Man Of Action | TGIF: "So, Friday's here already and the MOA crew is up to their collective armpits in BEN 10 DVD stuff. Yesterday, Duncan recorded a commentary track for an episode of the Season 1 DVD release. Today is more interviews, photos, personal humiliation, etc...

Now, don't ask me when the DVD is gonna' come out. I have no idea. But, whenever it drops, it appears that it'll be loaded with extra content, so all you kids out there can tell your parents that they'll be getting their money's worth, no doubt about it."

Great new stuff from Pixi! - Doubleclix's Blog: "Pixi has announced its September 2006 collection of metal Asterix figurines, and there will be plenty to gawk at: Timandahaf, Pepe and Gluteus Maximus are some of the celebrities in this new series, which you can see on the Pixi page in the licensing directory on asterix.com, to be found in Mrs. Geriatrix' hut. "

SCI FI Wire | The News Service of the SCI FI Channel: "USA Network ordered up a 13-episode sixth season of its hit supernatural thriller series The Dead Zone, starring Anthony Michael Hall, Variety reported. The basic cable network also gave an order for a 16-episode second season of Psych, its comic one-hour show about an investigator who pretends to have paranormal abilities.
"

Did television's toughest prosecutor kill Melinda Duckett? By Dahlia Lithwick - Slate Magazine: "Among Grace's most revealing statements, as she struggled to disavow any responsibility for Duckett's death this week, was this one: 'I do not feel our show is to blame for what happened to Melinda Duckett,' Grace said Monday. 'Melinda committed suicide before that interview ever aired.' "

BBC - Press Office - The Sarah Jane Adventures: "Multi-award winning writer Russell T Davies has written a brand new series for CBBC called The Sarah Jane Adventures. It stars one of The Doctor's most famous companions, investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith.

Russell T Davies says: 'Children's TV has a fine history of fantasy thrillers - I loved them as a kid, and they were the very first things I ever wrote. So it's brilliant to return to such a vivid and imaginative area of television.'



The series begins with a 60-minute special which will be broadcast in early 2007 with the series due later in the year."

'Casino Royale' - Exclusive Videos - Moviefone

SciFi.com has started posting a series of ten Battlestar Galactica webisodes briding the gap between the end of last season and the premiere of this one. The first one is pretty cool, and feels very much like part of the series. However, if you haven't seen the end of the second season yet (I know at least one friend has not), I'd recommend staying away until you're all caught up. Otherwise, there will obviously be spoilers.

I’m trying to post my thoughts on Steve Irwin to the Animal Planet forum, but unsurprisingly, it’s very busy, so the page won’t load. So I’m going to post it here, instead.

When I was a kid, I loved shows about animals. Whether it was reruns of Disney’s True Life Adventures on The Wonderful World of Disney, or the original Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, hosted by Marlin Perkins (probably also reruns), I watched them with my family. But somehow, at some point, I drifted away.

Then, one day, I came back. Part of it may be living with Penelope, but a large part of it came from watching Steve Irwin’s shows on Animal Planet. Though it was parodied and mocked by the hip and cynical, I found Irwin’s passion and enthusiasm very infectious. I couldn’t help getting as excited as he was about whatever he happened to be talking about. His wife Terri’s presence helped a lot. Her calm, down-to-earth sensibility provided the perfect contrast to his over-the-top performance, grounding it in reality. I really felt like she would call him on anything that was fake or too much. So as over the top as he could seem, I really felt like he was genuine.

(The show about them running their zoo--Croc Hunter Diaries?—also provided another, more down-to-earth perspective on Irwin, showing how he interacted with his staff and animals on a daily basis. It proved that while he was larger than life when hosting his shows, the heart behind it all was true.)

And I’m not going to ignore the blip on his career when he brought his baby into the crocodile enclosure at his zoo. But while it may not have been a smart thing to do, ultimately, no harm was done. And there are too many people who deserve to be pilloried for ongoing errors they make that cost people’s lives every day.

Even the Crocodile Hunter movie won me over, because it could so easily have been screwed up. I had expected Steve and Terri to be recruited by the CIA or something stupid like that. Fortunately, Irwin was smarter than that, and delivered a movie that was just a big-screen episode of his TV shows, only with an entirely separate story going on in the background that he and Terri were completely oblivious to. The plot, about spies trying to recover a stolen satellite swallowed by a crocodile, isn’t going to win any Oscars, but if there was an Academy Award for charm and charisma…

And now he’s gone.

But he brought wildlife education and conservation back into the public eye, and arguably made Animal Planet much more successful, also helping that cause. As a people, we can’t even seem to get worked up over the wrongs we do to each other. Animals don’t even have a voice that most people are wiling to understand. Thank goodness there are people like Steve and Terri Irwin who are willing to speak for them.

Comic Book Resources - Comic Book News, Reviews and Commentary - Updated Daily!: "A couple weeks ago, I was a guest speaker at a librarian's conference, as part of a panel (with the librarian who put it together and a distributor specializing in library sales) on 'graphic novels in libraries.' Curious experience. Even as I mounted the podium for my 15 minute chat, I really had no idea what I was supposed (or going) to say.

Not that I'm a complete novice at these things. I've done enough convention panels, and Bill Willingham, James Hudnall and I occasionally go around to local libraries to talk with (mainly) kids about creating comics. Still, public speaking's not my favorite thing, and this was a very different crowd. But they do represent forces comics creators and publishers should start taking into account."

For the record, the librarian who put it together? That would be me.

And I hear that this column is being forwarded around at the offices of DC Comics. So I'm an anonymous mover and shaker.

TORONTO 06: GEOFF JOHNS TALKS ALL STAR BATGIRL - NEWSARAMA: "Rumored for a little while now, it was finally officially annouced Sunday in Toronto: Geoff Johns and JG Jones will team next year to start off All Star Batgirl, starring Barbara Gordon. "

Love Batgirl, love JG Jones' art, hate hate HATE Geoff Johns' writing these days. So conflicted.

On the other hand, if it's an All-Star book, he can't just revive other writers' stories (and he says as much in the interview). Plus, the last time he wrote a comic about a teenage girl superhero, it was Stars and Stripe, and that's the book that made me a fan of his, before he just decided to just rip off stuff from the 80s... So maybe... Just maybe. That's all I'm saying.

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Stealth mode.

"Crocodile Hunter" Irwin dies - Yahoo! News: "SYDNEY (Reuters) - Steve Irwin, the quirky Australian
naturalist who won worldwide acclaim as TV's khaki-clad
'Crocodile Hunter,' was killed by a stingray barb through the
heart while filming a new documentary on Monday."

When I was a kid, I didn't know anything about pulp fiction magazines, until I saw the cover of The Shadow #1 at a local comics store, in their back issues section. (Actually, that's not entirely true. I saw a small blurb about someone getting the rights to do a Shadow movie in an early issue of Comics Scene magazine--this was at least 10 years before the movie was actually made starring Alec Baldwin--and that led me to actually purchase the comic book I had seen displayed at the comic book store.) The comic, by Denny O'Neill and Mike Kaluta fascinated me, and I bought as many issues as I could, which all happened to be drawn by Kaluta.

Still, I wanted more. This would have been well before the days of the Internet, so I'm not sure how I did my research. Probably just hit or miss, really... I know I started finding paperback reprints of the original stories at used bookstores, and eventually I found a copy of The Shadow Scrapbook, a nonfiction book about the character and series written by creator Walter Gibson and uber-fan/comic book colorist Anthony Tollin. I probably heard about Doc Savage as I was learning about the Shadow, but it really didn't register on my radar until after NPR did a radio series. Doc Savage paperbacks were fairly plentiful as I did my Shadow search, but I really didn't try to collect those. No, my passion was for the mysterious urban crimefighter and his network of agents.

(I did become more interested in Savage as I got older. But since his books were still being reprinted, there wasn't the same urgency or desire to snatch the older ones up whenever I saw them. Since the Shadow rights were tied up with the still-unproduced movie, they were more difficult to find.)

I bought the various comic book revivals of both characters, and saw the Shadow movie as soon as it came out. (Not a perfect adaptation, but still fun, I thought.) But I despaired of ever seeing new Shadow reprints, especially after the movie failed to be a huge hit. Eventually, Bantam Books stopped publishing Doc Savage books, and they both faded into my memory, along with all the other things I once loved that aren't available any more.

However, as I mentioned earlier on this blog, Anthony Tollin (co-author of The Shadow Scrapbook now has the rights to reprint both the Shadow and Doc Savage novels. And the first Shadow book is out, and it's great. It's designed to look like an old pulp, using the original cover art, but the material inside has been newly-typeset for clarity. The original illustrations are also in place, but they've been cleaned up nicely, and are probably as good as can be without having access to the original artwork. The book contains two complete Shadow novels, and includes some feature articles giving some background to the novels. For example, this first book contains "The Golden Vulture," and the article explains how the story was originally written by Doc Savage creator Lester Dent, then rewritten by Shadow creator Walter Gibson, making it a unique collaboration between these two pulp giants.

And, the important thing is that the books completely hold up. I'm not saying that they read like contemporary adventure fiction, although except for the technology, they aren't really dated. But they are every bit as enjoyable and exciting as I remember as a kid. There's a reason the character and these stories have endured and keep being revived, and I'm pleased to find out that, in this case, the memory hasn't cheated. (Yes, Superfriends and most of the cartoons made by Filmation, I'm talking to you.) Tollin is offering subscriptions to the books, and I'm totally going to subscribe, just so I don't have to go seeking these books out every other month.

I love Plastic Man, but this is a little too "Ren & Stimpy" for me...

MediaGuardian.co.uk | Media | BBC's Robin Hood tapes stolen: "Thieves have stolen the only master tapes for the BBC's new ?8m series on Robin Hood and are demanding a ?1m ransom for their safe return, it is reported today."

Year After Katrina, Bush Still Fights for 9/11 Image - New York Times: "If the bungled federal response to Hurricane Katrina called into question the president's competence, that Air Force One snapshot, coupled with wrenching scenes on the ground of victims who were largely poor and black, called into question something equally important to Mr. Bush: his compassion."

"24" Is Among the Big Winners as Television Presents Its Emmy Awards - New York Times: "Among specialty programs and networks, HBO cleaned up, winning nine awards, with three for "The Girl in the Cafe" and four for "Elizabeth I." "The Girl in the Cafe" won for outstanding made-for-television movie, best writing in the same category and outstanding supporting actress in a mini-series or movie, to Kelly Macdonald. "

Yay, Kelly Macdonald!

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What a Moronic Presidential Press Conference! By Fred Kaplan - Slate Magazine: "Asked if it might be time for a new strategy in Iraq, given the unceasing rise in casualties and chaos, Bush replied, 'The strategy is to help the Iraqi people achieve their objectives and dreams, which is a democratic society. That's the strategy. ... Either you say, 'It's important we stay there and get it done,' or we leave. We're not leaving, so long as I'm the president.'

The reporter followed up, 'Sir, that's not really the question. The strategy--'

Bush interrupted, 'Sounded like the question to me.'"

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Bliss.

BBC - Doctor Who (David Tennant and Billie Piper) - News : "The SCI FI Channel and BBC Worldwide Americas have confirmed that Doctor Who will return to SCI FI in September 2006.
The run will kick off with a two-hour premiere package that will include David Tennant's debut, The Christmas Invasion."

SCI FI Wire | The News Service of the SCI FI Channel: "Jonathan A. Steinberg and Josh Schaer, two of the creators of CBS' upcoming post-apocalyptic series Jericho, told SCI FI Wire that the series will be told from the point of view of its smalltown residents and that viewers will only slowly begin to learn about the nuclear disaster that is at the show's core."

Okay, you know what? After the failure of most of last season's serialized TV shows (Threshold, Surface, Invasion, Reunion, Heist, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some), I'm not going to get hooked on another one. Yes, Lost, 24 and Prison Break managed to succeed, mostly because they aren't like anything else. And I'll stick with the ones I watch, which are still on. But I'm not jumping on board any new ones, because it's just not a satisfying viewing experience when you never get the end of the story. So thanks for letting me know this up front, creators of Jericho. Best of luck to you.

Meerkats' rabies tests prove negative: "A family of five Minnesota Zoo meerkats destroyed after a girl was bitten did not have rabies after all, a zoo official said Friday.The 9-year-old girl, who has not been identified, was bitten Wednesday when she reached her hand into the animals' exhibit."

This is why I hate people. This is why I'd rather stay at home than go out and interact with the rest of the world. Just in case you were wondering.

Outpost Gallifrey: Doctor Who News Page: "The BBC's in-house newsletter Ariel today released information suggesting the identity of the second Doctor Who spinoff series that has bee rumored for the past several months, one that will bring back Elisabeth Sladen, who appeared last season in the episode 'School Reunion'. Says the item, 'CBBC is developing a spin-off series from Doctor Who based on the adventures of investigative journalist Sarah Jane, played by Elizabeth Sladen, and to be written by Russell T Davies. Sladen, who originally played the Doctor's assistant in 1973, returned for the last series where she was seen vying with young Rose Tyler for the Doctor's affections.' Outpost Gallifrey has heard from a variety of sources that the working title on this is Sarah Jane Investigates. There is currently no word as to when this might appear; we'll keep you posted."

NEWSARAMA.COM: SDCC '06 - DC COMICS' DC UNIVERSE PANEL: "As the creators ran down the lists of their current work, Paul Dini announced that he is working on a Black Canary/Zatanna hardcover graphic novel, with art by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti."

BBC - Doctor Who (David Tennant and Billie Piper) - News : "We're pleased to tell you that Murray Gold's wonderful soundtrack to Doctor Who will be making its way to CD in the near future."

Spoilers for the end of Series Two of Doctor Who if you follow the link...

Paul Cornell's House of Awkwardness: Doctor Who: Jackie Tyler Leaves the TV On: "Indeed, it could be said that if at the heart of science fiction is 'cognitive estrangement', that is: we're way far from home and boggling at the huge new ideas we'e been thrown into the middle of, then Doctor Who, particularly but not entirely in its new incarnation, isn't actually SF."

SCIFI.COM | The Amazing Screw-On Head: "In this hilarious send-up of Lovecraftian horror and steampunk adventure, President Abraham Lincoln's top spy is a bodyless head known only as Screw-On Head.

When arch-fiend Emperor Zombie steals an artifact that will enable him to threaten all life on Earth, the task of stopping him is assigned to Screw-on Head. Fortunately, Screw-On Head is not alone on this perilous quest. He is aided by his multitalented manservant, Mr. Groin, and by his talking canine cohort, Mr. Dog."

News: "BBC
America has picked up two dramas from award-winning writer Jimmy
McGovern--'The Street' and
'Cracker'--from Granada
International.

'The Street' is set
in Northern England, with each episode focusing on a different
house on the block. It is a Granada production for the BBC. The
cable channel has also taken a new feature-length episode of the
crime drama 'Cracker',
with Robbie Coltrane starring as criminal psychologist Dr. Edward
'Fitz' Fitzgerald.

The channel's GM, Kathryn
Mitchell, notes, 'We're thrilled to present two new works
from one of the most important writers in modern U.K. television
drama. From the emotionally powerful stories about the
relationships of ordinary people in a small blue collar community
in The Street to his exploration
of international relations in the exciting new Cracker
story, these shows demonstrate the incredible range of Jimmy's
talents.'"

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Another goat pic. Because you can never have too many goat pictures.

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A more low-key choice for dinner. But still complete with a screaming baby. Plus parents wise enough to take it away.

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Write your own joke.

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The most patient animals in the world.

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A giant Woody! (That one never gets old.)

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Last night's electric parade.

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This is why they call it Fantasyland.

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BA in theater arts put to good use.

Comic Book Resources - CBR News - The Comic Brief: "The Shadow and Doc Savage are returning to thrill fans old and new.
Anthony Tollin has acquired the license to reprint the original /Shadow/
and /Doc Savage/ pulp novels, and will be publishing trade paperback
reprints in partnership with Nostalgia Ventures, Inc., a leader in the
field of radio and television nostalgia. These/ Shadow/ and /Doc
Savage/ volumes are officially licensed by Conde Nast, the owner of the
famous properties."

I haven’t seen it yet, but yesterday, at work, a normal teenage girl volunteer proclaimed Superman Returns to be the best movie ever. And a female coworker who doesn’t read comics thought it was great, too. So, really, I don’t much care what comics fans think about it at this point.

If only more comics companies would understand that the best way to sell a new comic is to actually let people read some of it...

Comic Book Resources - CBR News - The Comic Wire: "Oni Press is way excited to announce the release of Matthew Loux (F-STOP)'s gnarly new graphic novel SIDESCROLLERS -- a hilarious story of friendship, small town desperation, a pack of scouts, summer, God cats, Satanic cats, football, Street Fighter, junk food, romance, rock, and roll."

Hollywoodland on Yahoo! Movies: "An exploration of fame and identity, inspired by one of Hollywood's most infamous real-life mysteries. The drama follows a 1950s private detective (Adrien Brody), who, while investigating the mysterious death of 'Superman' star George Reeves (Ben Affleck), uncovers unexpected connections to his own life, as the case turns more personal. The torrid affair Reeves had with the wife (Diane Lane) of a studio executive might hold the key to the truth."

As planned, I read the first book of Love the Way You Love and the fifth book of Love As a Foreign Language last night. Both are in Oni Press’s little digest format, whatever it’s really called, which has become one of my favorite comics formats. (I even ended up buying the first book/issue of Borrowed Time because it was published in that format.) I like having something that’s a longer, more substantial read than a normal-sized issue of a comic book, but short enough that I’m not sitting down for an hour to read it. Plus, I’m a sucker for a serialized story, being forced to read through an ongoing story at the pace set by the publication schedule, and not being able to just turn the page and immediately see how a cliffhanger is resolved.

Anyway, it wasn’t much of a surprise that I loved them both. Love As a Foreign Language has been a favorite since the first issue. I’m not sure when I became such a big J. Torres fan, but it was his name that sold me on this series. The fantastic art by Eric Kim is icing on the cake. It’s a very funny, very human, very relatable romantic comedy, given a special twist by making the main character a Westerner (Canadian, to be specific) living in Korea. And the story has unfolded at a relaxed, natural pace. If it was told in a normal comics format, the pacing would have had to be more rushed, which would have spoiled the effect.

Sadly, it looks like we might just have one issue to go, at least as far as this storyline goes. Hopefully, the creators and publisher will continue the series, but I take nothing for granted any more.

Fortunately, there’s Love the Way You Love to take its place. While James S. Rich may not be as established a comics writer as J. Torres, I’ve become such a fan, just from two books. (So totally looking forward to the third...) So it’s great to see his knack for creating very human-feeling characters can survive without the internal-monologue prose. Like Love As a Foreign Language, it appears that this is a story which will be unfolding at its own pace, so again, having the longer page count helps. Right now, the setup seems a little obvious (boy and girl meet, love at first sight, only she’s engaged to a jerk), but I’m trusting Rich to make it a little more interesting.

Plus, there’s the art by newcomer Mark Ellerby. Not as slick and polished as, say, Eric Kim, he draws some very distinct and expressive characters. It’ll be interesting to see if, when I read The Everlasting, I picture the world as looking as if Ellerby had drawn it...

So, top marks all around.

I also watched the first half of the AMC original movie/miniseries Broken Trail tonight. And you could argue that a brand-new, never-before-seen TV movie isn’t exactly an American Movie Classic. I would argue that if a Western starring Robert Duvall and directed by Walter Hill isn’t automatically an American classic, then nothing is.

With this week’s episode of Doctor Who, I think we may have another big division that will split fandom right down the middle: Those who think the Ghostbusters joke is funny, and those who have no souls.

Okay, so far too long since I’ve actually written anything of substance here. And I’m not about to start now... :)

Been sidelined by life for the past few months, and just haven’t had the energy to write anything, to be honest. Well, not entirely true. I’ve been writing anime reviews for a soon-to-be-launched website that some friends and I are starting, and that’s taken up all of my available attention span. However, with the launch of that site approaching--sometime in August, I believe--I figured it was about time to start posting stuff here again, in hopes that readers from that site might find their way here.

So I’ve been averaging about one anime DVD a week the last month or two. I won’t go into what all they’ve been, or what I thought, since that’ll all be on the site, obviously. But what I’m going to try to do here is talk about other TV shows, books, movies, and comics that I’m reading or watching, to supplement the reviews on the site.

I always enjoy the summer season of TV, because there’s so much less pressure to watch everything I want to see. (The answer, of course, would to be to watch fewer shows during the course of the year, but the thing is, there’s just less I want to watch in the summer.) Currently enjoying:

Deadwood on HBO. Probably the best series on TV, as far as I’m concerned, so of course it’s coming to an end. But at least HBO is wrapping the story up in a pair of TV movies, instead of just leaving it hanging. (Yes, whoever decided that Carnivale had come to a natural end, I’m talking to you.) Definitely the most idiosyncratic writing and acting of any TV drama, possibly ever, but no less hard-hitting or dramatic as a result. Definitely one for the ages. (And thank you to Fox Home Video for getting David Milch’s NYPD Blue DVDs coming out regularly again after too long a hiatus. Please keep it up.)

Rescue Me on FX. Deadwood may be a better show than Rescue Me, but they’re both so good, it’s hardly worth making the distinction. I had drifted away from this one towards the end of last season, just from the weight of too much TV, but I do have the DVDs to catch up. Meanwhile, this season has been fantastic. By turns hilarious and tragic, Denis Leary’s Tommy Gavin is every bit as complex and conflicted as Ian McShane’s Al Swearengen on Deadwood, and just as fascinating to watch. Even if sometimes it’s like watching a train wreck.

Hell’s Kitchen on Fox and Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares on BBC America. Bad boy Brit chef Gordon Ramsey’s two TV series return, and it’s almost like watching two different guys. In Hell’s Kitchen, he really seems to be playing up his meanness for the American audience, as if he’s been instructed to out-Cowell Simon Cowell. He’s more balanced and reasonable on Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares, but still not soft-spoken. Sadly, this season’s competitors on Hell’s Kitchen aren’t up to par compared to last year’s. There’s nobody this year that I can see running their own restaurant, and it feels like they’re more into playing the game than they are trying to forge a career. So it’s harder to find someone to root for. Still, it’s worth watching, if only because it’s one of the few reality shows that has a tangible prize that the players have to prove themselves worthy of winning.

Hustle on AMC. Who would have thought that the third season would make it to the US so close on the heels of its British airing? It’s still the most fun show on TV, as far as I’m concerned, and really points out how last year’s American thief/caper shows got it wrong, and why they failed.

Waterloo Road on BBC America. Very much in the mold of the idealistic young teacher coming in to reform a tough school genre, but the cast makes it watchable.

Hex on BBC America. Trying so hard to be Buffy, but replacing the soul and imagination with sex. But it’s sex with hot chicks, and it’s the summer, so I’m okay watching it for the time being. (It was touch and go during the two-hour premiere, but the hour long episodes end before they wear out their welcome.)

Sharpe on BBC America. I never watched these movies, starring Sean Bean as a soldier during the Napoleonic Wars, when they aired on PBS. But I’m loving them now. Very straightforward, macho, swashbuckling adventures, with charming actors playing charming characters. A new favorite.

The 4400 on USA. The surprise science fiction hit that just crept up on me. It’s doing a good job balancing stand-alone episodes with an ongoing arc, and definitely has me coming back to see what happens next. Too much of the dialogue is a little too TV-unnatural, but it’s got a good enough cast and a twisty enough plot that I’m willing to overlook it. And this may be the first science fiction series ever with a kid who isn’t annoying. Go figure.

The Dead Zone on USA. Now in its final season, it also alternates nicely between stand-alone episodes and its ongoing arc. If it’s guilty of anything, it’s of underusing its supporting cast (series regular Nicole de Boer hasn’t appeared in any of this season’s first three episodes) but I suppose that’s better than shoehorning someone into an episode just because they’re under contract. I suspect there’s been a certain tightening of the belts at USA, since The 4400 lost a major cast member at the beginning of this season as well. (And if the promos are to believed, they’ll lose another one next Sunday.)

And I’m also watching the new series of Miss Marple on Mystery on PBS, and the Crimes of Passion movies on BBC America. I’d never really watched a Marple story before, but the season premiere featured new crush Sophia Myles, so I had to watch it. And I’m hooked. They’re light and fun, and apparently not particularly faithful adaptations of the original novels. (The second one, By the Pricking of my Thumbs, shoehorns Miss Marple into a Tommy & Tuppence novel, for example.) But I haven’t read any of the books, and I’m enjoying the series on its own merits. So there. (I also caught a Poirot movie last night, Murder on the Blue Train, because it guest-starred Hustle’s Jaime Murray, and enjoyed that quite a bit. So maybe I needs to read me some Agatha Christie.)

Speaking of reading, I’m just scratching the surface of Charles de Lint’s latest novel, Widdershins. I’ve been a fan of his for years, and this one looks like it’ll be just as good as the rest. He apologizes for using this novel to follow up on and--possibly--wrap up an ongoing story line from his short stories and a previous novel, since he prefers his books to completely stand alone. But all of his novels set in the fictional city of Newford make all sorts of references to earlier stories, so I think he may be deluding himself a little here.

Most likely to be read next: the second book of Abadazad by JM DeMatteis and Mike Ploog. Spun off from their failed comics series (well, the comic didn’t fail; the publishing company collapsed out from under them), this series is a great mix of prose and comics, trying--and mostly succeeding--to create a modern-day series with the flavor of L. Frank Baum’s original Oz books. Bursting with color and imagination, I’m hoping for a long, long run of books.

And the next comic I’m planning on reading is Love the Way You Love by Jamie S. Rich and Mark Ellerby. The last book I read before starting the de Lint one was I Was Someone Dead by Rich, and I also really liked his first novel, Cut My Hair. This comics series ties into the characters from Cut My Hair and his upcoming novel, The Everlasting, and he’s becoming one of my favorite new authors. He started out as an editor at Oni Press, and I had a negative opinion of him there. As much as I loved the comics he was editing, in his editorials and everything, he seemed to have an air of, “Oh, look how hip and cool I am.” And I had the sense that Cut My Hair was very much a “Hey, let’s talk about the music that I like” sort of book, and if you weren’t into post-80s punk, there wasn’t much point in reading it.

Well, I did end up reading it, and it didn’t end up being much like I had expected. It was much better, and pretty much spoke to me and my thoughts and fears about loneliness and relationships and all that. And I Was Someone Dead even more so. So now I’m a fan.

(Plus a new issue of Love As a Foreign Language. Does it get any better than this? Well, I suppose it does if Matt Fraction and Gabriel Ba's Casanova manages to come out every month...)

Okay, all caught up now, I think.

Movie critic Ebert seriously ill - Yahoo! News: "CHICAGO (Reuters) - Movie critic Roger Ebert was in serious
condition at a Chicago hospital on Sunday following an
emergency operation to repair complications from an earlier
cancer surgery, the Chicago Sun-Times said on its Web site."

Comic Book Resources - Comic Book News, Reviews and Commentary - Updated Daily!: "A Gutterati reports: 'I was at the Grant Morrison signing at Forbidden Planet on Sat. June 10. I asked him about his upcoming Vertigo projects, and he mentioned that 'Sea Guy' will continue with The Slaves of Mickey Eye. He also mentioned that he had to 'hold '52' for ransom' to get DC to publish. NO 'Sea Guy,' NO '52.''"

I knew 52 had to be good for something...

WARREN ELLIS ON DESOLATION JONES - NEWSARAMA: "I'd love to see Ellis do more Bat-MAn, but thsi looks pretty good to.
Keep it up!"

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, in the case of Andrew vs. mainstream comic book culture, I give you Exhibit A!

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Clearly a very busy day at work.

Amazon.com: Vampirates : Demons of the Ocean (Somper, Justin. Vampirates.): Books: Justin Somper

No opinion about the quality of the book, but "Vampirates" is probably the coolest high concept I've heard all day...

SCI FI Wire | The News Service of the SCI FI Channel: "The new updated Doctor Who boosted SCI FI Channel's ratings on Friday nights by double digits, the network reported. The new version of Doctor Who, produced by the BBC, wrapped its first season on SCI FI on June 9.
"

Hit TV show '24' coming to big screen: report - Yahoo! News: "However, the paper said the '24' movie would likely abandon
the TV show's distinctive real-time conceit, meaning that all
the murder and mayhem will no longer be squeezed into one day."

So what, exactly, would be the point?

New CW mixes old and new - Yahoo! News

For those people who watch them, good news that Veronica Mars, Gilmore Girls (both of which I do plan on catching up on on DVD), and One Tree Hill will be continuing on the new CW network. (I suppose I might find my way back to One Tree Hill on DVD as well.)

Smallville will be back, too, which means I have to decide if I want to keep watching it or not. Sadly, Everwood, the WB show I was enjoying the most, didn't make the cut. Of course.

SFX - Pans Labyrinth trailer!: "It might only be in a slightly wonky, vaguely jerky flash format. And it's in Spanish, so non-speakers will have a little trouble figuring out exactly what's going on.
But that doesn't stop Guillermo Del Toro's latest - El Laberinto del Fauno, or Pan's Labyrinth - from looking absolutely amazing."

Cody's Books to close flagship store in Berkeley: "Cody's Books, the venerable independent bookstore that has served
generations of UC Berkeley students, has announced that it will close its
flagship store on the south side of campus because of declining sales and
competition from chain stores and the Internet.
The store on Telegraph Avenue will close its doors on July 10 after 43
years.
'We have lost over $1 million attempting to keep the store open,''
said owner Andy Ross. 'As a family business, we cannot continue to afford
these ruinous losses.''"

This is such a shame. This was my childhood bookstore. (Well, that and Dark Carnival, the sci-fi/fantasy/horror bookstore where I got my first-ever job...)

Back when I first talked about ordering Infinite Crisis, I said that I was getting it because I didn’t want to be left in the dark about the current state of the DC Universe. I also said that I thought it would be pretty bad, but that if I knew that going in and accepted it and bought it anyway, then I shouldn’t actually complain.

So now it’s over, and--ironically--I don’t think it would have made any difference to my enjoyment of the small handful of DC superhero comics I’m still reading if I had skipped it altogether. As far as I could tell, anyway. Considering this is a story that apparently created a whole new Earth with a whole new history without my noticing, it’s hard to tell.

So, all I’m going to say, now that it’s done, is this:

Wasn’t that awful?

news from me - ARCHIVES: "Our friends at Fantagraphics are already putting out a fine reprint set of Mr. Schulz's Peanuts and it's about to be joined by one of Elzie Segar's Thimble Theatre, the strip more commonly known as Popeye. These have been reprinted before but the new series -- six hardcovers, Sundays in color, one volume every six months commencing this September -- promises to be must-purchase even for those of us who bought the earlier collections."

Once upon a time, I had the earlier collections of which Mr. Evanier speaks. And they were fantastic. Anyone learning about Popeye from the formulaic cartoon shorts is in for an eye-opening when these books start coming out. So, so, so very excited at this news.

How fantastic was this Saturday’s new episode of Doctor Who? And I am now totally enamoured of Sophia Myles.

Sunday, I went to see Mission: Impossible 3. I was a huge fan of the TV series growing up, and I really liked the first two movies. Plus, I’m a huge fan of JJ Abrams’ TV work, so I wanted to see his feature film directorial debut.

I’m not particularly a Tom Cruise fan, but I liked him in Minority Report and Collateral, and the previous films in this series. Whenever it’s time to cast a new James Bond, all sorts of big names are tossed around, but nobody really expects someone on that level to commit to a multi-film franchise like that. But Paramount really does have something similar with the Mission: Impossible series and Tom Cruise.

Anyway, loved the film. Great action, and a fantastic Mission: Impossible mission right in the middle of it. And a great cast. You can definitely see the JJ Abrams influence, mixing the character stuff with the spy stuff, just like on Alias. I’ve read reports that the opening weekend was “disappointing,” but it is the third movie in the series. And while I don’t really pay any attention to celebrity’s personal lives, Tom Cruise has been making a fool of himself in public quite a bit recently. That’s got to leave a mark.

I think it’s going to be a long while before I see any movies in the theater, though. Nobody actually kicked me this time, but it just isn’t a pleasant experience any more. The restrooms were so filthy I expected to have to pump gas when I came out. The woman in front of us took a call on her cell phone during the movie, and talked for five minutes. (I started kicking the back of her seat, but that did nothing. Apparently, completely oblivious to any sort of rudeness.) People had brought their ready-to-scream babies and then not sat anywhere near exits. (Seriously? The back row with your baby?) People were letting their kids go running up and down the aisles constantly.

So, that’s it. Superman Returns? X-Men 3? What am I really going to lose by seeing them in the comfort of my own home?

After watching last night’s episodes of Alias and Lost, it’s clearly not a good time to be a regular character in a TV series created by JJ Abrams. (Imagine if Felicity had killed off that many characters in one night!)

Sci Fi Wire -- The News Service of the Sci Fi Channel: "Prisoner Remake On Tap
BBC News reported that the cult 1960s TV series The Prisoner will be remade into a six-part series for the U.K.'s Sky One network, with former Doctor Who star Christopher Eccleston linked to the title role originally played by Patrick McGoohan.
"

So I subscribe to a number of blogs via RSS feed, and I pretty much just skim through them fairly quickly. Reading the entries that people have posted since last night, I feel fairly beat up by the “Original versions of Star Wars movies coming out on DVD” stick. And the amount of passion and fury directed towards George Lucas for releasing these, after saying that he never would, because clearly it’s just another attempt to get more money from Star Wars fans (surprise), even though when the most recent set (the only other time these movies have been put out on DVD, I believe) came out, fans were clamoring for the original versions.

So, okay, here it is, what you were asking for. Shut up.

Although these new/old releases do include the revised versions, so there is that to complain about. But they seem to be costing about the same as most movies, so... Shut up.

And the complaints about buying version after version after version? A gun was held to your head?

Okay, done now.

BBC - Drama - Robin Hood: "Filming started on Monday 3rd April in Budapest on the highly anticipated new series of Robin Hood for BBC ONE.
Fun, modern and intelligent, Robin Hood 2006 sets out to entertain a whole new generation and stars newcomer Jonas Armstrong in the lead role.
"

Sci Fi Wire -- The News Service of the Sci Fi Channel: "Dark Horse Slates Fafhrd Projects
Mike Richardson, president of Dark Horse Comics, told SCI FI Wire that Dark Horse's book and entertainment divisions recently acquired the book publication and movie rights to multiple award-winning author Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser fantasy stories. 'Basically we will reprint the original [novels and collections], probably at the rate of three per year,' Richardson said in an interview. 'Also, preceding that, we will be republishing [the 1991 Marvel Comics] comic [penciled by Mike Mignola and scripted by Howard Chaykin]. That will appear later this year, the entire series in book form.'
Dark Horse will also be launching a brand-new comic-book series for Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, which will feature graphic adaptations of the original Leiber stories, as well as original material."

United Press International - NewsTrack - D.C. prayer rally to seek lower gas prices: "WASHINGTON, April 26 (UPI) -- A U.S. Christian group has grown tired of escalating gasoline prices and is set to stage a national prayer rally to lower the numbers at the pumps.

Various Christian clergy from around the country will convene around a Washington, D.C., gas station Thursday at noon to pray. For those who can't attend, a live Internet site and toll-free prayer line have been established.

In a release, the Pray Live group said many people are 'overlooking the power of prayer when it comes to resolving this energy crisis.'"

Or maybe they're overlooking the power of not driving a big fucking SUV or Hummer?

Had one of those “can’t get to sleep” nights last night, so I just kept watching the various TV shows I had recorded throughout the evening. Sunday has become a big TV night, with Extreme Home Makeover (two hours last night), Desperate Housewives, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and Grey’s Anatomy. The shows started at seven; I started watching them at nine. And by quarter of two, I was done.

And that is indeed a lot of TV, by anyone’s standards. Why, it was so much TV, I didn’t have time to watch this week’s Doctor Who for a third time!

And most of it is stuff I want to keep watching. Extreme Home Makeover is a recent addition, but it’s totally the sort of emotionally manipulative, tear-jerking, feel-good nonsense that I love so much. I realize this makes me a complete little girl, but I can’t watch the bits where they tell the bus driver to move the bus without getting choked up. Every single gruddamned time. I don’t even mind the constant product-placement logo shots, because even if the companies are donating their time, manpower, and products in exchange for publicity, something good still comes of it. (See? Little girl.)

Law & Order: Criminal Intent only joined my schedule this year because half the episodes star Chris Noth and Annabella Sciora, but I’ve grown to like the Vincent D’Onofrio episodes as well. I can’t put my finger on why this one and the original show have found their way into my heart, but not SVU, which is reportedly the best of the three. Part of it is, I just don’t need three L&O shows every week. But, if the rumors are true and this is the final season for the original show, I may have room next year...

Grey’s Anatomy continues to be one of the best TV shows currently on the air. And it’s on ABC. How did that happen?

And then there’s Desperate Housewives, which I’m afraid I’m watching out of habit more than anything else. I liked last night’s episode okay, but it’s nowhere near the compelling viewing that it was in its first season. People complain about Lost having strayed from the path, but while everything I loved about the first season of that show is still there, still being expanded upon, Desperate Housewives is looking more and more like it has shot its wad. The first season had a strong focus to hang everything else on. This year, it just feels like they’re trying stuff out without a definite plan, and whenever they get back to an earlier storyline, it’s a surprise that feels like an afterthought, rather than a planned return. Like last night’s plot between Bree’s daughter and the Applewhite kid. We’ve seen them in, what, three scenes together this entire season? And nothing has been done to develop their characters, either separately or together. So how am I supposed to be invested in the future of their relationship, or their manipulations of their families? Please.

PvPonline.com Hosted By SPEAKEASY.NET : "The first issue of Truth, Justin and the American Way is sold out at the distributor level. Which is a fancy way of saying all the books are out at stores. If your store ran out, they can't order more.With issue #2 on its way, we didn't anyone who might be late to the game or didn't get a copy to be behind on the series. So Aaron, Giuseppe, Image Comics and I are happy to announce that you can now read the entire issue for free online."

Geez! Could this week’s Doctor Who game be any harder? (Plus, I can’t figure out how to rotate the pieces on level 3, because the instructions don’t seem to work for my iMac. Anyone have any suggestions?)

In New Orleans, Bush Urges Volunteerism: "'If you are interested in helping the victims of Katrina, interested in helping them get back on their feet, come on down here,' Bush said. Williams thanked the president and offered to cook him dinner when her restoration project is complete.Back in Washington, Congress was again undercutting Bush's political restoration effort. As Bush was taking off for his morning flight here, Republicans and Democrats were arguing that the Bush administration's emergency-response agency is a disaster and should be overhauled. They cited the government's slow response to Katrina as evidence that the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be abolished and replaced with a new, more effective organization."

One Small Step From Man, One Giant Leap for Pandas: "BEIJING, April 28 -- Xiang-Xiang, a 4-year-old giant panda weighing in at about 180 pounds, hesitated for a few seconds on the misty slope, as if screwing up his courage, and then lumbered off through a forest of bamboo stalks to a new life in the wild.With his waddle to freedom Friday morning on a Sichuan province mountainside, specialists said, Xiang-Xiang became the first panda born in a laboratory from an artificially inseminated mother, raised in captivity in China and released into nature to fend for himself."

Saw the new episode of Doctor Who last night, and loved it. I suspect even the professional reviews (the ones appearing in the magazines and the like, not fan ones on web sites, which I won't read any more) will be mentioning that the science fiction "plot" is secondary to all the character stuff, much like Father's Day isn't so much about the creatures from beyond time destroying the Earth as it is about Rose and her dad, or Rose isn't so much about the Auton invasion as it is about Rose. And, once again, the clue is in the title: there's a reason Rose is called Rose and not The Third Time the Doctor Fights the Autons, and there's a reason this episode is called School Reunion and not Bat Creatures Invade School.

Because while the ostensible plot of the episode might be the Krillitane’s attempts to solve the Skasis(sp?) Paradigm or whatever, the actual story is about the Sarah meeting the Doctor again, and using that to explore what it means to travel with the Doctor, in a way the series never really has before. And it’s warm and thoughtful and touching without being maudlin, and every bit of it has roots in what has come before. And it's not just about bringing back old characters for the fans, but actually uses Sarah's appearance to tell a story relevant to the current story and character developments of the series.

(Contrast this to what's been happening in superhero comics for the last few years, where it often feels like an old character shows up just so that fifteen middle-aged fans can have experience the thrill of recognition. Yes, Geoff Johns, I'm talking to you, but also to the whole school of writing/marketing that decides to stick Anarky into the story of 52 just because a roomful of hardcore fans at a convention started clapping when they heard his name. Seriously.)

Another reason I won’t be reading fan reactions is that this pretty much knocks on the head the fan belief that what the Doctor feels for his companions is nothing but pure friendship. Which, again, is nothing new depending on how you read the series, but the Doctor has, in the past, been enough of a blank slate that fans could write whatever they wanted on him. Gay fans could see that he wasn’t the typical heterosexual hero a la Captain Kirk or whatever. (He still isn’t, of course, but will that be acknowledged by the fan community? Don’t care.) Dateless fans could take comfort in the fact that the Doctor was also this being that wasn’t interested in sex, and therefore also wasn’t having any, so they had something in common with their hero. I put all this in the same category as the negative fan reaction to Chris Eccleston’s costume: if the Doctor looks like a normal guy, he’s just that much more removed from a certain segment of the audience.

But enough fan-bashing, because part of my love for this episode comes from all the memories of being a ten-year-old fan it awakened within me. When I was a kid, just discovering Doctor Who, K9 seemed like the cutest, coolest thing ever, and Sarah Jane Smith was the companion. And an early childhood crush. So this episode links directly to those memories for me. And I laughed out loud at the first joke, and I cheered out loud when K9 burst in and started shooting, rescuing the Doctor, and I got scared and upset at the climax and I cheered again at the end. And Penelope just stared at me in that way cats do, like I was nuts.

And it’s not a perfect episode. The stuff going on at the school doesn’t actually generate a lot of suspense. Even when it’s explained what they’re doing, the scenes of the kids at the computers are still pretty dull and generic. But I don’t care. Anthony Stewart Head does such a great job, I never once though, “That’s the guy from Buffy.” And I don’t even care about that. Because Sarah and K9 are back. They’re back!

And next week: Sophia Myles and clockwork androids!

So Penelope, my cat, has learned to open the cabinets in the house. Because, being a cat, no area within her domain should be closed off to her. And it’s taken about two and a half years, but she’s finally gotten the hang of it. The thing is, the cabinets here are slightly spring-loaded, so it takes some trying for her to get them open enough to stay open. So when I’m home, I can hear this steady “thump, thump, thump” as she paws at the door, only to have it close again. And when I’m not home, I come home to open cabinets. It’s when she manages to open the ones that are not at floor level that I’ll start to worry.

I don’t mind the noise, because it’s not enough to wake me up if she does it at night, and I prefer that she understand that she needs to empower herself. Plus, the alternative is to leave the cabinet doors open, and I don’t want to do that. For one thing, when I leave the house, I like to know where she is, and I don’t need to create a whole new world of nooks and crannies for her to hide in. For another, most of the cabinets have wide doors and are located in major thoroughfares, like under the bathroom sink next to the toilet, or right at the top of the stairs. It’s okay if she can figure out how to manipulate her world to suit her needs, but another thing entirely if I need to change mine for her.

So last night, I was in the bathroom, and she came in and opened the cabinet under the sink to go exploring. And she put her paws onto one of the overhead (for her) crosspieces, I guess to see what was up there. And somehow, she managed to get one of her claws wedged in between two pieces of wood, and couldn’t get it out. At first, I thought she was just messing around with something in there, and didn’t pay too much attention. Then I saw that she was trying to climb up somehow, and it so clearly wasn’t working, I couldn’t figure out what she was doing. And then I heard her crying.

Now, Penelope is an attention-seeker when she wants to be. If she wants something, she’s got quite a set of lungs, and usually, the best thing to do is just ignore her rather than encourage her yowling for attention in the house. But this time it was clearly different. She was obviously hurting and upset, and it was heartbreaking. And I couldn’t see where she was stuck, so I had to feel for it. Which meant pulling on her paw a little, which only hurt her more. But I managed to pull her claw loose, and she didn’t hold it against me.

Obviously, nothing like this is happening while I’m out, because I’ve never come home to find her stuck to anything. I’m so glad I was here to help her when she needed me.

SFX - Star Trekking - with JJ Abrams: "JJ Abrams is directing the next Star Trek film. Just take a moment to digest that. Check the calendar -- no, it's not April 1st. The source? Paramount itself."

Back in California the ratty neighborhood where i used to work has been urban renewed. This sushi place used to be a Der Weinerschnitzel.

As time passes, disappointments and frustrations continue to dominate this year. This past week hasn’t involved either me or any members of my family ending up in the hospital, which is a pleasant change, but now it’s looking like my father is going to need surgery, which makes my own problems feel petty and small by comparison. (But they’re still there, nonetheless.)

However, this past week also saw the return of Doctor Who for its second season, and that’s something to celebrate. In fact, because the first season was such a phenomenal success, last week also saw the return of making-of series Doctor Who Confidential, and the debuts of the for-kids making-of magazine TV show Totally Doctor Who and the for-kids print magazine, Doctor Who Adventures. (And three new Doctor Who novels, for those keeping score at home.) And because Doctor Who isn’t a favorite TV show for me, it’s a way of life, I had to check them all out.

First, of course, I loved the new episode, New Earth. Funny and scary, touching and thrilling, it builds on the success of the first season in a spectacular fashion. It’s not perfect; the actual resolution to the story is a little quick and easy, and as a result, not entirely satisfying. But the rest of it is so solidly entertaining, I don’t really mind.

(I should point out, at this point, I’ve seen the episode three times. Twice just to watch it, and once with the commentary downloaded from the official web site.)

New Doctor David Tennant, in just two episodes, has succeeded in making the part his own. And Billie Piper continues to be a treasure, both as Rose, and as Cassandra, the Last Human, who returns in this episode with a twist. And there’s cat nuns! And their makeup is fantastic, so much so that you never stop to think, “That’s a person in makeup.” You just accept that they’re cat nuns. Lovely.

And next week: Queen Victoria, Kung Fu monks, and a werewolf. Now that’s television.

Doctor Who Confidential continued the high standards set last year, proving that there really is enough mileage to be gotten out of 13 half-hour making-of episodes. This season already feels more focused on the new series, with less clips and interviews from the classic series. And I’m sure there’s Internet whining going on about that, but I just can’t be bothered to check. The past of the show has been mined fairly thoroughly; I’m happy to learn all I can about the current one.

I do know there’s Internet whining about Totally Doctor Who and Doctor Who Adventures. In both cases, these are products that have clearly been created, designed, and marketed for younger readers and viewers. Every bit of pre-publicity made that clear, and it’s equally clear from the products themselves. So why does the fan response (at least on Outpost Gallifrey) seem to be divided between people who thought they were okay to good, and people who are upset that they are aimed at children? This is why I’ve decided to just avoid hearing what other Doctor Who fans think about the show and its stuff any more.

Me, I really liked Totally Doctor Who. Clearly, at the age of almost 37, I am not the target audience. But I grew up watching these sorts of magazine shows for kids. My earliest recollection is of one called Big Blue Marble, which featured stories about kids and things from around the world. I also remember faithfully watching one called Spot On! when we lived in New Zealand for a year. And I can’t think of a single example of that sort of thing being made in the US any more. So to see something like this again, one that reminds me very much of the shows from my childhood, only devoted completely to something that I love today? And to find it completely entertaining? It’s a great feeling.

And the new comic is pretty nifty, too. Lots of nice pictures, including a full-page pin-up of Rose. Hubba hubba.

James Bond 'Ultimate Edition' DVDs Officially Announced - James Bond 007 - CommanderBond.net - James Bond At Its Best: "While most Bond fans have known about this for some time, Sony has officially announced that all 20 James Bond films will be released as 'Ultimate Edition' DVDs. A preview for the new collector sets is attached to the Sony/Columbia DVD release of Fun with Dick and Jane."

Having complained oh-so-much about Infinite Crisis and its related comics, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to say something positive about comics. So here’s what new stuff I’m ordering from the current Previews catalog:

CONAN AND THE DEMONS OF KHITAI TP
I’m enjoying Dark Horse’s monthly Conan series so much it’s scary. But the miniseries, I’m waiting until they’re collected, instead of buying the individual issues. (Just don’t need the comics piling up around the house, and I don’t want to wait a quarter of a year for a self-contained story that will take me less than an hour to read...)

CONCRETE VOL 6 STRANGER ARMOR TP
This may be the final (to date) collection of Paul Chadwick’s excellent Concrete series. Definitely one that holds up to rereading, and one I’d rather have on the bookshelf than stuffed away in some comics box somewhere.

BPRD THE BLACK FLAME TP
I had been reading the BPRD series as they came out, just like I do Hellboy (the book that spawned it), but they weren’t really sticking to my brain the way I would have liked. The Black Flame is the first one I decided to hold off on buying until it was collected, and I expect it’ll be a lot more enjoyable for me in one sitting...

ASTRO CITY SAMARITAN SPECIAL
Kurt Busiek does such a fantastic job telling Astro City stories in both multi-issue arcs and single issues. So do I mind an extra-sized special issue while the current ongoing story is on a break? No, I do not.

CLAW THE UNCONQUERED #1
I mentioned above my enjoyment of the Conan comic, which has extended almost equally to the Red Sonja comics. So I bought the Red Sonja/Claw miniseries (or at least the one issue out so far), and liked that just fine. Andy Smith’s art was great, and he’s going to be drawing this revival of Claw’s solo series. And it’s going to be written by Chuck Dixon, whose work I love--on the right character or book--and who wrote the first Conan comic story I can remember buying. So I’m going to give this a try.

CASANOVA #1
It’s a spy book with all the right influences (Steranko’s SHIELD, Diabolik, stuff like that), and it’s only $1.99. And the art looks nice. Worth trying at that price... (There's an interview with writer Matt Fraction about it here.)

GARGOYLES #1
While I drifted away from the cartoons after a while, I really enjoyed this show when it premiered, and am enjoying it all over again on DVD. If it wasn’t being written by the series creator, I probably wouldn’t be buying the comic. But it is, so I am. So there.

FLIGHT VOL 3 GN
The first two Flight books were great. No reason to expect anything less from this third one.

BLACK PLAGUE ONE SHOT
I’m buying this one for Joe Casey, who rarely disappoints with his own creations. We’ll see... (It’s only a one-shot, so not a big risk.)

CHIPS WILDE THE WILD ONE GN
It’s a graphic novel set in a period that interests me (the West in the ‘20s), by a veteran Western comics artist. I think it’s worth checking out.

RED SONJA MONSTER ISLAND ONE SHOT
I’ll admit, they probably had me at Red Sonja. But this one is written by classic Conan writer (and creator of the comics version of Red Sonja) Roy Thomas. Thomas was one of the key comics creators from my childhood, and it’s hard to pass up anything with his name on it these days. (It’s almost as hard to find anything with his name on it, for that matter...)

ADVENTURES OF RED SONJA VOL 2 SHE DEVIL WITH A SWORD TP
Roy Thomas again, this time joined by Frank Thorne as artist, in these reprints of Sonja’s 70s Marvel series. I enjoyed the stories in the first book just fine, although I would have enjoyed them better if they had been reproduced better. I’m taking a chance that this will show some improvement.

PHANTOM LAW OF THE JUNGLE GN
I’m not sure what this will turn out looking like (it’s made up of panels spread out across two pages, with the dialogue and captions printed in the margins, I think). But I like the Phantom, and with art by Paul Guinan in a style similar to his recent Heartbreakers book, it’ll be really pretty.

LOVE THE WAY YOU LOVE #1
I finally read Jamie Rich’s first novel, Cut My Hair, and enjoyed it much more than I expected. This new series deals with some of the peripheral characters from that novel, so I’m looking forward to seeing them again. Plus, it’s in my new favorite format, Oni’s little digest format. You get the thrill of a serialized story, but in pieces bigger and more substantial than the average comic book.

STRUGGLERS GN
A last minute addition. I’m getting it because I’ve heard great things about creator Tim Fish, it sounds like the sort of slice-of-life story I really enjoy, and the price isn’t too bad for what you get.

JUDGE DREDD COMPLETE CASE FILES VOL 4 TP
And these, I’ll just keep getting until they stop making them. Because I Judge Dredd.

Oh, and almost making the cut would have been Paul Jenkins and Chris Moreno's Sidekick from Image Comics, a humorous superhero book. Only when push came to shove, I I decided it wasn't really lighting my fire the way I want a Paul Jenkins comic to excite me. He says it's going to deconstruct the superhero genre by throwing pies at it. And, at this point, what's clever about a comic book pointing out how silly superhero stories can be?

I'm a fan of the CD revivals of childhood favorite TV shows from Big Finish. I'm not a huge Dark Shadows fan, but I like the idea. I really liked the short-lived prime time revival series in the 90s, but find the original series a bit too slow and dull to actually sit and watch. But the idea of supernatural soap opera really appeals. (This is why I enjoyed NBC's Passions so much until I became too busy to watch it every day.) So this news is certainly of interest...

Dark Shadows audios? - Outpost Gallifrey: "Big Finish will indeed be releasing a series of Dark Shadows audio dramas on CD. These are officialy licensed from Dan Curtis Productions and will star members of the original series cast. An official announcement from Big Finish will be released shortly.

For those of you unfamiliar with Dark Shadows, it is a gothic drama TV series that was broadcast in the US from the mid-Sixties to early Seventies. It is the closest equivalent to an American Doctor Who in the sense that it attracted a dedicated pre-teen following on its original broadcast that has grown in to a massive, and very enthusiastic, cult following. The series has spawned many fanzines, newsletters, websites and conventions and it seems only natural that Big Finish should step in and continue the rich legacy on audio as it has with the likes of Doctor Who, The Tomorrow People and Sapphire and Steel. We feel certain that Dark Shadows fans and newcomers alike will enjoy this latest addition to the range of audio dramas available from Big Finish. "

BBC America seems to currently be in the midst of trying to appeal to viewers with pulses. In addition to the shows in the article I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, they have some new stuff coming next week that I’m interested in.

First, in their “Mystery Monday” slot, they’re showing the third series of Sea of Souls, just a few weeks after its conclusion in the UK. Having seen the first two series on DVD, this has become a favorite of mine--doesn’t hurt that, starting with the second series, the cast featured Dawn Steele--and it’s nice to know I’ll get to see the third series right away. This series departs from the earlier format of three two-part stories over the six-episode series, instead telling six single-episode stories. I’ve read reviews that say the quality almost as good as the second series, so I’m excited.

It’s followed by something called Murder Prevention Unit, about which I know nothing, but I’ll check it out.

And on Tuesday, there’s the premiere of Rocket Man, a drama starring Robson Green. Again, read about this on the BBC UK site and it sounded like something I wanted to check out (been a fan of Green’s since Touching Evil). Now I can, without having to buy the DVDs.

BBC America - Sea Of Souls: "Driving on a curvy road, you suddenly know what is around the bend -- and there it is, exactly as predicted. The phone rings and you know who is calling. Coincidence? A fluke? Or are these glimpses of powers beyond our knowledge? One man's truth is another man's hocus-pocus, and that is where Dr. Douglas Monaghan (Bill Paterson, Lie With Me) and his two researchers Justine McManus (Dawn Steele) and Craig Stevenson (Iain Robertson) come in. They make up the fictional Parapsychology Unit at Clyde University that is at the heart of the gripping drama Sea of Souls.

Over six individual one-hour stories, the Edgar-nominated Sea of Souls confronts dark, unanswered questions of the supernatural. What others find terrifying -- deathly seances, powerful premonitions, vivid night terrors, sinister hauntings, demonic forces, and macabre black magic-- the Sea of Souls team finds mesmerizing."

And because Heist has been canceled, I've stopped watching it immediately. I liked the first two episodes I saw just fine, but I don't need to watch it until the bitter end, particularly if it's not going to tell its complete story.

Goodbye Heist - TV Squad: "Heist, the stylish NBC robbery drama, has already been axed by the network, Michael
Ausiello is reporting at his site ..."

A little bit of home on my parents mantle.

Hospitals do indeed suck. But @ least this one has a nice view.

See the plane @ the end of the jetway? That means ill b flying 2day after all!

It’s midseason, and the networks are springing new shows on us like there’s no tomorrow. These, of course, would be the shows that weren’t considered strong enough to handle fall competition, but enough money was spent that they get an airing anyway.

There’s two shows about thieves, Heist and Thief. Heist is pretty much the TV series version of Michael Mann’s Heat. If it was better, it would be Hustle, but it’s watchable. Thief, starring Andre Braugher on FX, is serious as a heart attack. But it’s only six episodes, so I’ll try to stick it out.

Also decided to sample a couple of new comedies. NBC has Teachers, which looked pretty atrocious in the commercials, but stars Sarah Alexander from Coupling, Green Wing, and Worst Week of My Life. And, indeed, it was atrocious, and did star Sarah Alexander, acting comedic circles around her costars. But between here and one scene that did make me laugh, it gets a second chance from me this Tuesday.

And last night, I recorded VH1’s So NoTORIous, Tori Spelling’s new sitcom about herself. And it’s not fantastic, but it was funny, particularly the second episode. So I’ll probably keep watching it.

(Really, all I ask from a sitcom is it makes me laugh. That’s all it takes, and so few still manage to do it.)

So I’m trying to hire someone to trim my two trees (pine tree in front; palm in back) and clean up my very neglected back yard. So far, I’ve had two companies out to give me estimates. One estimated higher for the trees, the other would charge less for the trees, and more for the cleanup and weeding of the back. So, six of one, half a dozen of the other. The third company is supposed to come out tomorrow. It may come down to who has complaints filed against them with the license board, if any, or it may come down to me just picking a name out of the hat.

We’ll see.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Robin Hood returns to British TV: "Legendary folk hero Robin Hood and his Merrie Men will return this autumn in an BBC One series, with newcomer Jonas Armstrong in the title role."

Really looking forward to this. It's already been announced that it'll be coming to BBC America, and if that channel is indeed contributing financing to the show, hopefully it won't be too long a wait.

I watched last week’s episode of Smallville last night. It’s felt like a while since we’ve gotten new episodes, but frankly, I hadn’t really minded not having to watch it. Part of it is the fact that, after five years, nothing seems to have really changed or evolved on the show. (How many other shows could kill off a supposedly major character without a single ripple?) But part of it is just an increasing dissatisfaction with another aspect of the show.

A few episodes ago, we got a story dealing with Lois and Chloe being menaced by the spirit of a murdered girl out for revenge. It was a truly pedestrian episode, and could have come from almost any supernatural TV series: Buffy, Angel, Supernatural, Ghost Whisperer... Take your pick. But in talking to a friend about it, I realized that it really brought to the front a problem that, sadly, I had only been registering subconsciously.

So here’s the problem I currently have with Smallville, and I don’t know if it’s a problem that’s always exisited and I--shamefully--didn’t notice before, or if it’s been something that’s been growing over the past few seasons. But every woman on the show is either a victim or evil. And I recognize that, it being a show about Superman, almost every story is going to involve characters needing to be rescued by Clark Kent. I get that. But it’s not constantly ending up tied next to explosives that makes Lana a weak victiim character--although it certainly helps--it’s the fact that her character isn’t strong enough to tell Clark that she isn’t putting up with his crap any more and walking away. Chloe exists to pass on information to Clark and get tied up. Lois exists to tease about the future, and to get tied up and beaten.

And then I read in last month’s issue of SFX that Erica Durrance, who plays Lois, has a phobia of water. And last season, she was put in a death trap that involved a slowly flooding room gradually covering her with water and threatening to drown her. And this season, she fell in love with Aquaman, a storyline that required the actress to spend lots of time in the water.

And I read this, and I’m thinking the producers had to know of her phobia. And there was no particular reason for her to be the one Aquaman falls for and not, say, Chloe, since the characters are completely interchangeable. And this is complete conjecture on my part, but it almost sounds like the producers made he decision to put the actress in an uncomfortable position. And if that’s the case, and you combine it with what appears to be a mysogynist streak running through the storytelling, and it just leaves an increasingly bad taste in my mouth.

And I’m not quite to the point where I don’t want to watch the show, but it’s bothering me more now than it should.

Woke up this morning, got out of bed, and discovered that it apparently took me an hour to get from the bedroom to the computer.

I hate Daylight Savings Time.

BBC - Doctor Who (David Tennant and Billie Piper) - News

New trailer for the second series of Doctor Who!

BBC America targets younger viewers with new shows - Yahoo! News: "LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - A high school drama from
the creators of the U.K. hit 'Footballers Wives' and fresh
takes on Robin Hood and Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde are among the new
dramas set to air on BBC America in the next year, the cable
channel said Wednesday.

BBC America general manager Kathryn Mitchell said the
offshoot of the venerable British broadcaster wants to broaden
its appeal to a slightly younger audience, 'but we don't want
to lose those loyal viewers.'"

You gonna eat all that chicken?

Found this on a random blog today, under the title "Showtime's made a huge mistake." Now I was never a big fan of Arrested Development, so I don't much care if it's gone for good or not, but is it really fair to blame Showtime when the article says:

R.I.P., 'Arrested Development' -- critics' fave not given room to grow: "A source close to the negotiations said that creator Mitch Hurwitz had
decided after a lengthy period of debating an offer from Showtime that
'Arrested Development reached its end, creatively, as a series.'"

Sci Fi Wire -- The News Service of the Sci Fi Channel: "David E. Kelley is writing Life on Mars, a time-travel crime drama pilot for ABC, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The show, targeted for fall 2007, is based on the BBC's 2006 drama, which stars John Simm as a 21st-century detective who, following a car crash, mysteriously finds himself working as a cop in the 1970s."

Young Adult Fiction: Wild Things - New York Times: "The 'Gossip Girl,' 'A-List' and 'Clique' series-- the most successful in a crowded field of Au Pairs, It Girls and other copycat series -- represent a new kind of young adult fiction, and feature a different kind of heroine. In these novels, which have dominated the field of popular girls' fiction in recent years, Carol Gilligan's question about whether girls can have 'a different voice' has been answered -- in a scary way."

Adventures of Brisco County Jr., The - Brisco date, art and tons of extras!

BBC - Doctor Who (David Tennant and Billie Piper) - News : "The 2005 series of Doctor Who, starring Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper, has been nominated for Best Drama Series in British Television's most prestigious awards, the BAFTAs (British Academy of Film and Television Arts)."

The good news: One of the stars of Hustle, a current fave, will be appearing in the new series of Doctor Who. The bad news: it's not Jaime Murray...

BBC - Doctor Who (David Tennant and Billie Piper) - News : "Highly acclaimed actors Marc Warren and Shirley Henderson have joined the cast of episode 10 of the new series of Doctor Who, working alongside the previously-announced Peter Kay."

John Rogers hits the nail on the head as far as why I won't go to movies in theaters any more.

Kung Fu Monkey: How to Save the Theater Industry: "The number one reason that every single person I know gives for not going to the movies anymore is the annoyance of dealing with people who just don't behave in the theater. Yes, yes, theater owners, your cell phone adds are cute. But how many of us have dealt with the idiots around us who dutifully turn off their cellphones, and then turn and chat -- not whisper, fucking coffee-klatch -- with the person beside them?"

I just read Infinite Crisis Secret Files & Origins 2005. And while it actually seemed to make less sense than the regular Infinite Crisis issues, I did enjoy the fact that, basically, it's about two guys who have done nothing more than sit around reading comics for the past twenty years wishing things could be just like they used to be. Which probably sums up Infinite Crisis' target audience, really.

(Here, I'm not talking about my friends who are reading and enjoying it. I'm talking about the people who post on Internet message boards about how wonderful it would be to see Anarky and Booster Gold get their chance in the spotlight again.)

(Anarky? Seriously?!?)