Posted 12:50pm
pst, Saturday, February
26, 2005
Wonder
Con report and the top films of
2004
Attended
the annual WonderCon show for comic
fans last weekend. Since the San Diego
Comic Con folks took it over, they've
really improved the show. Most importantly,
they are attracting major talent and
Hollywood studios.
I caught
a few of the Saturday afternoon movie
panels. First up, The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy preview.
I read these books when I was in middle
school and I loved them. The filmmakers
really seem to have captured the essense
of the books. I'm psyched for the flick.
I skipped
Paramount's War of the Worlds panel.
From what I understand, they didn't
show any new footage, so no loss there.
Caught
the tail end of Kevin Smith's talk.
I really like Smith as a person and
I find his films entertaining, but
I think my brother summed it up best
when he said, "His popularity
has exceeded his talent."
Going to a Kevin Smith panel is like
going to a taping of Oprah: wild, crazed
fans who will applaud anything that
comes from Smith's mouth. Sad.
Next
up was the Warner Brothers panel for
House of Wax. Elisha Cuthbert and producer
Joel Silver were on hand. Co-star Paris
Hilton cancelled
"due to scheduling conflicts" or
as I like to call it, the NBA All-Star
game. See, if she just flew up to San
Francisco, she never would have had
her Sidekick Mobile hacked and
she wouldn't have all those people
pissed at her.
Well,
no worries because Cuthbert is ten
times the babe Paris is. I did feel
sorry for Joel Silver though. It was
pretty evident that he had no illusions
about the quality of the flick. It
sounded like he was just hoping for
a big opening weekend and crossing
his fingers for strong DVD sales.
Christian
Bale showed up for the Batman
Begins presentation. Fans were
jazzed by the new 7 minute clip reel
he brought along, but I was unmoved.
I've been burned too many times waiting
for a decent Batman flick. I will say
that Bale said all the right things
about Batman being the real identity
and Bruce Wayne being the mask he uses
to keep the real him in check. If anything
will make me see this picture, it's
his sell job.
Nip/Tuck's
Julian McMahon was on hand to promote
the Fantastic
Four movie. The trailers have
been mediocre at best and I'm not holding
my breath for a decent movie.
As for
the comic book portion of the weekend,
nothing too exciting. I did pick up
the Art Adams's Man-Thing pin-up above
for my comic art collection though.
I've
finally had a bit of time to slap together
my Top Films of 2004 list. A lot of
good movies this year, but apparently
not enough to make my list ten films
long.
9.) The
Incredibles. Directed by Brad Bird
While not as good as Bird's Iron Giant,
he's still made a film that kicks Disney's
ass and also moves Pixar into a new
genre.
8.) Collateral.
Directed by Michael Mann
This movie is on the list as much for
Mann's precision as for the film itself.
He's one of the smartest, most meticulous
directors around. The third act is
a bit weak but the performances are
fantastic. Cruise and Foxx are incredible.
7.) In
Good Company. Directed by Paul Weitz
Just a well-made comedy that doesn't
go for cheap laughs.
6.) Million
Dollar Baby. Directed by Clint Eastwood
First off, it's an amazing boxing picture,
one of the best Hollywood's made. Second,
it has a moving second act that you
wouldn't see coming if not for the
press the film has been getting.
5.) I
Heart Huckabees. Directed by David
Russell
Weird and wonderful. Lightweight and
meaningful. Just see it.
4.) Spider-man
2. Directed by Sam Raimi
The best superhero movie ever made
and it's about the comic character
I collect! Action and heart.
3.) Sideways.
Directed by Alexander Payne
Payne has yet to make a bad picture.
There's a lot of talk about overhyping
on this film, but if you go in cold,
you will love it. Giamatti was robbed
of an Oscar nomination.
2.) The
Aviator. Directed by Martin Scorsese
Scorsese's in top form. This is what
Hollywood pictures should be about;
exhilarating entertainment with top
notch acting and big production values.
1.) Eternal
Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Directed
by Michel Gondry
Gondry's previous collaboration with
screenwriter resulted in the interesting,
but uneven Human Nature. This time,
the duo hit the mark. Jim Carrey's
never been better and Kate Winslet
is amazing. A movie about what love
and heartbreak feels like.
As a
result of my server move last weekend,
I've also uploaded the archive of Larry
Chin's Martial
Artist's Guide to Hong Kong Films.
The guide was a popular destination
for readers of my prior site, The Laughing
Drunk. The day after I moved hosts,
I received e-mails lamenting the loss
of the resource. It's back.
Coming
soon: that self-portrait gallery I
promised a few posts ago. Not that
anyone is anxiously awaiting doodles
of me in gallery form.
::Permalink::
Posted 11:59pm
pst, Sunday, February 20,
2005
I've
Moved!
Thanks
to a tip from Erika at My
Digital Diva, I've moved
the entire website to a new host
as of Friday night. What does this
mean for you, dear reader?
Well
first off, the return of the complete Sarge comic
strip archive. But more importantly,
the continued existence of the Furious
George page, where I will
now continue to archive Bush's blunders,
fuck-up's and stammers.
Hunter
S. Thompson committed suicide tonight;
one of the most influential nutjobs
that ever lived.
In
case you haven't been following the
whole Jeff Gannon/James Guckert White
House press room scandal (and why
would you, since the mainstream news
is ignoring it), head on over to
AmericaBlog's coverage.
Jeff
Gannon is the "reporter" in
the White House press room who was
known for lobbing partisan softball
questions at Scott McClellan and
George W. Bush. He worked for Talon
News Service, a site funded and operated
by Bobby Eberle, a Texas conservative
who also runs the site gopusa.com.
He also was suspected of ties with
Tom DeLay and Karl Rove.
Some
left-wing bloggers managed to out
the fact that Gannon got his press
pass under a pseudonym. His real
name is James Guckert. This unusual
practice of admitting a person into
the White House under an assumed
name naturally aroused some suspicions,
especially when coupled with his
ties to the GOP.
Gannon/Guckert
then challenged anyone to dig up
dirt on him. Guess what? Bloggers
did. They discovered his affiliation
with three gay porn sites, one of
which was for a illegal escort service.
When
confronted with the facts, Gannon/Guckert
said that he was designing the sites
for a customer, and at any rate,
they had never gone live. Liar.
AmericaBlog
was contacted by the real designer
of those sites, who then informed
them that he designed the sites FOR
Gannon. Yes, Jeff Gannon/James Guckert
was a male prostitute.
So
someone in the White House press
room approved Gannon/Guckert's use
of a pseudonym for his daily press
pass. This was AFTER it was discovered
that he was refused similar passes
for the House and Senate, arguably
a lower security risk situation.
Watch
Anderson Cooper tear Gannon/Guckert
a new one (Windows Media player required). Crooks
and Liars also has a good
archive of Gannon related video.
Many
people suspect another Karl Rove
dirty trick, an effort to spread
disinformation akin to the Armstrong
Williams payola scandal. Gannon/Guckert
denied it, saying he only met Rove
once. Fine, except his boss at Talon,
Bobby Eberle seems to be rather tight
with Rove.
Tonight,
a new connection between Talon News,
GOPUSA and Karl Rove has been discovered.
From Bobby Eberle's GOPUSA 2004 Christmas greeting:
In
particular, I'd like to thank Terri
Hillhouse and the entire GOPUSA
team for their drive, dedication,
and support. I'd also like to send a
special thank you to all those
who personally provided me with
their assistance, guidance, and
friendship, including
Kathleen Eberle, Bruce Eberle,
Mike Hiban, Don Stewart, Paul Teller,
Tim Goeglein, Stuart Richens, Matt
Smith, Jen Ohman, Bob Johnson,
Liz Sheld, Julie Cram, Phillip
Stutts, Chuck Muth, Grover Norquist, Karl
Rove, and G. Gordon
Liddy.
CNN
has been covering this story a bit,
but Fox has avoided it completely.
John Stewart did a send-up of Gannon/Guckert
last week and Bill Maher did a bit
on Friday night. Today, the network
news media has finally joined in
on the story. Here's hoping that
Rove and Bush don't get away with
it this time.
::Permalink::
Posted 9:15pm
pst, Sunday, February 6,
2005
Stupid
Bowl Commercials
This
year's Superbowl was perhaps the lamest
year ever for commercials. Not a single
laugh. Some of the work was so damn
painful to watch. The worst were the
spots that fall into "trying too
hard" camp.
Careerbuilder.com
Chimps. Lots of chimps. Can you say
cliché? I think eTrade did
chimps five years ago. Enough with
the chimps. The saddest thing was
that Careerbuilder wasn't the only
advertiser to use chimps. Verizon
did the chimp thing too and almost
pulled it off, but they had to go
and put the "do you hear me
now" guy at the end, which totally
fucked it up. Even FedEx/Kinkos parodied
the use of animals in their spot.
McDonald's
Lincolnfry.com
This is McDonald's pathetic attempt
to play catch-up with Burger King's
Subservient Chicken site. Too little,
too late, too lame.
Pepsi's
Sean Combs ad and Guy Watcher spots
The BBDO school of celebrity overkill.
The celebrities in the spots were not
even relevant anymore. Sean Combs?
Carson Daly? Cindy Crawford? The Queer
Eye fashion guy? Proof that throwing
money at a commercial will not make
it a more memorable spot; you have
to start with a decent idea.
Pepsi's
iTunes promotion
"Scratching" with Pepsi caps... just plain annoying.
Other
spots that sucked off the top of my
head:
Verizon's miniaturization commercial
with Kid Rock, Deion Sanders and Shaq.
Horrible.
AmeriQuest's Surprise Dinner with the
cat. Suckage.
I will
finally get to my Top Ten films of
the year in my next post, hopefully
next weekend. I wasn't able to catch
as many films as I had hoped, but I
certainly saw enough to be comfortable
with making a list.
::Permalink::
