Buys
Must haves that came out this week for me include the new Futurama movie (more on it below) and Fables vol. 10, the excellent Vertigo series I've been following in trades form (now I gotta start collection Jack of Fables as well). From the sales bin: Special editions of Mission: Impossible (the Tom Cruise version), and The Right Stuff (as I am a space program nut).
"Accomplishments"
Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs is the second made-for-DVD Futurama movie and it's probably just as good as the first one. I only say "probably" because it's hard to be objective when the first one had 1) a time travel story, which I love, and 2) me, starved as all get-out for new Futurama. Oh, and the DVD had that Hypno-Toad episode too. Well, "Beast" is a very strong story about an other-dimensional universe having sex with the entire population of our universe. If that doesn't sound good, well, I don't know what would. The extras compare to the previous release with the usual hilarious commentary, which also spills over onto the bonus episode for this DVD featuring all the cut scenes from the Futurama video game. Hey, it's actually good! (I don't mean the game.)
I've been ripping through The Wire on DVD too, so much so that I've started to become really paranoid when I'm out in the street (even if I'd be surprised to learn my city averages more than 1 murder a year). Season 3 is where they started issuing the show on DVD, I think, because the extras have multiplied, with more commentaries than usual and about 1½ hours of filmed college Q&As. I think Season 3 is perhaps my favorite to date, in great part thanks to the addition of the Major Colvin and his Hamsterdam experiment. Thought-provoking stuff as usual. Man, if they really do end it at Season 5, I'm gonna be hard hit.
Books: Finished J.G. Ballard's The Atrocity Exhibition, a piece of new wave sci-fi that holds the seed of much of his later work, especially Crash (the one that was made into a movie about how sexy car accidents are). Not really a story, but a sequence of images, some of which I found rather powerful, though the book is generally obscene (in that William S. Burroughs vein). Though sometimes repetitive, my edition is greatly enhanced by annotations from the author himself. These explain both his references and writing methods, but mostly contain pithy observations about Western culture. Worth the price of admission alone.
New Unauthorized Doctor Who CCG cards: 20 new cards, all from The Shakespeare Code. I had special fun with these, throwing in relevant quotes from the Complete Works into each image, much like the references written into the episode.
GTA4 completion: 69%. Addiction Level: Perpetual Night Party.
Someone Else's Post of the Week
Blockade Boy came out with a little series called Get Away With It. As usual, if we're talking about superhero fashions, he is the man to call. Check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4. I hope there are more to come!
Must haves that came out this week for me include the new Futurama movie (more on it below) and Fables vol. 10, the excellent Vertigo series I've been following in trades form (now I gotta start collection Jack of Fables as well). From the sales bin: Special editions of Mission: Impossible (the Tom Cruise version), and The Right Stuff (as I am a space program nut).
"Accomplishments"
Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs is the second made-for-DVD Futurama movie and it's probably just as good as the first one. I only say "probably" because it's hard to be objective when the first one had 1) a time travel story, which I love, and 2) me, starved as all get-out for new Futurama. Oh, and the DVD had that Hypno-Toad episode too. Well, "Beast" is a very strong story about an other-dimensional universe having sex with the entire population of our universe. If that doesn't sound good, well, I don't know what would. The extras compare to the previous release with the usual hilarious commentary, which also spills over onto the bonus episode for this DVD featuring all the cut scenes from the Futurama video game. Hey, it's actually good! (I don't mean the game.)
I've been ripping through The Wire on DVD too, so much so that I've started to become really paranoid when I'm out in the street (even if I'd be surprised to learn my city averages more than 1 murder a year). Season 3 is where they started issuing the show on DVD, I think, because the extras have multiplied, with more commentaries than usual and about 1½ hours of filmed college Q&As. I think Season 3 is perhaps my favorite to date, in great part thanks to the addition of the Major Colvin and his Hamsterdam experiment. Thought-provoking stuff as usual. Man, if they really do end it at Season 5, I'm gonna be hard hit.
Books: Finished J.G. Ballard's The Atrocity Exhibition, a piece of new wave sci-fi that holds the seed of much of his later work, especially Crash (the one that was made into a movie about how sexy car accidents are). Not really a story, but a sequence of images, some of which I found rather powerful, though the book is generally obscene (in that William S. Burroughs vein). Though sometimes repetitive, my edition is greatly enhanced by annotations from the author himself. These explain both his references and writing methods, but mostly contain pithy observations about Western culture. Worth the price of admission alone.New Unauthorized Doctor Who CCG cards: 20 new cards, all from The Shakespeare Code. I had special fun with these, throwing in relevant quotes from the Complete Works into each image, much like the references written into the episode.
GTA4 completion: 69%. Addiction Level: Perpetual Night Party.Someone Else's Post of the Week
Blockade Boy came out with a little series called Get Away With It. As usual, if we're talking about superhero fashions, he is the man to call. Check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4. I hope there are more to come!
Comments
Double-edged sword: If the releases come slowly, you're at once more excited and more prone to disappointment.
Actually I liked the trailer for the third, since I have always avoided RPG I suspect I approach it differently than others.