that's coming along until the next hiccup.

Alongside the music video I'm doing some editing for OpenBook having filmed their London event a couple of weeks ago. I need to edit this into a 2/3 minute trailer for future events.

Having edited making of footage before, I don't feel this will be that challenging, however I've never really filmed events before so I'm not sure what the coverage will be like. I did film a live dvd a few years back but this involved a roaming camera and a base camera. I manned the base camera. Anyway, here's hoping all is well. However I've never used a Mac before nor Final Cut pro, and I had a whole checking my options in life moment this weekend.

This was mainly due to above fact and the following. There's more and more students graduating each year, and each year technology improves. If the universities have the money they'll get the new kit. Compared to me, who not begin the richest person in the world can't afford new and interesting programs let alone a Mac, so continues to use the programs I was trained on, setting me back about five years. If you want to compete, like everything, it seems you need money.

But as I realise, I don't think I ever really wanted to be an animator. I just got the skills is all.

Anyway, so I'm up to date on the music video, I'm doing some extra experience work, I just need to find a job and things will be...not on track. Things will be at a level where I cam earn a little money, enough to live, and then start thinking about quiting my job in order to follow a career in something interesting. That is unless the job I miraculously find is interesting.

Beyond that I pick up the scraps left by Brother Chris to develop my writing.

So we're all up to date. In more pleasant news I saw 500 Days of Summer t'other day and was well impressed. It's a different (and far superior) take on run of the mill romantic comedies. Starring the always excellent Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who was wasted in G I Joe, and Zooey Deschanel, who also always gives a good performance, it revolves around Gordon-Levitt character falling in and out of love with Deschanel. With a back and forth storytelling style, and some neat visual styles, it does not fail to impress and gives you a good feeling on the way home. Plus it had a cool soundtrack.



It reminded me a lot of In Search of a Midnight Kiss which I saw a couple of days before. This is a lot closer to Woody Allen's Manhattan, but in Los Angeles. it centres around a lonely guy not wanting to spend New Year's eve alone and sets up and ad looking for anyone to kiss at midnight, hence the title. It's an independent film from Alex Holdridge and is very similar to the films of Richard Linklater. I realise I'm just saying what other films it's like but my blog mind has come to an end. If you like any of the films mentioned then you should check it out.

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.

Some good stuff...

So today I saw a woman carrying a severed head. Ok so it wasn't a real severed head, well, not real as in from a human. This was all resolved after I reapplied my glasses to my face and saw the head for what it was, however it did scare me for those few brief seconds. What has this to do with anything? Absolutely nothing, which is what this post is all about really.

Although not mentioned in full last time, I'm still working on my E4 entry for this years Estings, and I'm about half way through. If all is well it should be good. However I'm going to have to make it longer than the 10 second limit and cut it down afterwards which hopefully won't detract from the final piece.

This is stopping me from looking for a new job, which is an almost inconceivable task in the current climate, however I shall persevere and hopefully come out the victor. (that is if working actually makes you the victor, or some kind of sheep like being. But hey, I need to eat)

This paragraph is used to sing the prises once again of Scott Pilgrim. My obsession is fueled by the daily photo updates on Edgar Wrights blog here. Nothing much has been given away yet. There are a few cool videos featuring the cast, but nothing as to how the film will finally look. There's a long way to go just yet, set for release in 2010 (that's Twenty-Ten by the way) but I must say I'm looking forward to it. The unfortunate thing is I'm currently on volume 3 of the comic ans therefore only have another 2 before I'm out. I think there's to be a sixth and final volume set for release with the film. I'm just gonna have to keep my eyes peeled.

Now I'm going to talk about a great film form my childhood, Young Sherlock Holmes. This has still stood the test of time as far as I'm concerned. We were going to watch it as part of a double bill with the Dolph Lundgren starring Masters of the Universe but time was against us. I'd forgotten most of what Young Sherock was about. I could remember the classic moments like the stained glass knight (which by the way looks as good , if not better , than any modern CGI) and Watson seeing cakes come alive and force themselves into his mouth. Which come to think of it is pretty weird. But what I could not remember was how terrifying the character Elizabeth Hardy's hallucination was. I remembered that there were zombies, ok I was somewhat prepared, but not for her falling into her open grave. not only this, but a laughing, screaming skeletal zombie carves her gravestone whilst her dead uncle begins to bury her. This honestly scared me. I'm sure they must have cut this from any previous version, or I happened to block it from my memory. Young Sherlock Holmes is good stuff, as good as Congo even. Check out this trailer for the film taken from some random American TV station.




Finally I'm going to post a video that Brother Chris is most likely posting at the moment here.
It's a video my Dad's friend made for one of their old songs.

Screaming till the Sun Goes Down from Extra Familiar on Vimeo.

The song featured on the locally produced LP Cry Havoc by the Stoke Musicians collective. A lot of the tracks still sound cool today as I did give it a listen the other day. Altogether "Do the East Berlin. Do it again!"

Anyway I like the video and I'm glad the song has not been forgotten.

In a final link the same people were behind the song Elasto which I have posted here before, and do so again as I think it gets ignored too much. Now I've got to buy even more extortionate train tickets. Until next time...

New location, same old troubles...

How depressing does that sound. Next time I'll try for a better title.

Anyway, to bring anyone who doesn't know up to speed, I'm now living with Brother Chris. Yes I was naive to think everything would be different. In short, its not. I am closer to the sea though. I just haven't got used to it yet. But I will.

I recently saw My Name Is Bruce. Is very silly, but still good. I am somewhat biased towards Bruce Campbell though, however this was more enjoyable than The Man With The Screaming Brain which suffered quite a lot from its small budget and Bulgarian filming locations.

I'm also biased due to the fact that My Name Is Bruce slipped a Congo reference in, which as you know always gets a thumbs up in my book. So is it better than Congo. No, but I'd say its as good as.

Despite starting a new job, and therefore acquiring the inability to stay awake throughout a whole film, I've seen quite a few over the last couple of weeks. Special mention goes to Let The Right One In, a Swedish vampire film that plays with the concept of vampires a little more than others do. Not much is explained about the origins, and there's no foppishness involved. There's also a cool sequence concerning the whole "invitation in" rule that I don't think I've ever seen dealt with before.

I've also finally started watching Veronica Mars. A TV show that everyone seems to like and recommend, however at the moment it's nothing special but I am only 3 episodes in so hopefully things will look up.

I'm stopping no I have things to read and write other than blogs and really need to get some work done. However, I may just end up playing games. Who knows.

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.

You Can't Dance on Someones Grave!

The remainder of the weekend was occupied with a variety of films of varying quality. We began with black & white version of The Mist. How good is this film? Rhetorical by the way as we all know The Mist is amazing. I'd forgotten how good it, and everyone in it, was. This is only emphasised when viewed in black and white. I captures the atmosphere of the mid-fifties horror/sci-fi films and also makes the creature effects more believable. The end is still one of the best I've seen in a long time, and possibly the only true horrific moment in the whole film.

This was followed by The Gravedancers. This film was chosen based on the delivery of the line, "You can't dance on someones grave!" Unfortunately I can't post it here as it only seems to be part of the trailer on V-Plus. The film stars Dominic Purcell of Prison Break fame, Clare Kramer of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame and the always watchable Tcheky Karyo. The film begin as a rum of the mill haunting film. Friends get drunk, dance on graves and get haunted. About half way in though things started to get interesting. The ghost effects were pretty creepy, and by the end things get quite insane. Not to give anything away, but basically a giant head chases a car though the house. It's a pity the film takes so long before it gets interesting. So based on the 'matter of fact' delivery of one line, this film was pretty much a winner.

Unlike Sickle, which only cost a single British pound, but was just poor. It was filmed on digital so it looked bad, and not a lot happened. Shots were repeated, characters reappeared in scenes even though they'd just left, and there was a hell of a lot of walking. I should really be careful here, I don't want to just sound mean as the issue of reviews is hitting close to home since the DVD release of Ten Dead Men. However, Sickle was pretty rubbish. However, on the DVD was a trailer, fortunately not for Sickle, but for Skinned Deep, a 2004 horror film directed by Gabriel Bartalos, the special effect/make-up artist on films such as Leprechaun and Basket Case 2. It also stars Warwick Davis as a guy called Plates, and, you guessed it, he throws plates at people. This film looked mental, and was worth the pound spent on the DVD.

We ended on Earth Alien, starring Eric Roberts and Arnold Vosloo. This was also only a pound, but far better than Sickle. It's about a cop who teams up with an alien to hunt down another alien who is killing humans for their skin. Poacher style. I don't have much more to say on this. It was ok, things exploded, cars were chased, guns were shot. Pretty straight forward really.

In between these viewings we seemed to watch the trailer for Clifford over and over. For some reason this film only seems to be available on Xbox Live and nowhere else. It still looks bizarre and will be tracked down eventually. If only to fit in with a screening of Shakma.

Anyway the weekend came to a close, and onto the trains we went. And what a crappy journey. The train I was on somehow let off the emergency brakes stopping the train only after about an hour of travel. Then we couldn't get the brakes off and just had to wait for a technician. Finally we moved to the next station, all got off and awaited the replacement train, which then had to alter its journey to include all the stops form the original train. I ended up getting in about two late. Which nicely brings my February tour of Britain to a close, and fuels my temporary hate for trains. I know Brother Chris eventually had some problems also on his journey. It just goes to show, no one should travel on a Sunday.

Oh, and you can't dance on someones grave.

My face was shaved...and I watched films...

For those who may be interested, Operation Beard is over. It wasn't really a failure, more that I grew sick of the facial hair. I was going to post photos but how self indulgent would that be. Anyway, I also discover my hair is too fine and light to get a successful growth going. You basically had to be centimetres form my face to really see it. I have this theory though, whenever I seem to forget to shave, the lazier I become. Therefore with the act of shaving I cast off the laziness hair to become revitalised once again, ready to get on with whatever I was avoiding. This was a sub-mission with operation beard. The longer the hair grew, the more to cast off, the more I would get back into things. Which worked for a couple of hours, but then I went back to the confusion.

To explain, I'm moving down with Brother Chris for the foreseeable future and somewhere it was decided that I go down for a week, presumably to settle in, or get the lay of the land. Which is all well and good, but I spent the week not really knowing if I should be looking for work as I was returning home for a couple more weeks. This scheduled return also meant that the room in which I'd be living was still borrowed, so at home I did not feel. I did apply for one job though so not all was wasted.

When not working however I watched a lot of the second series of the Henry Rollins Show. although a little strange at first, seeing Mr Rollins presenting a chat show, the guests he has on and the cut around rants make for an interesting watch. It is a little disconcerting though as he does seem to complain about everything, even blogging, and I do see where he's coming from, however I shall persevere.

When not watching umpteen episodes of this show, I managed to watch a handful of cool films. These ranged from the "arty" Irma Vep, a film about the filming of a remake of a silent french serial called Les Vampires, starring Maggie Chung as herself. It's good because it makes a little fun of stereotypical French Cinema, that the majority of films are made only for the directors and not for general audiences.

I also watched a Japanese film called Kamikaze Girls. I originally thought this was going to be a crazy kung fu style film but was surprised to learn its the simple tale of two girls from clashing cultures becoming friends. It's still crazy, and really cool. Especially the soundtrack by Yoko Kanno, who also created the soundtrack for the excellent Cowboy Bebop anime series. Anyone who hasn't seen these should definitely look them up.

During a film night, and using the hat system (whereby the names of a bunch of films are put into a hat and one taken out at random to be watched) resulted in a quality triple bill featuring Ravenous, the Guy Pierce and Robert Carlyle cannibal fueled film, which I'd forgotten was quite funny, and has an excellent soundtrack; Omega Cop, a post apocalyptic style Citizen Kane meets Ong Bak starring Don Marchini and Adam West; and finishing off with Death Dimension, in which Jim Kelly teaches crime to George Lazenby whislt they take on Harold 'OddJob' Sakata and his snapping turtle. Assisted by none other than Myron Bruce Lee. Quality viewing was had by all.

In term of cinema visiting adventures, we saw Friday the 13th and Push. Unfortunately Friday the 13th was neither a re-imaginging nor a remake, but ended up another sequel in the already bulging Friday the 13th family. A 'Previously on...' style opening continues into a brief body count before the actual film really begins. Jared Padalecki, from Supernatural, was good but the fact that Jason as a franchise has become so large that even he isn't allowed to kill him off.

So with Push, a film closer the Heroes TV series than with telekinetic adventures as advertised. The film is ok, there are a lot of plot holes and one wonders whether using a different 13 year old, rather than the 40 year old 13 year old Dakota Fanning, would have achieved the same result. It was fun though, and was better than Friday the 13th.

I've come to the end now as I'm not quite sure what I'm writing about.

Kamikaze Girls Trailer


Irma Vep Trailer

Operation BEARD...

An update of randoms here.

I followed this link from Brother Chris' blog about Neil Gaiman having a rant about someone mistaking the Henry Selick directed film Coraline, as being by Tim Burton. I shall explain, but here's the link - here.

Ok so, maybe not when it first came out, but since I realised my mistake I have been a supporter of Henry Selick. He's the real guy who directed Time Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. And I still fight in his corner. If you read Neil Gaiman's blog, he explains where the mistake was made and so on, but I find it unbelievable that even members of the press can't be bothered to look at the Internet Movie Database. Anyway for anyone who cares to read, Henry Selick also directed James and the Giant Peach, which is ok i guess. I've only seen it once and wasn;t a fan of the live action segments. He also directed Monkeybone, which I think was hated by the critics, but does have its own charm. The design work is cool, and it has an excellent blend of live action and animation. Selick also directed, or actually animated, I'm not sure, the animated fish segments from The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. In summary, Henry Selick is a cool guy, and needs to be recognised.

Brother Chris, in a previous post here, ask for suggestions for films where the lead leaves his hometown for a better life somewhere and actually finds it. A quick background to this is because I'm moving down, and due to certain things happening, am not yet sure if the right choice was made. So we were talking about films that cover the subject, such as Orange County and Lonesome Jim, but in both the lead decides to return home having decided that's where he belongs basically. Explanation over. So films were suggested in the comments section, such as The Station Agent, which is cool, then a load I hadn't seen so I wont repeat, but also Star Wars A New Hope, and Superman. I don't agree with these though, and choose to hide here to avoid any backlash. The reasons given were Superman's planet is blown up, so his life improved, as did Luke Skywalker's. However, Luke's family had all been blown to bits, and he hated farming and wanted to leave form the beginning so that's out. Superman, on the other hand, his home blew up so couldn't return if he wanted to. Close but no cigar. Anyway, the best I could come up with was Stardust. Tristan goes in search of star, learns something along the way, and stays for a better life in Stormhold.

I found this cool little game based on the upcoming Watchmen film. Its basically a style of 80#'s coin-op beat em up in the style of Double Dragon and the like, but featuring two members of the Minutemen. Check it out here.

Finally to tie the blog title in, I'm currently involved in Operation Beard. As I have no job anymore, and do not need to look for work due to complications of various visitations I'll be making over the next month, I have decided to take a leaf out of Keanu's book and grow a beard mid-employment. Why not I say. As a side note though, I also need to get a haircut and am contemplating bringing this into Operation Beard. However, the whole process may mutate and become some kind of Project Hermit style monster. I'll keep you posted.