Hoping For Heroes

So i just finished reading a graphic novel tie in for Heroes (what can I say, I'm behind) and I couldn't help but think...

Why are superheroes popular?

I mean, yes, they do all that cool stuff we can't, like fly and walk through walls and teleport and whatnot... but why?  Why are we as individuals, as people, as a culture, drawn to these stories of alien lifeforms stranded on Earth to become our protectors?  Look at popular entertainment.  THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN and THE DARK KNIGHT RISES tore up the box office this summer and THE AVENGERS only became the third highest top grossing film of ALL TIME!  Comics are going strong... but why?

I wonder if it's because we dont have any real heroes left to root for...

I mean, when was the last time you looked at someone and thought "now there, there is a hero..."

Oh Superman, where are you now?  It used to be Presidents.  Presidents were heroes.  Or soldiers.  Or cops and firemen.  Our our fathers.  But as the world grows more cyncial, as scandal and war and reality take thier toll, perhaps we have to turn to the invented hero for hope.  Perhaps thats why we choose to get lost in comic books and movie theaters instead of voting or going to city council meetings to make things better.

Because in the end, thats where the hope is...

IRON MAN's Tony Stark is an arrogant, self centered alcoholic.  But you know what?  He's honest.
BATMAN's Bruce Wayne is literally a rich kid with issues who dons a mask for therapy.  But he's honest.
SPIDER-MAN's Peter Parker is a high school (or college depending on your continuity) kid haunted by a mistake he made and now tries to rectify.  But he's honest.

I'm picking up on a trend.  I hope I'm wrong.  I'm too much of an optimist to think things have gotten this bad.  But I look at todays politicians and think more of the same.  Their mantra is change, their reality isn't.  Day after day, things get worse instead of better.  And all I am left with is innocence lost, clutching my comic book in tear stained hands, hoping for heroes...

Halo 4 At The Midway Point

Halo, as gamers know, is a first person shooter in which you take control of Master Chief, a genetically engineered Spartan, a super Marine, defending Earth against fanatical aliens.  The Halo trilogy ran it's course with a good story and made a lot of gamers pretty happy.  Two additional games from Bungie (the game's developer) kept the fans happy.  But Bungie eventually decided to move on to other projects.  Microsoft however, knew there was money to be made and turned the franchise over to a company called 343. After much ballyhoo, 343 released Halo 4 two weeks ago.  

For the last two weeks (when time permits, which has not been much--damn you French!) I've been working my way through the campaign mode of Halo 4.  This is not a comprehensive review by any stretch, but just some feelings on the game thus far.  

First the good news for fans.  343 has done their homework, this feels like Halo.  It's a new story (one that only 5 parts in feels like they've set up for a new trilogy... be ready for more), with a familiar angle.  The villains are the often mentioned (but until now never seen) Forerunners--the architects of the Halo weapons.

If I have a complaint it's that so far the game hasn't really distinguished itself from the others in the franchise.  (That and Cortana--The Master Chief's AI that represents herself as a sexy hologram covered in Matrix like code--doesn't quite look right.)  It feels a lot like Halo: Reach, which isn't bad, but... Maybe 343 was afraid of changing the formula too much and alienating hard core fans, but I was looking forward to mixing it up a bit.  But then again, I'm just glad to have Master Chief back.  And maybe once I hammer out some French, I can delve into the multiplayer aspects of the game, nes pas?

Knitting The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Cardboard Boxes and Long Scarfs: As most non-Who fans could attest, “The Doctor wears that really long scarf, right?” And of course they would be right, referencing Tom Baker’s stint on the show when Doctor Who hit big in America.

While STAR WARS was a gateway drug for my science fiction fix, Star Trek and Doctor Who became staples of the habbit. I watched as a kid and got hooked early. I can fondly remember my mother calling upstais for my brother and I, asking what we were doing. “Playing Doctor!” we’d reply. Her nervous verification had a whole different connotation to it until she realized what was going on.

And thank heavens for cardboard boxes, the bulwark of our playtime. We’d stack up a few boxes and stick plungers out of them to be Daleks, we carefully sculpted a couple of cardboard boxes and covered them with duct tape to resemble K9 (complete with anextendable stalk with a lego radar dish in the middle of his eye scanner) and mom brought home a giant printer box that we cut windows in and wrote “Police Box” over the door. And inevitably, we’d tie every scarf in the house together to create something close to the Doctor’s apparel.

I have wanted one of these scarves since I was nine. (Of course I also wanted a lightsaber and a light cycle as a kid) but I felt the scarf was at least attainable. It took almost thirty years.

My former roommate's girlfriend knits. She loves to make things for people. Music to my ears. We scouted out patterns on line, found the “official” knitting pattern from the woman who made the original for the show. (Of course in show, the scarf was made for him specially by Nostradamus’s wife.) It clocks in at an unbelievable SIXTEEN FEET! We picked out yarn, (a lot of it) and away she went.

For the better part of a year.

I feel vaguely bad about asking for her do make something that turned into a project of this undertaking. Until she gave it to me. I literally have no words to describe what a wonderful gift this truly is. Thank you, Miss Kara, for an amazing job.

And I wear it. I told her in advance, this was no convention floor showpiece, this was a Doctor 

Who scarf for Pete’s sake!

And oddly, I have only gotten two Doctor Who related comments on the scarf, where people recognized it from the show while I was out and about. But I have gotten a slew of compliments from people who don’t associate it with the show. They just thought a really long scarf was cool. And fashionable.

Doctor Who, fashionable? Wow. Those are two words I never actually thought I’d hear together in the same sentence. This is not to say the scarf is without challenges: 

Wearing it during the winter is fine, because it’s exceedingly warm. (of course its warm, it’s 40 lbs of wool!) I can see now why they filmed in all those Scottish highlands and rock quarries. Baker had to be sweltering running around in that! 

And there are dangers lurking for the long scarves. Car doors. Cats eyeballing the dangling fringe. And of course, escalators are a definite no-no.

But I’m bringing it back.  So everyone, go into your closets and tie those scarfs together. The fashionistas tell me they’ll be all the rage next year…

Top 10 007 Movies

"Bond, James Bond."

Mel and I have been on mission, on her majesties secret service.  2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the release of DR. NO to theaters, and today sees the US release of SKYFALL, the newest Bond film in the franchise. 

Despite the fact that the 24 films (26 if you count the "non-cannonical" NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN and the original CASINO ROYALE staring David Niven, Peter Sellers and Woody Allen) have no strong plot ties to bring them together, we decided (well, I decided and she went along with it) to do a marathon of ALL of the bond films this year, starting in May.  We averaged three a month, starting with DR. NO and working our way forward.  I'd seen them all before of course.  I know of Sean Connery's appeal as the first (and some fan's ONLY Bond), I grew up with Roger Moore, so in many ways, he's MY Bond, and fell for Pierce Brosnan's perfect blend between the two, but after the re-watch, I finally feel qualified to offer up my Top Ten list:

10.  THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN - (1974) This is Roger Moore's second outing as the suave sophisticated secret agent, and it shows how comfortable he's gotten in the role.  Exotic locations, a pair of Bond beauties in Maud Adams and Britt Ekland, a masterful plot by the villain (wonderfully played by Christopher Lee and of course, Herve Villechaize as Nick Nack).  This one is fun.  Sure, some of the fun house sequences are a little out there, and some of the martial arts are played for laughs, but it is 70's Bond after all.

9. THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH - (1999) Pierce Brosnan in his third outing as Bond, and it's a hoot.  Yes, it has dark moments like the cringe inducing Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist.  Not only can she not act, but is that even remotely believable?  Even for a Bond film?  But I think it makes up for it with the daring choice to have Sophie Marceau be the villainess.  Bond has never faced a woman on top before (rim shot!) and it was an interesting direction to take. Desmond Llewellen's Q gets a heart touching send off in his last Bond film. Also, Judi Dench's M gets way more screen time in this one, and takes full advantage of it, fleshing out her relationship with Bond, and the pre-title sequence with an attack on MI6 and subsequent boat chase is pure magic.

8. FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE - (1963) Sean Connery IS Bond in his second film (DR. NO was just the trial run) and it's here the series starts picking up steam.  Bear in mind this is NOT an action flick, as they would later become known as, but a very intense spy thriller.  Robert Shaw once again shows why he was such a great actor, playing the first (and in some ways best) version of the unstoppable henchman.

7. TOMORROW NEVER DIES - (1997) People look at me like I'm crazy when I say I like this one better than Brosnan's kick off film GOLDENEYE. But I think my taste is justified in that this is fundamentally a better movie.  GOLDENEYE had too much pressure on it, Brosnan is stiff and working to be Bond, here he's relaxed into the role and much more fluid.  Yes, they had run out of books to base them on so the plot seems a bit far fetched... or is it?  A media mogul (Jonathan Pryce having a blast) starts a war between England and China so that he can cover it.  If William Randolph Hearst was alive today, it's something he might come up with. And then there's the car.  GOLDENEYE's biggest flaw was introducing us to the beautiful new Bond BMW, fully loaded as Q would say... and then it never gets used!  WTF!?!?  They address the error quite well here, putting the car through it's paces in a parking garage, and Brosnan looks like he's having the time of his life driving it... by remote control.

6. CASINO ROYALE - (2005) Daniel Craig's first shot at 007 isn't as good as everybody makes it out to be. Don't get me wrong, it's a great film.  But it wasn't deserving of all the hype.  I get the idea of the reboot and showing Bond before he became suave, but Craig is almost too much of a blunt instrument, more at home in the BOURNE IDENTITY spy films than James Bond.  The action scenes are bar none, some of the best in the series, and it's beautifully shot, but seems a bit drab color wise compared to the previous installments, and Craig spends most of his time looking like he lost a fight with a shaving razor (there's the gritty realism again) even more so in the complete waste of time follow up QUANTUM OF SOLACE.  Maybe that's why I'm not sold on him yet as Bond.  Maybe SKYFALL will solidify him for me.

5. FOR YOUR EYES ONLY - (1981) Roger Moore was beginning to show his age in this one, but it's a fantastic story of a woman seeking revenge for the death of her family by a double agent.  Very 80's with it's Lotus and soundtrack by Bill Conti, but far more believable than the nearly farcical (but still a guilty pleasure) MOONRAKER that preceded it.  Topol and Julian Glover are picture perfect as a pair of former friends and comrades turned against each other in the Greek underworld.  The climax which has Bond climbing a sheer rock face to reach a monastery is still amazing to watch.

4. LICENSE TO KILL (1989) - Timothy Dalton gets a bad rap among the Bond fan community for this one, the lowest grossing film in the series.  BUT, take into account it was released in Summer of '89, the biggest summer ever at the time.  It faced stiff competition from BATMAN, INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE, LETHAL WEAPON 2, GHOSTBUSTERS 2 and more.  I remember seeing this one in the theater Friday night opening weekend.  Just me, and six other people.  Opening weekend.  Yikes did it get clobbered financially, and Bond has never strayed back into summer release waters again.  BUT, it's a great movie, with Robert Davi playing a drug king pin who fed Bond's CIA friend Felix Liter to the sharks.  This time, it's personal screamed the ads.  And they were right.  Bond went all the way off the reservation to extract his revenge, pulling off some of the greatest stunt work involving semi-trucks ever, and all before CGI. Well done sir.  Well done.

3. GOLDFINGER (1964) - This is regarded as the quintessential Bond film.  Sean Connery is at the height of his powers, there's a fantastic plot involving a raid on Fort Knox, there's Pussy Galore, Odd Job, Shirley Bassey singing arguably the best theme song in the franchise, the Aston Martin makes it's first appearance (complete with ejector seat), and of course the now infamous exchange: "Do you expect me to talk?" "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die." They don't make them like this anymore.  So why isn't it on the top of my list?  Well, quite honestly, it's overhyped as well.  Bond spends over half the movie as a prisoner, Goldfinger's undoing (despite his immense wealth) is cheating at cards and golf, scenic Kentucky doesn't have quite the same flare as a true exotic locale, and Pussy Galore... ah, Pussy.  Why does she changer her mind so easily after sleeping with Bond?  She caves and agrees to help and ruins Goldfinger's plan, and it all happens off camera!  Other than these nitpicks, yes, it is perfection.

2. THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1977) - This, for me, is the true quintessential Bond film.  Roger Moore at the height of his powers, a fantastic plot involving nuking humanity and starting over on the sea floor, Agent Triple X, Jaws, Carly Simon singing arguably the best theme song in the franchise, the Lotus car turning into a submarine, and of course, the now infamous exchange: "Bond, what do you think you're doing?" "Keeping the British end up, sir." Okay, so maybe the lines don't quite measure up, but this is Bond.  Big, brash and bold.

1. ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE (1969) - Poor George Lazenby, having to follow up Sean Connery.  This is his only outing as Bond, and while he's not fantastic, he does a good job.  The film however, does a great job, giving us action and stunts galore, mixed with a great plot about Bond going undercover and finding true love with Tracy (Diana Rigg) even going so far as to get married and resign from MI6.  But of course, there are no happy endings.  Blofeld (Telly Savalas) will make sure of that.

I am of course aware that everyone has their own ideas of what makes a great Bond film, and one man's trash is another man's treasure.  If you agree (or disagree) with my picks, let me know!

Recycling Your Collectibles

One of the things that geeks, (and most people in general) probably accumulate a lot of over their life times is collectables.  Now, not to point fingers, but I am an obsessive collector.  I have a movie collection, autographs, action figures (NOT dolls.  Don't go there), books, video games, toys, movie paraphernalia and more that I don't care to think about.  I haven't had to break down and rent a storage unit yet, but I'm sure my mom would like me to move some of my stuff out of her garage and basement.

Last year I was complaining about all of the Star Trek T-shirts I had purchased over the years at different conventions or what-not.   Most of them didn't fit, (There you go judging again, I was in high school!) but being the obsessive collector, and because each of them did have some sort of assigned meaning to them, I couldn't bring myself to just toss them away.  There had to be something that could be done.  I hit upon the idea of making a blanket with them.  Cutting up the panels of the shirts and then  sewing them together into one collage.  Great idea, and one that of course, I did nothing with.  (I think that's something else I collect: wasted opportunities!)

My girlfriend Mel decided it should not be so, and embarked on a sneaky, underhanded campaign of lies, secret meetings and clandestine projects.  In simpler words, she surprised me with it for Christmas.

Not only is this bad boy HUGE, (I like big blankets), eco friendly (since we're recycling) but it's incredibly warm, and with the sudden cold snap we're experiencing here, I love pulling it out of the closet and snuggling up with it.  Our next project involves all those old, cheaply made Concert T-shirts that shrunk as soon as you got them home.    Have any of those lying about you want to recycle?

Oh, and check out TeeFury, QWERTee, and Shirt.woot, these sites have new shirts daily, only available for 24 hours. There are other shirt sites, but these are my favorites. (And obviously, they're not helping my compulsive disorder.)

When Vader Met Mickey

One of the biggest pieces of news to hit the pipeline in... well, almost EVER has been this week's acquisition of LucasFilm by Disney.  George Lucas, notorious for wanting to keep STAR WARS fresh  and yet retain control over the property sold it along with his production company (and it's holdings Skywalker Sound, Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), and LucasArts, not to mention INDIANA JONES if they can work out a deal with Paramount) to the House Of Mouse.  It makes sense, as I've previously blogged on, Lucas never really seemed to like being a business man anyway.  Now he can sit back and retire and dabble and go back to making films like clouds in the desert like when he was at USC.  Oh, and the fact that Disney paid $4.05 BILLION doesn't hurt either.  If that wasn't enough of an announcement to reel from, came the immediate follow up, that Disney plans STAR WARS: Episode VII and it will be released in 2015.

The silence you heard was thousands of fan boy hearts as they skipped a beat.

More STAR WARS?

I can honestly say I'm torn on the issue, something I never expected to be.  STAR WARS without George?  Yes, he's remaining as a "creative consultant" and yes, he's passed on notes and story ideas to Kathleen Kennedy, who will take over the day to day operations at LucasFilm.  But will he still have a hand in it?  And after what many fans consider to be the disastrous prequels, should he?  And quite honestly, I was ready for STAR WARS to be done.  It had been a good ride, it was a lot of fun, and then it was over.  Sad, but okay, all things come to an end.  I had made my peace with it.  Suddenly I have to readjust that position.

Then there's the Disney factor.  Yes, Disney has done good recently by acquiring Pixar, and then keeping out of their way, allowing the studio to do what it does best in putting out quality films.  They've done the same with Marvel, and we got THE AVENGERS.  And, they just revamped THE MUPPETS, which was beyond awesome.  But, they've also been a little lackluster on the Sci-Fi end.  Historically, Disney doesn't do science fiction, and when they do it ends poorly.  Yes, they have TRON and TRON LEGACY to point to, but TRON didn't start off as a classic, it attained that status after years, and Legacy wasn't exactly the home run we were hoping for.  Anyone remember THE BLACK HOLE (which was in and of itself a poorly done STAR WARS rip off?) And then there's JOHN CARTER, which I understand isn't too bad a film, but it was advertised so badly it just proves the studio doesn't know what to do with these properties.

But now they've got the big enchilada.  As if to say, "We really cant do good Sci-Fi, lets go out and get some.  And if we're gonna do that, let's get the biggest property around."  Don't get me wrong, it could be phenomenal.  They could get a great script together and give it too... oh, I dunno, how 'bout wunderkid and AVENGERS director Joss Whedon?  Think he'd know what to do with STAR WARS?

That sound you just heard was thousands of fan boy hearts skipping another beat.

But then again, it could be the next BATTLEFIELD EARTH.

And that sound you just heard, was millions of voices as they cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced.

Sorry kids, but until I know more, I've resigned myself to being cautiously optimistic.

Leia is a Disney Princess now