Two weeks ago Cartoon Network annoyed the (ahem) hell out of me by airing the second Hellboy Animated movie, Blood and Iron, without having advertised it sufficiently to let me (or Scott) know that it was going to be on.
I only inadvertently discovered it while flipping through the channels and finding it already well underway.
A quick search of the Media Center guide showed that there were to be no future airings within the next couple of weeks.
Fortunately, thanks to the wonders of Usenet, I didn't have to wait for the DVD release in May, and I just managed to watch a copy I downloaded.
Wow.
I was duly impressed by the first movie, Sword of Storms, thanks in no small part to the involvement of Hellboy creator, the supremely talented Mike Mignola, and the director of 2004's live-action Hellboy movie, Guillermo Del Toro, and to the fact that many of the live-action movie's cast members reprised their roles to provide voice for the characters.
Sword of Storms was a fun, action-packed romp, that brought several classic scenes from the comic to (animated) life.
It was great stuff.
Blood and Iron, however, while retaining the action and the appropriate sense of humor, really ratcheted up the intensity and the horror, delivering a movie that was genuinely creepy and disturbing (but still fun). I'll admit it: I had to turn the lights on while I was watching it.
So yeah. Hellboy Animated: Blood and Iron. Check it out when it comes out on DVD.
And people behind Hellboy Animated? Keep the movies coming. They're just what I need to tide me over until we finally get the live-action sequel in 2008.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Friday, March 23, 2007
Here You Go
For all of you obsessive weirdoes seekers of cup size wisdom, you can find a list of celebrity bra sizes that looks to have been compiled - or at least updated - sometime after 1994, and is not just a recycled list pulled off of Usenet or some old BBS, here.
It does not list some of the more contemporary celebrities like Jessica Alba or Jessica Biel, and certainly doesn't list Giada, and who knows how or where the information came from or how accurate it is, but you're thepervert inquisitive fan who wants to know, so I'll leave it up to you to judge for yourself.
So there you go.
It does not list some of the more contemporary celebrities like Jessica Alba or Jessica Biel, and certainly doesn't list Giada, and who knows how or where the information came from or how accurate it is, but you're the
So there you go.
Another $100 Pissed Away...
I just ordered 1,000 comic book bags and 1,000 backer boards for a grand total of $94.15.
Still need to buy new boxes, and I'm not even sure that 1,000 bags and boards will be enough.
*Sigh*
Still need to buy new boxes, and I'm not even sure that 1,000 bags and boards will be enough.
*Sigh*
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Crazy Money-Spending Fool
I got a call this morning telling me that my taxes were ready to be sent out and that I had to stop in to pay for them and sign some stuff, so I sat around for a bit, showered, dressed, drove over to H&R Block, paid for them ($161…yikes. Good thing I’m getting a lot of money in my refund.), then headed off to Wal-Mart.
While there I randomly saw the DVD for one of my all-time favorite movies, Night of the Comet, for like $10, so I grabbed it.
For those unfamiliar, Comet tells the story of the night the greater part of humanity is whipped out by some substance contained inside the tail of a passing comet. There are a few survivors who came through unscathed, while some others have turned into flesh-eating zombies.
It’s a low-budget, totally 80s cheesefest, but that’s pretty much its charm. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and honestly has some great gags.
(FYI, I just noticed in its IMDb entry that it will be airing on The Movie Channel tomorrow morning at 7:30)
Back when the movie came out I was completely in love with its star, Canadian actress Catherine Mary Stewart.
My love for her, which started with her role in The Last Starfighter – another one of those favorite movies that I ought to own but don’t – has led me to sit through a lot of painfully bad movies just because she was in them, but Comet is not one of those. Not only is CMS hot, the movie is actually enjoyable, so bonus.
Speaking of movies I love but don’t own, while I was there I saw The Princess Bride on DVD for $7.50, so I picked that one up as well, and now it no longer falls into the love but don’t own category.
(Along with the aforementioned Last Starfighter, that category pretty much consists of The Crow – which I once owned – though maybe I should consider adding some of those “powerless to do anything but watch” movies I’ve mentioned, like Strange Days or Real Genius.)
From Wal-Mart I went on to Best Buy, where I was going to pick up Season 1 of Justice League Unlimited. I grabbed it, but then realized that I’d grabbed Season 1 of Justice League, which is different, and which I’ve been reluctant to buy because I thought that buying Justice League would be a big, multi-season purchase, as opposed to JLU, which was just two seasons. In any case, they didn’t have Season 1 of JLU, so I took my leave and headed to the comic books store in Herndon.
Where I dropped $86.
On comic books.
And that’s just comic books. No boxes or bags. No hardcover collections or trades. Just a stack of regular comics.
In fact, it was only 25 comic books.
I remember the first time I ever went to a comic book store, probably like 21 years ago. I spent $20 and bought way more comics than I did today, plus a couple of posters.
For the record, that first trip to a comic book store was a magical experience for young Jon. I mean, I knew that such places existed, but for me they were still sort of semi-mythical, places that only existed in stories.
Atlantis. Avalon. Hy-Brasil. Stores that just sell comic books.
It’s been a long time since I was last in a proper comic book store (or sine I viewed them as being magical places). One thing that struck me as I walked into this one today was the smell. I’d forgotten about the smell.
No, I’m not talking about the sweaty goatlike smell of the overweight and virginal staff and customers, I’m talking about the smell of comics.
For me, it’s a familiar, comforting smell, like the smell of a new car, or the inside of a leather store (I frequently go into Wilsons at the Dulles Town Center to just breathe in the smell of leather, then get out before I become too tempted to spend a lot of money on jackets and coats that I don’t need.).
In a month the store will actually be moving closer to Leesburg, which is excellent timing considering that it coincides with my plans to get back into regular comic book purchasing.
(Sucks for Scott, though. Still, that’s what you get for living in Manassas.)
For any of you wondering what I bought, here’s the list:
The Authority 1-2
Birds of Prey 102-104
The Brave & The Bold 1 -2
Daredevil 92-94
JSA 1-4
The Eternals 1-7
Welcome to Tranquility 1-4
There are some books that I plan to get caught up on by picking up the trades and then I might start buying the monthly books. Books like Fables.
I might also pick my Superman habit back up, but I haven’t been terribly impressed by anything I’ve seen there. I might buy the trade of Grant Morrison’s All-Star Superman, and then start picking up the regular books as they come out. We’ll see.
Not looking to add much from Marvel. I really can’t see myself getting back into buying X-Men, even with Ed Brubaker writing.
(Note that there were two Gail Simone titles in what I picked up today: Birds of Prey and Welcome to Tranquility. )
After that bit of splurging I stopped at the Best Buy in Leesburg on my way home to see if they had Season one of JLU. They did, and were selling Season 1 and 2 of JL for the same price, so I just said, “Screw it,” and bought those, too.
(Turns out there were only two seasons of JL, so I have the complete JL and JLU now.)
All told, not counting what I paid for getting my taxes done, I dropped around $200 today.
(Of course, that includes non-comics or DVD-related stuff like toilet paper and various other sundries.)
Anyway, that was my big day of spending money. There’s not likely to be a repeat of it anytime soon, as the refund is going straight into my savings account.
That’s too funny; just as I wrote that I got an e-mail from my bank telling me that I should put my refund into my savings account.
In any case, I’ve got some comic reading and DVD watching to do before getting ready for my workweek.
While there I randomly saw the DVD for one of my all-time favorite movies, Night of the Comet, for like $10, so I grabbed it.
For those unfamiliar, Comet tells the story of the night the greater part of humanity is whipped out by some substance contained inside the tail of a passing comet. There are a few survivors who came through unscathed, while some others have turned into flesh-eating zombies.
It’s a low-budget, totally 80s cheesefest, but that’s pretty much its charm. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and honestly has some great gags.
(FYI, I just noticed in its IMDb entry that it will be airing on The Movie Channel tomorrow morning at 7:30)
Back when the movie came out I was completely in love with its star, Canadian actress Catherine Mary Stewart.
My love for her, which started with her role in The Last Starfighter – another one of those favorite movies that I ought to own but don’t – has led me to sit through a lot of painfully bad movies just because she was in them, but Comet is not one of those. Not only is CMS hot, the movie is actually enjoyable, so bonus.
Speaking of movies I love but don’t own, while I was there I saw The Princess Bride on DVD for $7.50, so I picked that one up as well, and now it no longer falls into the love but don’t own category.
(Along with the aforementioned Last Starfighter, that category pretty much consists of The Crow – which I once owned – though maybe I should consider adding some of those “powerless to do anything but watch” movies I’ve mentioned, like Strange Days or Real Genius.)
From Wal-Mart I went on to Best Buy, where I was going to pick up Season 1 of Justice League Unlimited. I grabbed it, but then realized that I’d grabbed Season 1 of Justice League, which is different, and which I’ve been reluctant to buy because I thought that buying Justice League would be a big, multi-season purchase, as opposed to JLU, which was just two seasons. In any case, they didn’t have Season 1 of JLU, so I took my leave and headed to the comic books store in Herndon.
Where I dropped $86.
On comic books.
And that’s just comic books. No boxes or bags. No hardcover collections or trades. Just a stack of regular comics.
In fact, it was only 25 comic books.
I remember the first time I ever went to a comic book store, probably like 21 years ago. I spent $20 and bought way more comics than I did today, plus a couple of posters.
For the record, that first trip to a comic book store was a magical experience for young Jon. I mean, I knew that such places existed, but for me they were still sort of semi-mythical, places that only existed in stories.
Atlantis. Avalon. Hy-Brasil. Stores that just sell comic books.
It’s been a long time since I was last in a proper comic book store (or sine I viewed them as being magical places). One thing that struck me as I walked into this one today was the smell. I’d forgotten about the smell.
No, I’m not talking about the sweaty goatlike smell of the overweight and virginal staff and customers, I’m talking about the smell of comics.
For me, it’s a familiar, comforting smell, like the smell of a new car, or the inside of a leather store (I frequently go into Wilsons at the Dulles Town Center to just breathe in the smell of leather, then get out before I become too tempted to spend a lot of money on jackets and coats that I don’t need.).
In a month the store will actually be moving closer to Leesburg, which is excellent timing considering that it coincides with my plans to get back into regular comic book purchasing.
(Sucks for Scott, though. Still, that’s what you get for living in Manassas.)
For any of you wondering what I bought, here’s the list:
The Authority 1-2
Birds of Prey 102-104
The Brave & The Bold 1 -2
Daredevil 92-94
JSA 1-4
The Eternals 1-7
Welcome to Tranquility 1-4
There are some books that I plan to get caught up on by picking up the trades and then I might start buying the monthly books. Books like Fables.
I might also pick my Superman habit back up, but I haven’t been terribly impressed by anything I’ve seen there. I might buy the trade of Grant Morrison’s All-Star Superman, and then start picking up the regular books as they come out. We’ll see.
Not looking to add much from Marvel. I really can’t see myself getting back into buying X-Men, even with Ed Brubaker writing.
(Note that there were two Gail Simone titles in what I picked up today: Birds of Prey and Welcome to Tranquility. )
After that bit of splurging I stopped at the Best Buy in Leesburg on my way home to see if they had Season one of JLU. They did, and were selling Season 1 and 2 of JL for the same price, so I just said, “Screw it,” and bought those, too.
(Turns out there were only two seasons of JL, so I have the complete JL and JLU now.)
All told, not counting what I paid for getting my taxes done, I dropped around $200 today.
(Of course, that includes non-comics or DVD-related stuff like toilet paper and various other sundries.)
Anyway, that was my big day of spending money. There’s not likely to be a repeat of it anytime soon, as the refund is going straight into my savings account.
That’s too funny; just as I wrote that I got an e-mail from my bank telling me that I should put my refund into my savings account.
In any case, I’ve got some comic reading and DVD watching to do before getting ready for my workweek.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Oh Yeah
Blogger now creates a gallery on your PicasaWeb account (if you have one) of the pictures you upload to your blog.
They only go back to December at this point, but I have made the gallery public, if you want to check it out.
There are are a lot of repeats in there because sometimes when I post a picture it uploads to Blogger, but doesn't actually show up in my post, forcing me to upload it again, since even though the picture is actually there already I don't have access to its URL.
Anyway, follow the link over on the right to my PicasaWeb page.
They only go back to December at this point, but I have made the gallery public, if you want to check it out.
There are are a lot of repeats in there because sometimes when I post a picture it uploads to Blogger, but doesn't actually show up in my post, forcing me to upload it again, since even though the picture is actually there already I don't have access to its URL.
Anyway, follow the link over on the right to my PicasaWeb page.
Nothing Special...
...or even terribly new, just the end result of a tutorial.
Make of it what you will.
Make of it what you will.
Back On The (Hobby) Horse
A comic book’s worst enemy is the paper it’s printed on, as the paper, particularly in the case of older comics printed on cheap newsprint, contains acid that eats away at the paper, causing it to yellow and, eventually, totally disintegrate.
This is why, in order to store them, you need to put them in mylar bags and back them with boards – both of which need to be acid-free – and keep them inside of a box that protects them from UV light and humidity.
Of course, this only serves to prevent the disintegration process from going any faster than it’s already going. There’s nothing you can do to actually stop it.
Up until I was 18 I did a shitty job of taking care of my comics. Not because I didn’t care, but because I didn’t have ready access to any of the proper storage materials. At 18 I went to college and lived in a town with a comic book shop, so I was able to do a slightly better job. I didn’t do much better; I’ve always been a reader, not really a collector.
One night, maybe 15 years ago, I found myself sitting on the floor in my living room bagging, boarding, and organizing my comics, avoiding the temptation to just sit there and read them. At one point, I just stopped and stared off into space. My wife, who was sitting at the kitchen table with a friend of hers who was visiting, noticed this and asked what was the matter. I said, “I thought the whole point of having a hobby was that you’re doing something you enjoy.”
Suffice to say that today, as I took all of the comics out of their yellowed old boxes and piled them up on the floor semi-sorted, with the accumulated acid irritating my skin, I wasn’t exactly having a blast.
I tossed all of the boxes and will likely do the same with all of the bags and boards. Replacing the boxes won’t cost too much, but getting new bags and boards will be pricey. I think I’ll have to do it in stages.
When I was at Super Target today I ended up in line behind a group of old ladies, one of whom decided to pay for her purchases by credit card, which was a bad move, as it necessitated using the card reader, which requires “advanced” technical skills that old ladies just don’t have.
The card readers at Super Target, as at most places, can accept your card at any time, but apparently she wasn’t aware of this and seemed offended by its exhortation to insert her card now. “Insert now?” she asked. “Isn’t that a little early?”
Once everything was scanned she said, to no one in particular, “Now I’ll put my card in.”
The readers there actually pull your card in. Not expecting that, she let out a loud gasp and then an equally loud laugh.
It was just like that scene in Pretty Woman, except that she wasn’t getting an expensive gift from a billionaire and she wasn’t young and attractive.
She might have been a whore, though. I mean, just because she’s old doesn’t mean she doesn’t spread it around.
I’m just saying. I mean, I don’t know that she’s a whore, but last week Dove told me that beauty doesn’t have an age limit, so who’s to say that being a whore does either?
In any case, I just thought I’d mention the fun-filled afternoon of messing with dusty, acidic paper that I had.
I’m so glad I’m reviving my hobby.
This is why, in order to store them, you need to put them in mylar bags and back them with boards – both of which need to be acid-free – and keep them inside of a box that protects them from UV light and humidity.
Of course, this only serves to prevent the disintegration process from going any faster than it’s already going. There’s nothing you can do to actually stop it.
Up until I was 18 I did a shitty job of taking care of my comics. Not because I didn’t care, but because I didn’t have ready access to any of the proper storage materials. At 18 I went to college and lived in a town with a comic book shop, so I was able to do a slightly better job. I didn’t do much better; I’ve always been a reader, not really a collector.
One night, maybe 15 years ago, I found myself sitting on the floor in my living room bagging, boarding, and organizing my comics, avoiding the temptation to just sit there and read them. At one point, I just stopped and stared off into space. My wife, who was sitting at the kitchen table with a friend of hers who was visiting, noticed this and asked what was the matter. I said, “I thought the whole point of having a hobby was that you’re doing something you enjoy.”
Suffice to say that today, as I took all of the comics out of their yellowed old boxes and piled them up on the floor semi-sorted, with the accumulated acid irritating my skin, I wasn’t exactly having a blast.
I tossed all of the boxes and will likely do the same with all of the bags and boards. Replacing the boxes won’t cost too much, but getting new bags and boards will be pricey. I think I’ll have to do it in stages.
When I was at Super Target today I ended up in line behind a group of old ladies, one of whom decided to pay for her purchases by credit card, which was a bad move, as it necessitated using the card reader, which requires “advanced” technical skills that old ladies just don’t have.
The card readers at Super Target, as at most places, can accept your card at any time, but apparently she wasn’t aware of this and seemed offended by its exhortation to insert her card now. “Insert now?” she asked. “Isn’t that a little early?”
Once everything was scanned she said, to no one in particular, “Now I’ll put my card in.”
The readers there actually pull your card in. Not expecting that, she let out a loud gasp and then an equally loud laugh.
It was just like that scene in Pretty Woman, except that she wasn’t getting an expensive gift from a billionaire and she wasn’t young and attractive.
She might have been a whore, though. I mean, just because she’s old doesn’t mean she doesn’t spread it around.
I’m just saying. I mean, I don’t know that she’s a whore, but last week Dove told me that beauty doesn’t have an age limit, so who’s to say that being a whore does either?
In any case, I just thought I’d mention the fun-filled afternoon of messing with dusty, acidic paper that I had.
I’m so glad I’m reviving my hobby.
Shredding Is Cool!
I needed to get a copy of a blank check over to H&R Block in order for them to have my refund deposited directly into my checking account, but I didn’t want to drive over there, as it was in the opposite direction of where I was going this morning, so I made a copy and was going to fax it from Staples, where I was going anyway to pick up that junk mail shredder (more on that in a bit).
When I got there, naturally, the fax machine wasn’t working. I told the lady working there, “I should apologize, as the only reason it’s not working is that I needed to use it.”
Still, I bought the shredder, then headed to Super Target to pick up Batman: Beyond Season 3 on DVD.
While I was at it I bought Justice League Unlimited Season 2, and would have bought Season 1 if they’d had it there.
(I’ll have to pick it up somewhere else.)
Once I got home I set up the shredder and became a crazy shredding fool.
That thing is cool!
It even shreds CDs and DVDs.
Now I understand why they were so fond of shredding stuff at Enron.
After I finished ripping apart every spare scrap of junk mail, used paper, and coaster-fied CDs and DVDs I could find, I ate lunch and then got to work on the problem of faxing the check.
I scanned the check in, dropped it into a Word document, and plugged Munin into the phone line…only to discover that I don’t have any kind of fax software. After tracking some down and installing it I faxed it off. Hopefully I should get a call tomorrow telling me that my taxes are done, I’ll go in and pay for them, and within a short period I’ll have a lot more money at my disposal (the majority of which I’ll put into savings).
In looking to pick up a copy of Captain America #25, Scott tracked down a local comic shop that I was thinking about visiting today. Scott and I are both toying with the notion of getting back into regular comic buying, at least to support some of our favorite creators like Gail Simone, Ed Brubaker, and Bill Willingham (but only when he’s writing Fables and Fables-related stuff. Most of his more mainstream work is pretty weak.).
I decided not to go today as Wednesday is new comics day, so I figured I might as well just wait.
(By the way, in all the years that I was buying comics, I don’t think I ever actually noticed that new comics arrive on Wednesday. I’d noticed that Tuesday was the day for new music and movies, but never picked up on the comic thing. Of course, it didn’t really matter, as I had a “pull list” at my local store, so when I went in, the most recent stuff that I wanted was already set aside for me, so I didn’t have to go in on any particular day.)
Of course, getting back into buying comics on even a semi-regular basis means that I finally have to get around to organizing my existing collection.
It’s a daunting task, especially since that means re-bagging and re-boarding hundreds upon hundreds of comics, which will require a lot of time and money.
I’ve been meaning to do it for years and actually started on it a while back, but soon gave up on it, One of the main things I want to do is either create my own database or, more likely, use an existing comic book cataloguing program to create a definitive list of what I have and what condition each book is in.
Towards that end, I hauled all of my comics in from the outside storage area and now have them taking up space on my floor.
I also did some searching for comic database programs and found this program.
I’ve downloaded the trial and it’s pretty cool.
Basically, you enter in the title of the series, it connects to an online database and gives you a list of all of the issues, complete with, in most cases, cover scans, and full info on writers, artists, editors, etc. You simply check off the issues you have, and boom, what you have is added to your own database.
Here’s a screenshot of my test database:
The trial limits you to 100 comics, and I went with the ones that I knew that I have off the top of my head, in particular limited series that I know I have every issue.
I’m definitely thinking about paying for the full version, but on the other hand, I do have a birthday coming up.
Just something to think about.
When I got there, naturally, the fax machine wasn’t working. I told the lady working there, “I should apologize, as the only reason it’s not working is that I needed to use it.”
Still, I bought the shredder, then headed to Super Target to pick up Batman: Beyond Season 3 on DVD.
While I was at it I bought Justice League Unlimited Season 2, and would have bought Season 1 if they’d had it there.
(I’ll have to pick it up somewhere else.)
Once I got home I set up the shredder and became a crazy shredding fool.
That thing is cool!
It even shreds CDs and DVDs.
Now I understand why they were so fond of shredding stuff at Enron.
After I finished ripping apart every spare scrap of junk mail, used paper, and coaster-fied CDs and DVDs I could find, I ate lunch and then got to work on the problem of faxing the check.
I scanned the check in, dropped it into a Word document, and plugged Munin into the phone line…only to discover that I don’t have any kind of fax software. After tracking some down and installing it I faxed it off. Hopefully I should get a call tomorrow telling me that my taxes are done, I’ll go in and pay for them, and within a short period I’ll have a lot more money at my disposal (the majority of which I’ll put into savings).
In looking to pick up a copy of Captain America #25, Scott tracked down a local comic shop that I was thinking about visiting today. Scott and I are both toying with the notion of getting back into regular comic buying, at least to support some of our favorite creators like Gail Simone, Ed Brubaker, and Bill Willingham (but only when he’s writing Fables and Fables-related stuff. Most of his more mainstream work is pretty weak.).
I decided not to go today as Wednesday is new comics day, so I figured I might as well just wait.
(By the way, in all the years that I was buying comics, I don’t think I ever actually noticed that new comics arrive on Wednesday. I’d noticed that Tuesday was the day for new music and movies, but never picked up on the comic thing. Of course, it didn’t really matter, as I had a “pull list” at my local store, so when I went in, the most recent stuff that I wanted was already set aside for me, so I didn’t have to go in on any particular day.)
Of course, getting back into buying comics on even a semi-regular basis means that I finally have to get around to organizing my existing collection.
It’s a daunting task, especially since that means re-bagging and re-boarding hundreds upon hundreds of comics, which will require a lot of time and money.
I’ve been meaning to do it for years and actually started on it a while back, but soon gave up on it, One of the main things I want to do is either create my own database or, more likely, use an existing comic book cataloguing program to create a definitive list of what I have and what condition each book is in.
Towards that end, I hauled all of my comics in from the outside storage area and now have them taking up space on my floor.
I also did some searching for comic database programs and found this program.
I’ve downloaded the trial and it’s pretty cool.
Basically, you enter in the title of the series, it connects to an online database and gives you a list of all of the issues, complete with, in most cases, cover scans, and full info on writers, artists, editors, etc. You simply check off the issues you have, and boom, what you have is added to your own database.
Here’s a screenshot of my test database:
The trial limits you to 100 comics, and I went with the ones that I knew that I have off the top of my head, in particular limited series that I know I have every issue.
I’m definitely thinking about paying for the full version, but on the other hand, I do have a birthday coming up.
Just something to think about.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Cheesy? Absolutely.
I don't drink vodka anymore, obviously, and even when I did it wasn't often that I drank Absolut (I tended to go for the very bottom shelf, rotgut stuff. Not by choice but by necessity.).
Still, in honor of the fact that to celebrate today's good money news (and the fact that all of my bills are paid and I'm on paycheck two in a three paycheck month), I opted to order the Absolute Edition of Watchmen, I decided to quickly slap together the cheesy fake Absolut ad you see here:
I still want to pick up Absolute Dark Knight, but that one's really pricey. Absolute New Frontier would also be nice.
And then there's the Absolute-esque hardcover Sin City Library, and Absolute Sandman, and....
Still, in honor of the fact that to celebrate today's good money news (and the fact that all of my bills are paid and I'm on paycheck two in a three paycheck month), I opted to order the Absolute Edition of Watchmen, I decided to quickly slap together the cheesy fake Absolut ad you see here:
I still want to pick up Absolute Dark Knight, but that one's really pricey. Absolute New Frontier would also be nice.
And then there's the Absolute-esque hardcover Sin City Library, and Absolute Sandman, and....
Death And Taxes (And Porn)
So I finally got my taxes done today.
Looks like being a homeowner saved my bacon, as I not only don’t have to pay anything in despite winning $10,000, I’m actually getting the largest refund I’ve ever gotten in my life.
Whoo-hoo!
(And whew!)
Of course, I didn’t luck out and get the attractive-ish woman who had this slight Linda Hamilton thing going on and who seemed really friendly. Instead I got the 1850s schoolmarm whose single forced attempt at a smile (an attempt that seemed to be made only because doing so is a company-mandated policy) was actually kind of frightening.
Oh well, it’s not like it would have mattered if I had gotten the attractive one anyway, though it is simply another example of how my luck runs when it comes to that sort of thing.
There are certain movies that, when I happen to see that they’re on, I am powerless to do anything but watch, no matter how late into it that I’m tuning in.
One such movie is Strange Days.
Another is Army of Darkness (even though I own the DVD and I hate when I find myself watching a movie that I own on TV).
Still another, and that I watched this one last night is my point, is Boogie Nights.
What makes this movie so irresistible? Is it because it’s about porn? Sure, but that’s not all. Is it the fact that the movie contains a naked Heather Graham? Yes, but it’s more than that. I actually really enjoy the movie, for a lot of reasons that I can’t really articulate.
In any case, after watching it last night I started thinking about John Holmes, the real-life porn king upon whose life much of the movie was loosely based, and found myself wondering who some of the other characters may have been based on, so I did a little reading online.
Ultimately this led me to back to the Wonderland Murders in which Holmes was implicated (and which, in an odd fashion, Liberace’s boyfriend was involved in).
The murders are touched upon in Boogie Nights (in a scene that features two actors who later appeared in movies based on Marvel Comics characters: Alfred Molina, who played Dr. Octopus in Spider-Man 2, and Thomas Jane, who starred in The Punisher), but are more closely examined in the movie Wonderland, in which Val Kilmer stars as Holmes.
Wonderland is itself a movie that I’ve sat through a couple of times.
Like Boogie Nights, it has some interesting cinematic touches that make it sort of fascinating to watch (in Boogie Nights it’s the long cuts; in Wonderland it’s the multiple POV manner in which the story is told) , and honestly, I have to confess that there’s just something compelling about the more lurid aspects of both movies.
Until I saw Wonderland I was only vaguely aware of the fact that Holmes – who died in 1988 of AIDS-related illness – had been involved in some sort of shady undertaking that had resulted in some murders, but I wasn’t really up on the details. In 1981, when the murders happened, I didn’t even know who Holmes was, as I was only 9. Of course it wasn’t too much longer until, thanks to puberty and the efforts of the Porn Fairy, I learned who he was (and learned a lot more besides). After all, you can’t just look at the pictures all the time, so eventually, especially if you’re nerdy, you actually do start reading the articles, and I remember Hustler dubbing Holmes “Asshole of the Month” for his involvement in the murders.
In any case, it’s not really the murders themselves or even Holmes or the question of just how involved he was in the murders that I find most fascinating about Wonderland.
That honor goes to the rather complex and interesting relationship that existed between Dawn Schiller (Kate Bosworth), Holmes’ girlfriend at the time, a girl who’d been involved with him since she was 15, and Holmes’ wife, Sharon (Lisa Kudrow).
It’s already interesting enough to note that, despite the fact that they were estranged for 10 years, during which Holmes engaged in much of his porn work, Sharon didn’t actually divorce him until 1985.
What’s more interesting is the motherly affection that she demonstrates towards Dawn.
While the movie demonstrates this quite clearly, there’s no real explanation for it.
In any case, while I was reading up on the whole thing last night I learned that after airing Boogie Nights IFC was also playing Wonderland, so I watched it again, and once again found myself fascinated by the Dawn-Sharon dynamic.
Some quick Googling led me to discover that the real Dawn actually has a blog, and that she and Sharon are still close (Dawn left John shortly after the murders), and, in fact, Sharon is currently (as of February) staying with Dawn and her family.
From what I gleaned from skimming through Dawn’s blog, she and Sharon had much more of a history than could be touched upon in the movie.
In any case, my whole point, if I even have one, is that it’s sometimes amazing the sort of connections that people can form with each other under even the oddest of circumstances, like a woman who deeply loves and cares for her estranged husband’ s teenaged lover, for example.
And as is made clear in both movies, while Holmes’ life was fascinating in and of itself, it’s the lives of all the people surrounding him that really make the story interesting and meaningful.
Looks like being a homeowner saved my bacon, as I not only don’t have to pay anything in despite winning $10,000, I’m actually getting the largest refund I’ve ever gotten in my life.
Whoo-hoo!
(And whew!)
Of course, I didn’t luck out and get the attractive-ish woman who had this slight Linda Hamilton thing going on and who seemed really friendly. Instead I got the 1850s schoolmarm whose single forced attempt at a smile (an attempt that seemed to be made only because doing so is a company-mandated policy) was actually kind of frightening.
Oh well, it’s not like it would have mattered if I had gotten the attractive one anyway, though it is simply another example of how my luck runs when it comes to that sort of thing.
There are certain movies that, when I happen to see that they’re on, I am powerless to do anything but watch, no matter how late into it that I’m tuning in.
One such movie is Strange Days.
Another is Army of Darkness (even though I own the DVD and I hate when I find myself watching a movie that I own on TV).
Still another, and that I watched this one last night is my point, is Boogie Nights.
What makes this movie so irresistible? Is it because it’s about porn? Sure, but that’s not all. Is it the fact that the movie contains a naked Heather Graham? Yes, but it’s more than that. I actually really enjoy the movie, for a lot of reasons that I can’t really articulate.
In any case, after watching it last night I started thinking about John Holmes, the real-life porn king upon whose life much of the movie was loosely based, and found myself wondering who some of the other characters may have been based on, so I did a little reading online.
Ultimately this led me to back to the Wonderland Murders in which Holmes was implicated (and which, in an odd fashion, Liberace’s boyfriend was involved in).
The murders are touched upon in Boogie Nights (in a scene that features two actors who later appeared in movies based on Marvel Comics characters: Alfred Molina, who played Dr. Octopus in Spider-Man 2, and Thomas Jane, who starred in The Punisher), but are more closely examined in the movie Wonderland, in which Val Kilmer stars as Holmes.
Wonderland is itself a movie that I’ve sat through a couple of times.
Like Boogie Nights, it has some interesting cinematic touches that make it sort of fascinating to watch (in Boogie Nights it’s the long cuts; in Wonderland it’s the multiple POV manner in which the story is told) , and honestly, I have to confess that there’s just something compelling about the more lurid aspects of both movies.
Until I saw Wonderland I was only vaguely aware of the fact that Holmes – who died in 1988 of AIDS-related illness – had been involved in some sort of shady undertaking that had resulted in some murders, but I wasn’t really up on the details. In 1981, when the murders happened, I didn’t even know who Holmes was, as I was only 9. Of course it wasn’t too much longer until, thanks to puberty and the efforts of the Porn Fairy, I learned who he was (and learned a lot more besides). After all, you can’t just look at the pictures all the time, so eventually, especially if you’re nerdy, you actually do start reading the articles, and I remember Hustler dubbing Holmes “Asshole of the Month” for his involvement in the murders.
In any case, it’s not really the murders themselves or even Holmes or the question of just how involved he was in the murders that I find most fascinating about Wonderland.
That honor goes to the rather complex and interesting relationship that existed between Dawn Schiller (Kate Bosworth), Holmes’ girlfriend at the time, a girl who’d been involved with him since she was 15, and Holmes’ wife, Sharon (Lisa Kudrow).
It’s already interesting enough to note that, despite the fact that they were estranged for 10 years, during which Holmes engaged in much of his porn work, Sharon didn’t actually divorce him until 1985.
What’s more interesting is the motherly affection that she demonstrates towards Dawn.
While the movie demonstrates this quite clearly, there’s no real explanation for it.
In any case, while I was reading up on the whole thing last night I learned that after airing Boogie Nights IFC was also playing Wonderland, so I watched it again, and once again found myself fascinated by the Dawn-Sharon dynamic.
Some quick Googling led me to discover that the real Dawn actually has a blog, and that she and Sharon are still close (Dawn left John shortly after the murders), and, in fact, Sharon is currently (as of February) staying with Dawn and her family.
From what I gleaned from skimming through Dawn’s blog, she and Sharon had much more of a history than could be touched upon in the movie.
In any case, my whole point, if I even have one, is that it’s sometimes amazing the sort of connections that people can form with each other under even the oddest of circumstances, like a woman who deeply loves and cares for her estranged husband’ s teenaged lover, for example.
And as is made clear in both movies, while Holmes’ life was fascinating in and of itself, it’s the lives of all the people surrounding him that really make the story interesting and meaningful.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Perchance To Dream
This past weekend was an especially irritating one at work.
As I’ve mentioned in the past, there are different stations on our desk that we take turns working . Thanks to the way things had rotated, Thursday was my day to work the busiest and most frustrating station.
Luckily it turned out to be a relatively easy day, though still more irritating than the other stations usually are.
Still, as Scott pointed out, I at least got it over with right away and didn’t have to have the thought of working that station hanging over me for the rest of the weekend.
Of course, that was before Scott was out sick on Saturday, the day he was supposed to work that station, and I had to fill in for him.
Saturday is usually the easiest day to work that station, though, as most of the issues that we deal with on that station are Monday through Friday sort of problems.
Not so this Saturday, which apparently felt it had to go out of its way to make up for my relatively easy Thursday.
Throughout it all I kept semi-jokingly repeating Dante’s whiny line from the movie Clerks: I’m not even supposed to be here today!
Oh well. At least it’s over now.
Until the next weekend.
But for the record, that’s how I spent my St. Patrick’s Day, though given that I’m not Irish and am no longer a practicing drunk it’s not as though I would have been out celebrating anyway.
Still, the stress of work and the fact that I hadn’t slept too well on Thursday and Friday night left me pretty tired when I got home, so I went to bed relatively early last night.
This, of course, only meant that I woke up incredibly early, so I didn’t actually get any more sleep than I would have if I’d gone to bed at the normal time.
Even though it was still dark out when I woke up I couldn’t manage to get back to sleep, so I got up and sat around doing pretty much nothing for about an hour before finally taking another crack at sleep.
When I did, I had semi-lucid dreams about having semi-lucid dreams.
It was very strange, and I have to wonder if dreaming about dreaming won’t tear a hole in the fabric of spacetime or something.
(I’m reminded of that episode of The Simpsons in which Homer is at work daydreaming, and we see that he’s daydreaming about napping, and that in his daydream about napping he’s dreaming about eating.)
In any case, I was dreaming that in my dreams I couldn’t quite control the action, but I could at least direct it to some extent, all of which led me to a room full of hot chicks who were very…friendly, which ultimately led to disappointment in the form of me waking up, both in the dream and in reality.
Or did I just wake up into another dream?
It’s hard to say; most of my dreams, like reality, tend to suck, so anything’s possible, I guess.
Once I did get up I eventually whiled away the hours by doing some more search engine submission. Talk about a dream come true!
At one of the submission sites I encountered this error:
Error
The url submitted belongs to the directory or is in process of acceptation
Yeah, it’s just like they tell you in rehab: acceptation is the answer to all of life’s problems.
Wait, I just realized that Word isn’t flagging that as an error. Acceptation is an actual word? WTF?
This isn’t a dream: it’s a nightmare!
As I’ve mentioned in the past, there are different stations on our desk that we take turns working . Thanks to the way things had rotated, Thursday was my day to work the busiest and most frustrating station.
Luckily it turned out to be a relatively easy day, though still more irritating than the other stations usually are.
Still, as Scott pointed out, I at least got it over with right away and didn’t have to have the thought of working that station hanging over me for the rest of the weekend.
Of course, that was before Scott was out sick on Saturday, the day he was supposed to work that station, and I had to fill in for him.
Saturday is usually the easiest day to work that station, though, as most of the issues that we deal with on that station are Monday through Friday sort of problems.
Not so this Saturday, which apparently felt it had to go out of its way to make up for my relatively easy Thursday.
Throughout it all I kept semi-jokingly repeating Dante’s whiny line from the movie Clerks: I’m not even supposed to be here today!
Oh well. At least it’s over now.
Until the next weekend.
But for the record, that’s how I spent my St. Patrick’s Day, though given that I’m not Irish and am no longer a practicing drunk it’s not as though I would have been out celebrating anyway.
Still, the stress of work and the fact that I hadn’t slept too well on Thursday and Friday night left me pretty tired when I got home, so I went to bed relatively early last night.
This, of course, only meant that I woke up incredibly early, so I didn’t actually get any more sleep than I would have if I’d gone to bed at the normal time.
Even though it was still dark out when I woke up I couldn’t manage to get back to sleep, so I got up and sat around doing pretty much nothing for about an hour before finally taking another crack at sleep.
When I did, I had semi-lucid dreams about having semi-lucid dreams.
It was very strange, and I have to wonder if dreaming about dreaming won’t tear a hole in the fabric of spacetime or something.
(I’m reminded of that episode of The Simpsons in which Homer is at work daydreaming, and we see that he’s daydreaming about napping, and that in his daydream about napping he’s dreaming about eating.)
In any case, I was dreaming that in my dreams I couldn’t quite control the action, but I could at least direct it to some extent, all of which led me to a room full of hot chicks who were very…friendly, which ultimately led to disappointment in the form of me waking up, both in the dream and in reality.
Or did I just wake up into another dream?
It’s hard to say; most of my dreams, like reality, tend to suck, so anything’s possible, I guess.
Once I did get up I eventually whiled away the hours by doing some more search engine submission. Talk about a dream come true!
At one of the submission sites I encountered this error:
Error
The url submitted belongs to the directory or is in process of acceptation
Yeah, it’s just like they tell you in rehab: acceptation is the answer to all of life’s problems.
Wait, I just realized that Word isn’t flagging that as an error. Acceptation is an actual word? WTF?
This isn’t a dream: it’s a nightmare!
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