"The following is based on actual events. Only the names, locations and events have been changed."
Comics
New Buffy comic limited series-written by Joss and set post-"Chosen"/"Not Fade Away." ICv2 is batting around words like "canon," which is of course a concept open to interpretation, although apparently Joss is the one who said it. In the past I've taken Joss-written comics into serious consideration when interpreting the television series. I don't know how I feel about shooting the cat now, though.
(Does "shooting the cat" make sense? It feels like a common phrase, but I may have made it up, since it relates to a discussion I've had before with emslie and maybe some other folks?)
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Angel Spotlight: Illyria comic-set sometime between "The Girl in Question" and "Not Fade Away," as near as I can tell. Illyria explores the human concept of remorse. It's pretty good, and if you were interested in the Illyria character I'd recommend it. The next spotlight issue is Gunn, which I'm looking forward to.
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By the way, a few Angel scripts are being published in comic book format by IDW. They're mostly Joss's scripts: "City Of," "Five by Five" (Jim Kouf), "Sanctuary," "Waiting in the Wings," "Spin the Bottle," and "A Hole in the World." "It's not like they haven't been available on the internet for those in the know, but it's kind of nifty to have something bound all pretty, with a black-and-white comic illustration here and there.
Comic books are my biggest splurge right now. I'm trying to cut down! But they make it so hard.
Movies
X3 -liked it a lot. It was fun to see Beast (my favorite X-Man), and I was going in totally uninformed, so I had to figure out Kelsey Grammar by his unmistakable voice. Nice to see Angel and Kitty Pryde, too. Even more than usual, the Cure concept was large with the metaphorical implications, and I liked the outright ethical dilemmas in the plot as well. Some of the Big Plot Events - killing Scott and Jean Grey, putting Xavier in a new body, "curing" Magneto and Mystique, having Rogue choose the cure - seemed very ballsy if they're permanent (not that anything in sci fi has to be) and gave me a lot to think about. Like, what does this mean for the comics? I know there are different versions of X-Men continuity even in the different comic series, but how much do the movies use the comic book continuity and how much do they create their own? I only started reading X-Men comics in 2002 or 2003, and I've gotten way behind, so I'm not very knowledgeable about either.
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Miiiiiiiiih -ehhhh. Actually I thought it was a very good action movie, it just didn't grab me personally except at the beginning when Felicity was onscreen kicking ass, occasionally when there was some cool heist-type action, and at the end when Tom Cruise's movie wife was kicking ass. It's just, once Felicity was dead, there were no stakes to make it interesting until I began to think they couldn't be putting us through all this if the wife was really dead, too. So when she turned out to be alive and capable of saving the day, that redeemed a teeny bit of the former indifference. There were a few times when I had trouble taking Tom Cruise seriously, and not just when he was RUNNING, RUNNING, REALLY REALLY RUNNING. Working out the fulcrum equations with white marker on a dark skyscraper window was fun because it made me want to bring back my Not!Crazy Fred icon.
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Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy-funniest movie I've seen in a long time. Maybe watching with two girlfriends and some leftover pizza enhanced the effect, but that was without alcohol or being overtired! Rent it. Barbershop quartet! Steve Carrell playing the intelligence of an overbred rabbit! Newsteam rumble! And it's very quoteable.
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Nanny McPhee-Mama and I watched it last week. Y'all Colin Firth fans have seen this movie, yes? If not, you should. As for me, I love Emma Thompson more than ever now. Did you know she wrote the screenplay? I didn't. It's good work. I first thought it was a reimagining of Mary Poppins, but it's based on characters and some scenes from the Nurse Matilda books by Christianna Brand. I get the idea that it's heavily adapted, and Emma Thompson's story and characters are vibrant. And speaking of vibrant: the set design, costumes, and lighting are gorgeous. The costumers clearly worked closely with the sets (everything, including the house and village, was built from scratch), and it's just wonderful. I hope this movie was nominated for Academy awards in all the artistic categories. Michael Howells, Lynne Huitson, Philippa Hart, and Nic Ede, bravo.
Examples of the lovely sets: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6
Examples of the crazy fantastic costumes: 1 / 2 / 3
Costumes with set/art design and lighting: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8
New Buffy comic limited series-written by Joss and set post-"Chosen"/"Not Fade Away." ICv2 is batting around words like "canon," which is of course a concept open to interpretation, although apparently Joss is the one who said it. In the past I've taken Joss-written comics into serious consideration when interpreting the television series. I don't know how I feel about shooting the cat now, though.
(Does "shooting the cat" make sense? It feels like a common phrase, but I may have made it up, since it relates to a discussion I've had before with emslie and maybe some other folks?)
+
Angel Spotlight: Illyria comic-set sometime between "The Girl in Question" and "Not Fade Away," as near as I can tell. Illyria explores the human concept of remorse. It's pretty good, and if you were interested in the Illyria character I'd recommend it. The next spotlight issue is Gunn, which I'm looking forward to.
+
By the way, a few Angel scripts are being published in comic book format by IDW. They're mostly Joss's scripts: "City Of," "Five by Five" (Jim Kouf), "Sanctuary," "Waiting in the Wings," "Spin the Bottle," and "A Hole in the World." "It's not like they haven't been available on the internet for those in the know, but it's kind of nifty to have something bound all pretty, with a black-and-white comic illustration here and there.
Comic books are my biggest splurge right now. I'm trying to cut down! But they make it so hard.
Movies
X3 -liked it a lot. It was fun to see Beast (my favorite X-Man), and I was going in totally uninformed, so I had to figure out Kelsey Grammar by his unmistakable voice. Nice to see Angel and Kitty Pryde, too. Even more than usual, the Cure concept was large with the metaphorical implications, and I liked the outright ethical dilemmas in the plot as well. Some of the Big Plot Events - killing Scott and Jean Grey, putting Xavier in a new body, "curing" Magneto and Mystique, having Rogue choose the cure - seemed very ballsy if they're permanent (not that anything in sci fi has to be) and gave me a lot to think about. Like, what does this mean for the comics? I know there are different versions of X-Men continuity even in the different comic series, but how much do the movies use the comic book continuity and how much do they create their own? I only started reading X-Men comics in 2002 or 2003, and I've gotten way behind, so I'm not very knowledgeable about either.
+
Miiiiiiiiih -ehhhh. Actually I thought it was a very good action movie, it just didn't grab me personally except at the beginning when Felicity was onscreen kicking ass, occasionally when there was some cool heist-type action, and at the end when Tom Cruise's movie wife was kicking ass. It's just, once Felicity was dead, there were no stakes to make it interesting until I began to think they couldn't be putting us through all this if the wife was really dead, too. So when she turned out to be alive and capable of saving the day, that redeemed a teeny bit of the former indifference. There were a few times when I had trouble taking Tom Cruise seriously, and not just when he was RUNNING, RUNNING, REALLY REALLY RUNNING. Working out the fulcrum equations with white marker on a dark skyscraper window was fun because it made me want to bring back my Not!Crazy Fred icon.
+
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy-funniest movie I've seen in a long time. Maybe watching with two girlfriends and some leftover pizza enhanced the effect, but that was without alcohol or being overtired! Rent it. Barbershop quartet! Steve Carrell playing the intelligence of an overbred rabbit! Newsteam rumble! And it's very quoteable.
+
Nanny McPhee-Mama and I watched it last week. Y'all Colin Firth fans have seen this movie, yes? If not, you should. As for me, I love Emma Thompson more than ever now. Did you know she wrote the screenplay? I didn't. It's good work. I first thought it was a reimagining of Mary Poppins, but it's based on characters and some scenes from the Nurse Matilda books by Christianna Brand. I get the idea that it's heavily adapted, and Emma Thompson's story and characters are vibrant. And speaking of vibrant: the set design, costumes, and lighting are gorgeous. The costumers clearly worked closely with the sets (everything, including the house and village, was built from scratch), and it's just wonderful. I hope this movie was nominated for Academy awards in all the artistic categories. Michael Howells, Lynne Huitson, Philippa Hart, and Nic Ede, bravo.
Examples of the lovely sets: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6
Examples of the crazy fantastic costumes: 1 / 2 / 3
Costumes with set/art design and lighting: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8
