Saturday, April 30, 2005

I'm Off!

Quick stuff before I take off:

Holy Shit Batman!

The Zombie strikes again!

Russian horror makes me happy...




Off to Brussels for a couple of days. Be back on Monday. Au revoir, auf wiedershein and "goodbye" in Flemish.....

Thursday, April 28, 2005

New Comics Day (at last!)

Whew!

Made it to another one. This week has seemed like a month and there is stil one more day of teaching high school before the weekend!

We hit Brussels for a few nights this weekend so it looks as though my diet will consist solely of Stella Artois and chips with mayo. Alright with me, I guess. As long as they put cheese on those chips.

Ah yes...new comics:

The Flash #221- Rogue War chapter 2 has finally picked up some steam and the series has been momentarily redeemed after that awful, awful Wonder Woman team-up a few months back. All in all not much really happens in this issue other than a big fight scene. It's like 12 pages of Rogue vs. Rogue fight scene until Flash comes and it becomes Flash and the good Rogues vs. Rogues for the rest of the issue. The Top is back but that's no surprise.

Flash's villains always seemed lightweight to me as I was a reader of Batman but Johns has added a demented side to their honour.

Good: Art is fantastic, Heatwave vs. Captain Cold resulting in a giant steam bath, I now know who the FBI agent James Jesse is and sort of get his connection to all of this (not a spoiler: if you read the flash to any regular degree chances are you would have otherwise known that) and the return of the Top (come on! he was gone for like 2 issues. that counts!)

Bad: Little direction with the Captain Boomerang storyline, too much fighty-fighty in this issue and the past few.

Legion of Super-heroes #5- Ugh! I feel cheated.

This series has been nothing more than a little bit of musing by Cosmic Boy and Brainiac accompanied with a big fight scene and a token example of youth alienation. It's got 1 issue left to redeem itself.

Captain America #5- A pleasant surprise.

After Cap getting his ass handed to him by Crossbones last issue what we have here is essentially a full issue flashback drawn by Michael Lark with Epting's 2 page bookends. Great stuff.

Lark's style fits the WWII era gritty pulp comics and Brubaker's explanation of the need for Bucky was chilling.

This issue has everything; Namor appears and walks around in the snow in his green bikini briefs for God's sake! It was nice to see the Invaders battle Red Skull and Master Man. I love Nazi super-villains. They are so easy to hate!

The cover is impressive as it essentially has Cap's shield covering half the logo. Bold but impressive.

One gripe with the issue is when Nick Fury is explaining the results of research leading to a Cold War mover and shaker he gives his last name but when Cap says his full name Fury replies: "Think so. Yeah." That's kind of weak. Did you read the report, Nick? Super Spy my ass!

I like the lacksadaisical pace of the book but sort of wish that I'd waited for the trade as it will read much better that way.

Day of Vengeance #1- Wait for it....best comic of the week!

After being a little put off by the repulsively awful Walt Simonson cover I was relieved to find interior art by Justiniano. Great stuff. He reminds me a lot of Travis Charest. A lot.

The writing of Gail Simone is a treat going from schizophrenic monologue to interior monologue to cosmic battle to magical pub before introducing a talking monkey! What are you still doing reading this post. Go read this book...

I loved that the eighties and nineties DC geek in me was sated with this issue; Ragman, a new Eclipso, Spectre, Detective Chimp and Blue Devil all in one issue? Oh yeah! The rest of this miniseries promises to scrape the sides of DC's obscure character barrel and has so far done so wonderfully.




Quick things:

Just watched "Supersize Me" on TV (British TV rules!) and I have to say that I was a little repulsed. I'm no McDonalds freak. In fact I've only eaten it 3 times in the past year (twice due to time and location restraints and once because I was sent there).

It probably won't change the fact that I will eventually eat there again but it's pretty fucking sick!

Morgan Spurlock's girlfriend is an annoying vegan. I don't care what you eat but don't get superior and preachy about your eating habits any more than your religion. Both deserve a punch in the face.




I had some images to post and stuff but that'll wait 'til tomorrow.

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Short and bitter

Well I'm still tired but I thought the post title "Tired 2" would be a little too bitter.

Between working at the pub and teaching English I have had maybe a full night's rest over the past five days combined!

One thing that bugs me about kids in the east end of Glasgow (and there is more than one thing) is that they always say "How?" instead of "Why?"

Today:

Me- Ok guys. Put your jotters and worksheets into your folders.

Student- How?

Me- Open the folder. Put the little book in it. Put the white paper in next.

Grrrr....

Oh well.....New Comics Day tomorrow.

That will make it two consecutive daily posts!




More on that announcement about my writing when something more materializes. Things are very exciting right now but I'm not going to say anything yet so as not to look like a twat if nothing comes to fruition.

Sorry for the language. These really offensive words are so much more common over here than they are in North America. Twat, wanker, the C word, etc.. (etcetera? there are more?)

Monday, April 25, 2005

Tired

Been a couple of days since I've posted anything but I have had very little to say.

6 hours spent tonight slinging beer to customers after an Old Firm game. It was like Beirut in the streets. Good fun.

Go back to teaching high school tomorrow (today) so I'm sure I'll have lots to bitch about in the coming weeks.

Secured tickets for Clutch, Audioslave and Avenged Sevenfold in the past few days. Very nice.

Bed is calling.

Friday, April 22, 2005

Look! Up in the sky!

Okay...so this will be one of the umpteen blogs to show this picture today but I couldn't resist:


After the pictures of Brandon Routh as Clark Kent came across as looking like a creepy wax statue of Christopher Reeves I was totally gobsmacked at this image. Iconic and perfect in every way. Lots of people are bitching about the colours but I for one like them better than the comic colours. I really like the belt-buckle too.

I was afraid it would look like a Halloween costume (Dav cringes in fear that I will post a certain picture) but I now can't wait for this movie.




Other big news:

I may have accidentally found my way into an indie comic anthology. I don't want to say much more so I don't look like a fool if it doesn't happen so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.




Currently listening to:

"Let Love In" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
That man sings "Do You Love Me" like he already knows the answer or is trying a hypnotic suggestion ("Look into my eyes. Not around my eyes. Look into my eyes. ! And you're under!).

I may update this post later if something else happens but I'll bid adieu for now.

Thursday, April 21, 2005

New Comics Day! Finally...

It seemed like this week was going to last eons until Thursday swung around. A particularly boring day of classes was made that much brighter by today's purchases:

Young Avengers #3- That's it! I'm hooked.

The Younge Avengers have a dynamic released through their dialogue (a particula strength of Allan Heinberg for those who watch the OC) that is impossible to equal in today's popular comics. Bendis comes close in New Avengers but not that close.

The art is stellar as usual.

One trouble with the issue is the way the real Avengers treat them. Captain America is such and old biddy sometimes.

I'm in on this series until it takes a serious turn to the shitty...

Teen Titans #23- Again: freaking great! Teen Titans has consistently been my favourite title since I began picking it up a while ago. It's sharp with the perfect balance of great fight scenes, good dialogue, intrigue and comedy.

In this issue the combined effort of every Titan ever against a newly badass Dr. Light. The Doc's been wiping the floor with everybody he's come across in the past 2 issues and this is the conclusion. His mission: expose the Titans mentors for who they are and what they did to him.

Does it work? Read it monkey!

The OMAC Project #1- I dug it. I'm not fully convinced as of yet but I'll give it another try. I enjoy intrigue and spy stuff; I liked Countdown; I love Checkmate; I love Batman's paranoia; I love Jesus Saiz's art.

I do however have troubles with Greg Rucka on occasion. Rucka, like Loeb, is an accomplished writer in the medium but, also like Loeb, tends to fall flat on his face from time-to-time. This issue was well done. Not fantastically written but well done. And I'm enough of a post-Identity Crisis continuity fan to give it another go.




Depending on what happens over the next day or so I may have a little announcement as far as something I'm writing.

Later.

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Another One Popes Up!

Hehe...I've been waiting a looooonnnggg time to use the punchline to that joke.

Despite being a former member of Hitler's Big Bird Youth movement, what BBC described as the "scourge of the church's liberals" and who Nostradamus predicts will be the penultimate pope before the Apocalypse let's all bid a warm welcome to Pope Ratzinger...or Pizope Bizenedict Sizixteen.

I'm going to welcome him the only way I know how: More Unused Band Names!

As per usual this is a growing list, the new ones will be in italics and all are free-for-the-taking as long as I'm told and possibly get an mp3:

1) Bastard Sockhop
2) Sack of Ferrets
3) Openly Straight
4) The Mung Beatles
5) Detritus
6) Terrible Beauty
7) Schnauzer Snake
8) Sirius
9) Orion's Belt
10) Miss Take
11) The Stephen Hawking Project
12) Thunderpope
13) Horny Cheese Grater
14) Anarchist Breakfast
15) Dirty Bastard
16) Painstake

I don't care what anybody says...Thunderpope is the best band name ever.




I've been looking at search engine keywords of those who read this site I've decided to be more prompt with the Unused Band Names. Since the blog's inception in late February 10 people have stumbled upon my site searching for unused band names.

Some other keywords of interest:

grrrrrrrrr- Martha! The dog's on the computer again!
crackspackle (4 different people!)-Dav, this has to compete with "wino rimjobs" in the morbid curiousity category.
shaved head 2005 site- Is this some sort of festival I'm not aware of?
blood licking coach, oregon- Apparently someone is looking.

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Back to the Inane!

As promised faithful readers (reader?) this post will have very little to do with my life, any other serious topics and will be pictureless. But I will cram it chock full of inane shit and funny links. Deal?

Great. Let's go.

First things first: It is almost three in the afternoon and I'm drinking coffee and eating peanut butter on toast. Is there something wrong with me?






This may be the funniest thing I've listened to in a long time. He is either the most absurd liar on the planet or has some of the best "right place/right time" luck I've ever heard...listen to it all. It's worth it.






After weeks of vacation and beer-drinking I have to go to work at the pub tonight. Please tell me I don't have to go?






What I'm Listening to: David Cross "It's Not Funny"

The man from Mr. Show and Arrested Development is one of America's funniest living comedians. Favourite quote of the day: "Was anyone here aborted?"

What I'm Watching: Switching between episodes of Little Britain (the funniest TV show on earth next to The Simpsons) and MPD Psycho (a bizarre and ultra-offensive Japanese detective show). It only lasted 6 episodes and I've now watched the first 4. How they are going to wrap up who Lucy Monostone is, the Barcoders, Amamiya and Nishizono's connection and the one-eyed snuff film director in two episodes is beyond me.

What I'm Reading: Just finished Charles Bukowski's Ham on Rye. A brilliant, depraved and hilarious semi-biographical story of Bukowski's alter ego Henry Chinaski. For around 25o pages I read this novel in about three hours. I blew through it. Highly recommended. Finished Richard Matheson's I am Legend yesterday which has to be the best vampire novel I've ever read. And I've read a lot of vampire novels. Thanks to Rick at Dark, But Shining for the recommendation. Yes Rick, I found the edition you told me to get and the short stories are great! Not sure if Dav has read it but he should. It is a great "Last Man" story of which he is a fan. Go tell Dav to read it.






Also...do yourself a favour and go and watch this. After watching this go to their main site and watch your way through the video archive. It had my sides splitting. This may be the very first postmodern prank video collection.





At Portia's prodding (okay...no prodding involved) I went to Googlism.com and figured out what the cross-referencing of my name brings up on Google. I have bolded the best ones. Behold:

Googlism for: des
des is alausi
des is ja da opa
des is no
des is no good
des is de webseite von badesalz
des is vulnerable
des is proven to be very secure? (I love the question mark)
des is here
des is jo auch geil
des is echt
des is a test
des is' der diddel (hehe...diddel)
des is die liebe kleine cora
des is insecure
des is ­ lm modells für eine offene
des is kampioen olé olé (Ole!)
des is god (was there ever any doubt?)
des is which?
des is ja der hammer
des is dem dennis seine homepage
des is frequenzwasser
des is a punter of loudonline
des is now a federal
des is irgendwia logisch
des is des (officially the name of my debut solo album)
des is liebe
des is moi hape =
des is dem koarl sei homepeitsch
des is mei 1
des is "history"
des is nur a professorische seitn
des is dead (the ironic name of my comeback album)
des is now a federal standard (and why did it take so damn long?)
des is dedicated to providing
des is schoa schön
des is
des is­lm­modells geldangebot
des is proven to be very secure? terry ritter
des is here it
des is a minor variation of this standard (only minor? I'm impressed)
des is not secure
des is ­ lm modells für eine offene volkswirtschaft i
des is the king of television presenters (this is my epitaph)
des is a very interesting algorithm in many respects (but in many other respects totally uninteresting)
des is er (well I have been told I'm sexier than Luka but that's taking it a little too far)
des is history (do they know something I don't?)
des is which? print message
des is de jungschar
des is the data encryption standard
des is ja der hammer" teil 5
des is a freiddes is not a group
des is permitted only for legacy systems
des is the destiny tours public relations man and often appears at car shows (heh)
des is deprecated"
des is weak due to a short key length (what did you say about my key length?)
des is des beste album (see. "Des is Des" is the best album)
des is slower than regular des (new! quicker acting des)
des is early intervention in the pattern of drug use by first
des is liebe koller
des is used at extremely low doses thus avoiding any toxicity issues that have been a problem for estrogen derivative medications (my personal favourite)
des is operating at recession levels of staffing during a period of tremendous economic prosperity and growth in the state
des is used (is that why I feel so dirty?)
des is dem koarl sei watschnaafoche homepeitsch neich gmocht
des is marching
des is well absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract (they don't know me as well as I thought)
des is de afkorting voor `diëthylstilbestrol`
des is vui nett von dia bzw
des is a symmetric algorithm that uses the same algorithm and key for encryption and decryption
des is the powerful and fully scalable machinery behind whitecross as an application service provider
des is die gardedes is a compound operation of des encryption and decryption
des is die sandra de is a sooooooooo lieb wie di simone
des is doch halber baumstamm was der in die brust hat
des is the keying systemdes is nur a provisorische seit’n

Other than all the weird German stuff and the staggering amount of doubt over my security I was pleasantly surprised.
I think that's me.




Hero of the Day: Cousin Dave for dealing with my transcripts for me. Thanks Dave.

Monday, April 18, 2005

My Top 50 Albums

I've been working on this for a few weeks now and have spent the last few days tinkering with the numbering when I came to the conclusion that this is a list that shifts from moment to moment and can only be seen as a representation of my personal favourites as of 10 minutes ago. It was all inspired by Rick - he, formerly of Eat More People - from Dark, But Shining.

His post from weeks ago opened up a can of worms that has plagued me until I finished this ever-changing list 15 minutes ago. It is pretty safe to say that the top 20 are mainstays.

I have tried to list artists only once but those of you who know of my Mike Patton fetish will understand his many appearances in this list. I have stayed simply to albums I currently own and may have forgotten a gem or two considering nearly my entire collection is in a box in Canada but here goes:

50. In KeepingSecrets of Silent Earth: 3 - Coheed and Cambria
49. Leviathan – Mastodon
48. Diabolus in Musica – Slayer (maybe the evilest album ever)
47. Scissor Sisters – Scissor Sisters
46. Joint Special Operations Task Force – General Patton vs. The X-Ecutioners
45. Romances – Kaada and Mike Patton
44. Suspended Animation – Fantomas (the best collection of their best qualities)
43. Best of Communism (compilation) – Valogatott Mozgalmi Dalok
(not sure if this is the artist/orchestra or simply Hungarian for "Best of Communism")
42. A Grand Don’t Come for Free – The Streets
41. The Marshall Mathers L.P. – Eminem
40. Aenima – Tool
39. Sad Wings of Destiny – Judas Priest
38. Waking the Fallen - Avenged Sevenfold
37. Seven’s Travels – Atmosphere
36. Stoner Witch – Melvins
35. Wiseblood – Corrosion of Conformity
34. Gold – Ryan Adams
33. Desert Sessions 9&10 – Josh Homme, PJ Harvey, etc.
32. Rated R – Queens of the Stone Age (a toss-up between this and Songs for the Deaf)
31. Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death – Dead Kennedys
30. Damaged – Black Flag
29. We Have Come for Your Parents – Amen
28. We Have Come for Your Children – Dead Boys (for: "Ain't it fun when your friends despise what you've become?")
27. Reise Reise – Rammstein (a toss-up between this and Herzeleid)
26. Beggar’s Banquet – Rolling Stones
25. Natural Born Killers (OST) – Various Artists (Producer: Trent Reznor)
24. Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By – Lovage (Sexiest. Album. Ever.)
23. Antichrist Superstar – Marilyn Manson
22. Slipknot – Slipknot
21. Nola – Down
20. Mit Gas – Tomahawk
19. Vitalogy – Pearl Jam
18. Use Your Illusions II – Guns N Roses (stop laughing at me!)
17. Let Love In – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
16. California – Mr. Bungle ("Retrovertigo" may be the best sone ever recorded)
15. Downward Spiral – Nine Inch Nails
14. Pet Sounds – The Beach Boys
13. Superunknown – Soundgarden
12. Led Zeppelin II – Led Zeppelin
11. Diamond Dogs - David Bowie
10. The Mollusk – Ween (no explanation needed)
9. Master of Puppets – Metallica
8. Live at Folsom Prison - Johnny Cash (you can almost hear the hardened criminals sniffle and whimper when Johnny bellows out "The Green Green Grass of Home" which also happens to be my late grandfather's favourite tune. Mr. Cash reminds me of Gramps a lot. He also kicks a lot of ass!)
7. Raw Power – Iggy and the Stooges
6. Static Age – The Misfits (this was the soundtrack to my life between the ages of 13 and...well...now)
5. My Way: The Best of Frank Sinatra – Frank Sinatra (anyone disses Frank on my watch gets a knuckle sammich!)
4. King For a Day, Fool For a Lifetime – Faith No More ("Don't you look so surprised. Happy Birthday. Fucker!")
3. Relentless – Bill Hicks (had to pick one but any one will do. Bill Hicks was a modern prophet.)
2. Masters of Reality – Black Sabbath (their best album taught me how to play guitar)
1. Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd (the most listened-to album to date by me. maybe in the world.)

Whew...the next few posts will be inane and require much less work.

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Dublin Pics today and other stuff...

Well, I promised Dublin pictures today and God damn it you'll get 'em!

First, my haunt for nearly the entire trip was this amazing bar: The Brazen Head. The bar so cool that Clutch wrote a song about it. It is also Ireland's oldest bar being established in 1198. Some say there was an even older Norman tavern on this site hundreds of years before. Being so old it is allowed 2 catchphrases: 1) of course "Ireland's oldest pub" and 2) "Dublin's Finest Pint of Guinness". And God is it a good pint.


Speaking of Guinness...

Mmmmmmm.....Guinness....aggghhhhhh...

As you can probably tell by now, most of this trip involved drinking Guinness. Here is me drinking a free pint at the Gravity Bar in the Guinness Storehouse. Behind me is half of Dublin. The other half is drunk.

Note the zen-like concentration. Just kidding...actually my eyes are a little tired as I only woke up an hour before this. Mmmmm...breakfast. Dublin

Alas! The entire trip does not consist of beer-drinking. There is comic fanboyism as well. This mural is humourous and realistic and found in Captain America's Cookhouse and Bar. That's right...I went to Dublin and had lunch in a place named after a Marvel superhero.

Cap looks heroic as ever but the Nazis are portrayed in a more human light than usual.

Ooh! Here is me making a mockery of false antiquity!

I'm only posing with my arms like this because I thought I'd look stupid with them draped by my side. Thank God I don't come across looking stupid. Note the chain around my neck. Meg and I brought this mask back to the hotel if you know what I mean...

All right, all right, there was some scholarly stuff while we were there. Did you know Jonathan Swift (he of Gulliver's Travels fame) was the Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin? Well, he was. That's about as scholarly as this post gets...

I wonder if any of his contemporaries in the church read A Modest Proposal?

I often tell Megan that I am going to have a bust made of me. Not after I die but like in a couple of years. I'll put it in the living room halfway between the stereo and the TV.





Whew! Finally! The pictures I promised have been delivered.

Speaking of delivered: my long awaited comic shipment from back home reared its head after a month and a half. After I'd replaced 6 issues of a shipment I only expected to have been lost. Needless to say I will have an eBay auction pretty soon.

I read the Venomous storyline from Mark Millar's Marvel Knights "Spider-man" and found them to be pretty damn good. I really like the uncomfortable atmosphere between Peter, Mary Jane and Felicia (Black Cat). Good stuff. I have known for months who the new Venom turns out to be so I suppose that has cheapened the rest of the story for me but you can't expect much better when you are 5 months behind and on internet messageboards everyday.

New Avengers #s 2 and 3 turned out to be a beautiful surprise. Can't wait to read 4 now. Shut up! I know it's already out. This has got me excited about the future of the Avengers in a wat that Disassembled never did.

Got a couple of other things as well but I'm tired and you (if you even read comics) are up to date on what you read so you care even less than I do.

Good night.

Saturday, April 16, 2005

I'm baa-aaack

Hello my friends. I have returned to Glasgow from Budapest and Dublin in one piece. Although my liver may have another opinion.

As promised I am going to share some pictures with you. First: Budapest. Tomorrow: Dublin.

First thing you need to know about Budapest is the staggering amount of statues...

My favourite. This guy is an Imperial Guardsman. So badass...checking the sharpness of his sword. You do not mess with a man with a moustache and sword such as this.

Meg and I found this touristy spot where they have unearthed a series of underground caverns in the form of a labyrinth dating back to the medieval times. In wandering around we discovered that they had fountains installed spewing none other than RED WINE!

In this picture I am posing as if I was taking a drink. I pose because the stench of the wine in that trough was so unbearable I wouldn't even lie about taking an actual drink of that stuff.

Ahh yes...more statues. This time we see how the new Capitalist government dealt with Soviet influences. After the fall of Hungarian Communism they rounded up all of the Soviet statues and plonked them down in the middle of nowhere...literally. There's gravel, some grass, and bronze workers memorial statues. Very surreal.

For scale purposes: I almost come up to the top of his forward boot standing straight ("No slouching: Stalin is watching!"). This guy is huge!

Yep! You guessed it. More statues...

Under the rule of the Soviets, the Hungarian Olympic Basketball team was not allowed to jump. They were afraid that breaking the backboard would look like frivolous capitalism.

Meg and I having too much fun with the camera before a boat cruise of the Danube at night...that's right. I'm romantic.


Here's a great one Meg took on the cruise of the Royal Palace and some bridge.


And finally, a parting shot before we go of the Royal Palace and the Danube from the Citadel where the Nazis holed-up and were bombed to shit by the Russians resulting in a "free" Hunagry.

This has been touched up in photoshop a little as you could hardly see the background. Too much smog. 1.7 million people in Budapest and 1 million cars!




Great! Those pics are done. I'll come back for the Dublin pictures tomorrow.

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Dublin is....

cold and wet but I'm loving it (in the least Timberlake-esque McDonalds whorefest sense). I'll keep this short due to the fact that people at the hostel I'm at are watching that awful Britney Spears movie. I refues to watch a Britney Spears movie unless it's shot with night-vision in a hotel room.




Very quickly: a nugget of words to live by courtesy of Warren Ellis:
"Anyone who uses the handle "Tyler Durden"in their email address is a human fart. This is an immutable law of the universe. I checked and everything."




one more...something courtesy of my father-in-law

http://www.putfile.com/media.php?n=CrackSpackle

My respect for him has risen ever higher...

Pictures from Budapest and Dublin when I return.

Monday, April 11, 2005

Lots of stuff before I disappear

Hello.

By the time you read this I will be 25 years old.

The Quarter Century Club has a new member.

I'll be gone for the next few days in Dublin and will be able to respond to comments but won't be posting until the 17th I think.






As far as birthdays go: this one has kicked ass!

The presents I got have been great:

-Money from Nana Paterson (Meg's grandmother) with which I purchased the Texas Chain Saw Massacre special edition director's cut DVD and 2 Nick Cave and the Bad Seed CDs

-Megan got me the first series of Little Britain (which has got to be the funniest TV show I have ever seen) on DVD, a book called Red Herrings and White Elephants which gets to the root of the odd idioms (like Flogging a dead horse) in the English language and another book called Granny Made me an Anarachist which looks at the modern protest movement in a funny and biographical way.

-Brian and Amber made me a CD of new rock music and sent the DVD of the Metallica documentary "Some Kind of Monster" with a box of Kraft Dinner from Canada (far superior to the crap that passes as KD in the UK).

-My In-Laws sent me The Long Way Round (a DVD with the BBC series of Ewan MacGregor and pal driving motorcycles around the world).

-My parents sent me the new Joe Cocker album which was a bit of a surprise. But a nice surprise. Not something I would have asked for but something I have already been enjoying...

-Pat and Sasha (our Canadian friends here in Glasgow) got me some sweet Fosters pint glasses, 2 DVDs of cheesy old horror flicks (3 movies per DVD!), and the Charles Bukowski novel Ham on Rye.

-With money that various family member sent me I purchased (in a wild frenzy this afternoon): the first 3 volumes of Japanese Extreme Horror TV show MPD Psycho by director Takashi Miike. Sort of like a Japanese X-Files without any morals...

I also got a copy of Guns N Roses "The Spaghetti Incident." Don't laugh...GNR are a great band and I pawned this CD off years ago in the Great Purge of 98. At the low price of £3.99 I couldn't resist.

The Fantomas new album Suspended Animation kicks major ass and may be their best to date.

Finally, I got the new biography of Bill Hicks: "Bill Hicks Agent of Evolution" If I have to explain who Bill Hicks is to you then that's your fault and you shoudl rectify that by buying many of his CDs.






I was planning on posting some pictures of Budapest tonight but that's not going to happen as I want to watch some of my crazy Japanese horror stuff so that will come upon my return from Dublin.






Megan wanted me to post this:

Make sure you've got your speakers on... Click on the link below and
listen
to the sound file... its pretty funny :)
http://www.buttsareus.com/ (this is rather disturbing)

another super cool commerical playing here:

http://www.nathanpitman.com/images/vw_golfGTI_medium.mov

I tried to find the original, but all that came up was blog sites.
Worth taking a look anyways!!

(in case the first one doesn't work...)
http://www.culturekitchen.com/archives/002797.html
Then click on the orange "the abomination brought to you by..."

(If you are wondering whether all my wife does is look for tv commercials online then you're right)






This is one of the funniest things I've seen in a while: The Top Ten Most Ridiculous Black Metal Pics of All Time





Eat More People is dead. Long live Dark But Shining! Rick has teamed up with a friend to do a horror/scifi/fantasy blog and I'm along for the ride. Why the hell aren't you?




Future stuff:

We have to hand back our laptop at the end of May, so June's posts will be sparse and pictureless but I'll make my way to the library as much as possible.

Going to see Clutch on May 15th

Going to book tickets to Star Wars Episode III for the last weekend of May. Then going to finally go see Sin City on June 3rd.

I think that's me for now...I will check you folks later when I get back from Dublin. Whoa...12:30am...I'm 25 now. Time for a beer. And some crazy Japanese horror.

Friday, April 08, 2005

Budapest and Sahara

Let me clarify that title: Budapest refers to the country and Sahara refers to the lost episode of Young Indiana Jones that became a movie.

Yes folks, I'm back from Budapest! Well, back being a weekend stopover in London to pet-sit for Megan's Godfather* in his lovely home. More on this later...

Budapest was a slight disappointment to me. I had built things up after going to Prague that all former Soviet bloc countries are thriving affordable meccas of sin and all around good times. Not so. Budapest is extremely expensive and fun must be sought. By extremely expensive I mean like downtown Vancouver. Fun, just like in Vancouver, must also be sought out. The other main difference between it and Prague is the size. Prague can be walked in an afternoon. Budapest, on the other hand, is basically three big cities - Buda, Pest and Obuda (the one that pleases the ladies) - in one. All in all I would venture to say that it is almost the size of the Greater Vancouver area minus Surrey. Because, really, who wouldn't want to delete Surrey?

The weather, however, was gorgeous. I'm not one for sun and warmth and stuff but after 8 months of cold, wet and clammy Glasgow it was nice to have the change. And by hot I mean it got up to 22 Celsius one day. I got a heat rash on the backs of my hands. That's right...I'm a pasty bitch.

Megan, my consort, loved Budapest a great deal. Which is a good thing considering she picked it as her birthday destination.

Speaking of her birthday, it was actually today. We flew into London this afternoon and were fortunate enough to catch a cab ride with a couple we met on a walking tour in Budapest days ago who took us to a nearby train station. They paid and chalked it up to our birthdays. My heroes for the day: Pat and Keith.

When we got to the house we discovered that, like Don Corleone, Meg's godfather also provides. We took our newly procured bday funds and blew it the only way we knew how: sushi. We spent £60 on sushi tonight! Fuck! I felt like Homer Simpson at the all you can eat place right before going for the steam tray. After we left I'm sure the manager turned to the clientele of the place and said "Don't worry folks. They're gone. You will all be able to eat!"

With the little cash we had left over we went to see...wait for it...Sahara. Since Dav has seen SinCity and rubbed my nose in the fact that he was a "little disappointed" (note the snarkiness) I thought I'd relay the horror of 2 hours of Sahara. You haven't seen Sahara have you Dav? hmm? Oh yeah...you have. Oh well...I thought it sucked too.

Without going into too much detail (not like I'd want to spoil the intricacies of such an airtight plot construction) I'd just like to say that when casting Matthew McCoughnayhayvgeh (couldn't be bothered to check the spelling at this point in the evening) as a guy named "Dirk", whose Idea was it for him to grow a lousy porn moustache?!

Steve Zahn saved an otherwise abortion of a movie (as the goofy sidekick, wow...he's never done that before *cough* every movie he's ever been in *cough*) and I thought I'd leave you with my overall impression of the film:
"I went to see Sahara tonight. Boy, the trailer to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy looks cool!"

Ah well...In closing I'd like to bid you adieu for a few more days as we galavant over to Dublin where I will be spending my 25th birthday drinking Guinness and trying not to embarass Megan too badly.

Thanks to Portia for the well-wishes.

Ciao.

*Neither looks nor sounds like Brando. That's a good thing.

Monday, April 04, 2005

Very Quickly...

Alright folks! Thought I'd drop a line and let you know that I'm off to Budapest for the next couple of days. I imagine I'll be able to check my email a couple of times in the next few days but won't be posting until I get to London (Friday).

I wanted to post something on the search engine keywords people have come here looking for but that'll have to wait for a while I guess...




A friend back home saw Sin City and can't stop extolling its virtues (and he's not a comic book fan) so I am even more excited to see it. Especially after those reviews Dav has posted.

Alright! I'm out of here. Talk to you all later.

Saturday, April 02, 2005

Wifey Weekend and an update on me...

As some of you may recall my wife Megan had a column running on Wednesdays (ok...Wednesday) called "Wifey Wednesdays." But, after one post, she did not seem to have much of the bloglove. This week she has a post but since we won't be here on Wednesday (more later)...a message from Megan:

This is my favourite ad on British telly these days. I thought all you transformer geeks would also appreciate it. (Not that I put myself in that category!)

http://www.theembassyvfx.com/citroen.html
It's not a long message, nor an altogether potent one, but she was thinking of the geeks out there. And, it is a pretty damn good commercial.

Other things:
The weather today can only be expressed in three words: What the fuck?
I bundled up with 2 Tshirts, a padded denim jacket and my toque. When we leave the flat it's muggy as all get out! It was humid! Like freaking Mexico, People!
Needless to say I carried my jacket around all day...

Ok...don't mind me. I'm just testing the waters on something here...
Right on!
I can edit my pix Dav! Are you proud?

Tomorrow Meg and I are going to the Necropolis. I can't believe I've lived a 15 minute walk from a place with a name as cool as "Necropolis" since August and haven't gone yet. It is essentially a big, old graveyard. Pix tomorrow.

Went shopping today with birthday money from Nana. I bought two CDs by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds ("Let Love In" and "Nocturama") and the unrated DVD of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Thanks Nana!

Meg and I opened b-day presents tonight as well and was delighted to receive the entire first series of Little Britain on DVD and two excellent books. More on those after I read them...

If you couldn't guess, our birthdays are coming up. We opened presents tonight just on a whim but we are leaving for a 2 week vacation on Monday to Budapest (5 days), London (2 days) and Dublin (5 days). Can't wait. Lots of pictures will be shared but the point of this message is that I will be scarce for the next 2 weeks. Don't forget about me. Did that sound pathetic?
I'll probably post on the 8th and the 11th before returning on the 17th.
Yes. A birthday. Quarter century club here I come!

Friday, April 01, 2005

New Comics Day!!! Finally!

Whew...lot's of reading in the past 45 minutes.

After yesterday's debaucle I was finally able to sit down and read this week's comics. Spoilers galore but if you cared you'd know most of them on Wednesday anyway.

Legion of Super-Heroes #4-
This issue was nice. Nice. Okay, it was really fun. I'm just not sure where it's going. It is very character based right now with almost zero semblance of being written in arcs. Which is good but...different.

This book makes me feel like I'm twelve again! Lot's of great action mingled with excellent character development and clever dialogue. I honestly feel like I'm reading issues of Classic X-Men in the top of a maple tree again. Yes, I did do those kinds of things when I was twelve and I'd still do it if I didn't think I'd break my neck!

A few gripes: Is Cosmic Boy Nightwing? I mean really. Not only do they look alike but they are essentially the same character! The Micro Lad gag was hysterical the first time I read it (issue 1). Now it's getting tired. Go back and show his origin and make one final reference to the joke and move one please!

Other than those few gripes it was a solid read with a touching backstory drawn by Gibbons. Why doesn't he draw much anymore? Good stuff.

The Flash #220-
Well, it took a lot to get me back on track after that two issue narrative abortion that was the Wonder Woman team-up.

In this issue Flash appears only in Flashback (sorry, that's awful) other than some really nice stuff between Wally and Linda (I originally typed "Iris," oops! A comic geek faux pas). The Rogues take centre stage here in this first issue in the Rogue War series and it's a doozy. Brilliantly narrated by Captain Cold there is a lot of cool stuff going on that should explode over the next few issues. I'm impressed.

I really love the new Captain Boomerang. Not that he's a refreshment from Digger but I am a major Suicide Squad fan and it's good to see a visceral and badass CB again.

A lot of the Rogues just don't do it for me but whatever. Between CC, CB, Mirror Master, Weather Wizard, Zoom and the Top (whom I assume will appear later) I'm covered for enjoyable villains.

The art is back on track. Porter was looking sloppy for a few issues there but he's back in good form on the book he was meant to draw.

Outsiders #22-
Maybe my favourite monthly book at the moment. Arsenal is quickly climbing the ladder as one of my fave characters. But he'd have to knock Deathstroke out of that place and with his solid portrayal in this issue he'll stay there for a while.

Batman is such a prick! I couldn't stand being in a conversation with someone who so obviously knows what is going on but only speaks cryptically. Him To Nightwing: "Stay sharp. Someone has taken great care to orchestrate this, and now it's begun to unravel. It changes everything." Nightwing should have turned around and given him the beating he deserves. It appears, to me anyway, that Batman is speaking about himself here.

The issue ends with a predictable plot development: there's a traitor on the team! Not too worried about how it'll end up as Rucka has Arsenal solve things in a very "Real World" way. He's locking the door and no one leaves until he gets to the bottom of it. My opinion: "Hey Roy! Start with Nightwing!"

The art by Shawn Moll is brilliant and is a perfect fit for this book. Let's hope he doesn't go the way of other Outsiders artists (no I don't mean Marvel!) and sticks around for a while.

While, for a team book, this issue read much like the "Arsenal and Deathstroke Show" with a little Batman and Nightwing thrown in for good measure look for the next issue or two to be very insulated in the team.

Countdown to Infinite Crisis-
Dav, you had to know that I would leave this til last.

In a word I'm impressed. But then again I'm a sucker for big events.

I had guessed Blue Beetle from the beginning (with a few deviations) and was not surprised to see him buy it. However, after reading Dav's last post, I had expected the other character that disappointed my tall friend was Booster Gold. I now can only assume it is Mr. Maxwell Lord.

I've never really liked the character of Lord and his apparent villainy comes as no surprise. I only hope that he suffers the same fate as BB. Let's face it...Blue Beetle hasn't done shit in a loooonnnnggg time. He was even ineffective in the last "Formerly Known as The Justice League" jaunt.

The scene with Batman was great! God, the JLA is so toast when Batman comes to call.

What was really nice was the way that BB looks at the DCU as an outsider of sorts. His awe over Superman, his love for Wonder Woman and Barbara Gordon, his disdain at being a second-stringer; these things all made him interesting for me. I loved the Giffen era of the JL but I've never really dug BB. Booster on the other hand I love. He's going to have someone's ass for this and I can't wait. The most heroic thing Blue Beetle has ever done is tell Lord to "Rot in Hell".

I'm a sucker for post-Crisis continuity and I'm totally impressed by the tying in done with this book and its eventual aftermath. I'm totally happy that this is not an event where the Anti-Monitor comes back to battle Pariah and Monarch over the use of the power of Parallax all for the use of defeating the attack of the Atlanteans (oops! wrong publisher). This is an insulated event from within the DC Universe and not from some outside interloper type only created for the series. It may also exist to clean up the universe but it's doing so in a violent, and rather like "Godfather," and epic fashion.

I'm not going to say much else about this book as it has been said to death on other sites and threads but I will say that the story equivalent of a miniseries in one book for $1 (40p over here) is a total steal.