Stuff I've Read or Watched Lately
Books:
Best American Travel Writing 2006 - I love the "Best American" anthology series, but this is the first time I've read the one on travel writing. Highly recommended. There are one or two duds in here (including PJ O'Rourke's overly facetious report on the world's largest passenger plane) but that still leaves 18 or 19 good ones. My favorites were Rolf Potts' look at a westerner dabbling in tantric yoga and Christopher Solomon's funny look at the insanity of South Korean downhill skiing.
Batman: Faces - Batman fights Two-Face, as written and drawn by Matt Wagner. The story treads a fine line between classic superhero cheese (after capturing Batman, Two-Face ties him to the front of a zeppelin rather than just capping him) and the dark melodrama of every Batman story of the late 80s/early 90s. The minor logic problems peppered throughout these three issues are easy to overlook considering the gorgeous art, innovative storytelling, and the genuine creepiness of Two-Face and his allies. This was back when Wagner's work was all hit and no miss.
Green Lantern Corps: Recharge: A fun, but ultimately forgettable space opera that reintroduces the GL Corps to the DC Universe. I liked the Spider Guild as villains, and the way the green in more than name Corps went about defeating them. On the other hand, the new characters were cookie-cutter and the art, while pretty, wasn't always completely comprehensible.
Daredevil: The Murdock Papers: The Kingpin announces to the world media that he has tangible proof that lawyer Matt Murdock is actually Daredevil, and New York City goes ballistic as everyone scrambles to lay claim to the Murdock Papers. I've enjoyed Bendis and Maleev's run on this book from the beginning, and this was a neat way to tie up all the themes and plot threads they've been working with while still giving the reader enough "What happens next!" to come back and check out the next guy's run. Best of all, Bullseye gets run over by a bus and both Night Nurse and Paladin make guest-appearances.
Ultimate Fantastic Four: Crossover: Mark Millar is not my favorite writer. That said, this book makes me feel better about reading his work than I have since he and Frank Quitely took over the Authority. The Ultimate FF battle alternate reality zombie superheroes and the last son of Atlantis. It's fast, it's furious, and it's gorgeously rendered by Greg Land (who cares if he traces photographs to create his art... at least they're pretty photographs). The overly referenced art is occasionally stiff and the dialogue is occasionally lazy, but overall this collection sort of reminds me of the FF movie -- fun, popcorn superhero action. Just don't expect a mind-expanding experience.
Movies/TV:
The Notorious Bettie Page: A biopic about the life of the original bondage pinup girl. Gretchen Mol does a surprisingly good job in the title role --
trelina didn't think Mol's boobs were big enough, but if you watch the actual Bettie footage that's included in the DVD features, you see that Bettie wasn't actually as busty as she appears in some of our memories. I really liked the 50s feel of the movie -- a tone that went beyond the fact that they filmed most of it in black and white -- and the juxtaposition of that feel with the nudity and the subject matter. All that said, even at only 90 minutes, the movie dragged in places. Despite her eventful life, Bettie Page the icon is probably always going to be more interesting than Bettie Page the person.
The Wire, Season 1: Some online reviews I've read have compared this show to a novel on film, and I think that's exactly right. Throwaway lines in the first episode come back to haunt our characters in the final episode. Characters travel through distinct arcs and emerge from them different than how they started. This show is complex and thought-provoking and, most importantly, entertaining throughout. Plus, it's a hoot to see familiar Baltimore sights on the small screen. I got the impression that some last-minute changes were made near the end of the season when the producers realized the show had some legs beyond the first season (how did D'Angelo's mom not show up until episode 10?), but these weren't terribly jarring. Season 2 is on the Netflix list.
Best American Travel Writing 2006 - I love the "Best American" anthology series, but this is the first time I've read the one on travel writing. Highly recommended. There are one or two duds in here (including PJ O'Rourke's overly facetious report on the world's largest passenger plane) but that still leaves 18 or 19 good ones. My favorites were Rolf Potts' look at a westerner dabbling in tantric yoga and Christopher Solomon's funny look at the insanity of South Korean downhill skiing.
Batman: Faces - Batman fights Two-Face, as written and drawn by Matt Wagner. The story treads a fine line between classic superhero cheese (after capturing Batman, Two-Face ties him to the front of a zeppelin rather than just capping him) and the dark melodrama of every Batman story of the late 80s/early 90s. The minor logic problems peppered throughout these three issues are easy to overlook considering the gorgeous art, innovative storytelling, and the genuine creepiness of Two-Face and his allies. This was back when Wagner's work was all hit and no miss.
Green Lantern Corps: Recharge: A fun, but ultimately forgettable space opera that reintroduces the GL Corps to the DC Universe. I liked the Spider Guild as villains, and the way the green in more than name Corps went about defeating them. On the other hand, the new characters were cookie-cutter and the art, while pretty, wasn't always completely comprehensible.
Daredevil: The Murdock Papers: The Kingpin announces to the world media that he has tangible proof that lawyer Matt Murdock is actually Daredevil, and New York City goes ballistic as everyone scrambles to lay claim to the Murdock Papers. I've enjoyed Bendis and Maleev's run on this book from the beginning, and this was a neat way to tie up all the themes and plot threads they've been working with while still giving the reader enough "What happens next!" to come back and check out the next guy's run. Best of all, Bullseye gets run over by a bus and both Night Nurse and Paladin make guest-appearances.
Ultimate Fantastic Four: Crossover: Mark Millar is not my favorite writer. That said, this book makes me feel better about reading his work than I have since he and Frank Quitely took over the Authority. The Ultimate FF battle alternate reality zombie superheroes and the last son of Atlantis. It's fast, it's furious, and it's gorgeously rendered by Greg Land (who cares if he traces photographs to create his art... at least they're pretty photographs). The overly referenced art is occasionally stiff and the dialogue is occasionally lazy, but overall this collection sort of reminds me of the FF movie -- fun, popcorn superhero action. Just don't expect a mind-expanding experience.
Movies/TV:
The Notorious Bettie Page: A biopic about the life of the original bondage pinup girl. Gretchen Mol does a surprisingly good job in the title role --
trelina didn't think Mol's boobs were big enough, but if you watch the actual Bettie footage that's included in the DVD features, you see that Bettie wasn't actually as busty as she appears in some of our memories. I really liked the 50s feel of the movie -- a tone that went beyond the fact that they filmed most of it in black and white -- and the juxtaposition of that feel with the nudity and the subject matter. All that said, even at only 90 minutes, the movie dragged in places. Despite her eventful life, Bettie Page the icon is probably always going to be more interesting than Bettie Page the person.
The Wire, Season 1: Some online reviews I've read have compared this show to a novel on film, and I think that's exactly right. Throwaway lines in the first episode come back to haunt our characters in the final episode. Characters travel through distinct arcs and emerge from them different than how they started. This show is complex and thought-provoking and, most importantly, entertaining throughout. Plus, it's a hoot to see familiar Baltimore sights on the small screen. I got the impression that some last-minute changes were made near the end of the season when the producers realized the show had some legs beyond the first season (how did D'Angelo's mom not show up until episode 10?), but these weren't terribly jarring. Season 2 is on the Netflix list.