Funeral Potatoes

I became aware of Kiri Callaghan through Twitter and a mutual acquaintance Blake Northcott when she did a Follow Friday. Her awesome bio hooked me. Through Kiri's Tweets I became aware that she was writing a one act play called Funeral Potatoes. You can buy the Kindle version here for .99 . I bought the play today and was blown away. The story is about two friends in their twenties Kismet and Vera. The story opens with Kismet and Vera sharing a normal shopping trip trying on clothes. This really establishes the relationship between the two friends. The character interplay and banter is done really well and you feel like you know the characters. The fun eventually turns to Kismets funeral, and what starts out as banter until the reality of the situation falls on them. The audience really finds out how bad Kismets situation is when she wakes up afer an episode with Vera having returned from a funeral. This is the scene where the Funeral Potatoes come in. My favorite scenes of the play are the ones told from the point of view of Kismets mind. This is where are the reflection comes in and she shows her fears and tries to come to grips with what is happening to her. One of the poignant parts of the scenes are the clock ticking in the background. You can almost feel the time running out.

The questions that Kismet asks herself are ones we can all identify with. Is there anything after we die? Did we do enough with our lives? Is this all there is? As someone who has their issues with death, I really identified with her. This book asks a lot of questions but does not answer many. That is left up to the audience. The characterization is great in the book, and we can only hope that we all have friend like Vera.

If you want to read more from Kiri she is currently working with Blake Northcott on a novelization of Luna a were-wolf themed TV pilot that is currently in development from creators John Ceallach, and Randy J. Goodwin of The Vampire Diaries.

You can also find her on Twitter @KiriCallaghan

Of Geek Girls, Sasquatch, and other myths...

Let me preface this with saying I am kind old, like 40 old. There has been a lot of talk lately about Geek Girls not getting their due, and comparing themselves to the mythical Unicorn. People have heard of girls that like Star Wars, comics, and playing D&D, but nobody has even seen them. The stories of them bounced around Geek Boys basements everywhere. Where geek boys got together with their friends and did some gaming, or watched some Science Fiction, there was talk about this fictional member of the opposite sex. Let me tell you I was one of those guys. When I grew up guys played with GI-Joe, girls played with Barbie. Girls looked down on Star Wars as boring, and playing D&D as lame. In my family there was not one female that hung out with the males in the family and our geeky pursuits.

Then fast forward to about 2004. This is when some guys at work talked me into playing World of Warcraft, the MMORPG. In this game I came across people from all walks of life, including females. This was totally new to me and the first inkling that something different was going on. As time went on, not only were females good at the game, they were guild and raid leaders. This would have been a place reserved for males just a few years before. Times they were a changing. Then a few years ago I joined Twitter and it opened up a whole new world to me. I went in knowing very few people. One of those people goes by the name of MsMarvelGirl on Twitter. She is a young graphic artist that is an avid Marvel comic reader. Through her, and probably because of my Twitter handle hulksmash02 I was introduced to a whole gaggle of Geek Girls.

One of the first was Felicia Day. I came across her name when someone recommended the Guild web series. Now she is a Goddess among Geek Girls. Geek Girls are out there. They not only read science fiction they write it. They are artists, actresses, web series writers and stars, they are big name celebrities. They also are not going away, nor should you as Geek Boys want them to. Now is a great time for you to meet someone with the same interests, that knows what a Tardis is, and can kick your ass at Halo. Ok maybe the last may not be that great, but you get my meaning. They are real and they are out there waiting for you to say hello. They are just as shy and awkward as you and it may take some time, but it will be totally worth it. Just treat them with respect, don't freak out, and don't immediately comment on their boobs. Here is just a list of just a few really cool and talented Geek Girls that you can follow on Twitter.



@ComicBookGrrl

@fightmaven

@ComixBookGurl

@Geekyjessica

@pattyjrobinson

@amy_geek

@slackerheroes

@amyokuda

@feliciaday

@MsMarvelGirl

You really can go home again...

I just finished reading The New Teen Titans Graphic Novel called Games. This book was over twenty years in the making and boy was it worth it. With the advent of the DCnU I never thought I would care about a comic again. Then I read this Graphic Novel. It is written by Marv Wolfman and George Perez the creators of the New Teen Titans. It was started over twenty years ago so there are some continuity differences in the story but it is written with characters that I grew up with and how I remember them being written. Starfire is an alien warrior with a heart of gold, not the vapid bimbo that she is in the new DCnU book that she is in. Cyborg is grown up and a hero already not some kid that has not even turned into Cyborg yet that they have in the DNnU. Donna Troy is in it in her Troia identity, Nightwing is the leader, and Changeling goes from comic relief to being the heart of the book.  Danny Chase, one of my least favorite Titans becomes really likeable in this story.

      I keep going back to the DCnU because they have stomped all over the characters that I love and reading this book has brought that into great clarity. This is how comics should be written and drawn. The art by George Perez is gorgeous throughout the book, and Marv Wolfman writes a compelling story that not everyone comes away unscathed from. I never thought I would see this Titans team drawn by George and written by Marv again unless it was in re-releases. I never thought I would see one last original story of my favorite characters by my favorite creators. I really hope they see the magic they have and do some more together.

     The story itself is a time capsule of the 90’s but does not seem dated at all. It has the Titans team and surrounding characters from the 90’s Titans. The story is high stakes. There is an enemy that has found out all of the Titans friends and relatives. To coin the phrase, people live, people die, and the Titans will never be the same. The characterization is spot on and something that nobody else has come close to on the Titans since. Since it was started 20 years ago It definitely stands as standalone comic outside regular continuity. The dust jacket on the novel reads: Discover who the power players truly are In New Teen Titans: Games, the long anticipated swan song for one of the most beloved superhero sagas of all time. I could not have said it better myself.

What do you get when you cross John Wayne with a Zombie?

You get Zombie Outlaw. The new independent comic series from series writer Brian J. Apodaca and artist B. Paul Jordan. If you need your Zombie fix and are tired of the heaviness that is The Walking Dead, then this is the comic for you. The art and writing are breezy and the writing is an easy read. This comic takes place at Irvine State University where in the past one zombie is not trying to kill everyone but save a city from other zombies. I have gathered from the interview with the creative team we will learn more about them in subsequent issues. The badness starts in 1872 and continues until now. The three main characters are Will Simers the brains of the group and also pretty good at the love game. You have Matt Naismith the geek who is socially awkward and turns to Will for some help with the female lead K.T. Delaney. I don't want to give away spoilers here but there are zombies and definitely a cliff hanger. The art reminds me of Popeye and Mike Wierengo's work. Over the top but it works for the book. The lead zombie is a cowboy hat wearing zombie with a thirst for blood that also uses a gun. as you can see from the pic below. 

Cover of issue #1

Our hero Zombie Outlaw

I got a chance to ask the creative team some questions. They were kind enough to answer.


Geek Happenings: Paul. You have a really unique art style. Who were your influences for your art? Also are the green creatures zombies also? Are we going to find out more about them in future issues?

Benny Jordan: First off, go ahead and call me Benny.

    The influences for my art were Skottie Young, Mike Wierengo, and Carlos Meglia. Although my style reflects nothing of those artists, I appreciated the cartoonish flare that they put into their illustrations.  Many comics these days seem to have the same serious feel and style, so they become a bit stagnant to me. I wanted this book to have a sort of Saturday morning cartoon feel, being somewhat nostalgic.

    The first issue, art-wise, was not my best work.  I was still at an experimental stage with the art.  Since then I've gone on to work on a comic title for Scattered Comics Studios with Jason Dube called Shadow Hunters.  I learned a lot while doing that book.  Though the two books are completely different in art styles, I've taken what I've learned, as well as taking into consideration all the great reviews and critiques for the first Zombie Outlaw book, and have applied it to the second issue of "ZO".  My style is still quite similar to the first issue but the characters flow a little smoother, my panel layout is considerably better, and my backgrounds are going to be more than just negative space. So, for those who have read the first issue, the characters in issue 2 will have some slight differences.  I look at the first issue as being somewhat of a pilot episode, realizing what changes need to be made and applying them to the next.




Geek Happenings: Brian, did you have an idea where the story was going to go, or how many issues you wanted to do? Did you have a planned end spot?


Brian Apodaca: Ben and I have an idea for where the story is going to go, but no set-in-stone endpoint.    We have the feeling of it being open-ended, like a sitcom or classic animated series, like Transformers or G.I. Joe, with a fair helping of the classic Apatow comedies
like Freaks and Geeks or Undeclared influencing the style as well.   There's definitely some Undeclared in there, and I'm a big fan of Freaks and Geeks as well, so that naturally bleeds into the college-based story. I think with the artwork, as Benny has said, there's a lot of animated cartoon influence - maybe not so specific, but more of a general nostalgia for old cartoons we enjoyed watching - not just Transformers and G.I. Joe, but even Thundercats, Silverhawks, and even the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon and the Dragonslayer video game.   We're also both fans of the Scott Pilgrim books and the film adaptation.
  
    The College setting is the main base of the story, but the second issue is in production at this point, and there's a trip to a nearby Tiki-Bar that is frequented by some of the college students that becomes important as the story goes on.
   
    The second issue will introduce several new characters, and flesh out one of the characters we only saw briefly at the end of Issue #1 - Scooter Donatelli.   
   
    As to your question about the green creatures:   Yes, they were Zombies!   And we will see more of them as time goes on. There will also be another flashback/storytelling sequence from the Western Occult History book, which will reveal more about the 1870s (original!) Zombie Outlaw, Edward Dransby.

If you want to learn more about the Zombie Outlaw movement there are plenty of ways to get in touch and give comments.

1) Zombie Outlaw Facebook Page:     http://www.facebook.com/zombieoutlawcomic

2) The "Zombie Outlaw" creative team will be appearing at the ComiKaze Expo on November 5th and 6th  http://www.comikazeexpo.com

3) There is a "Zombie Outlaw - OUTBREAK" Cosplay Event happening October 23rd -  (Facebook-accessible link)  -  https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=253199048057438


So get your Zombie on.

Lucas you stole my childhood!

With the Star Wars: The complete saga Blue-rays coming out, the lightning rod that is George Lucas is in the news again. The previews I have seen on TV look stunning. I went to Amazon to see when it is coming out. I looked and it already had a two out of five star rating. How can people rate things that have not even come out yet? There were an amazing 775 one star reviews. The first review that I read was a rundown of supposed changes that were made or not made? These were made sight unseen. The next review is a review of what is listed on the packaging. I am not thinking these reviews as Fox News states are "fair and balanced."

Even some of my good friends are saying that he stole their childhoods by making Greedo shoot first, adding the Nooooo Darth Vader scene when he throws the Emperor down the shaft. What people don't realize or admit is that they would not have had these memories in the first place if George Lucas had not put his money into a space opera movie that nobody thought would succeed with relatively unknown actors. I turned forty this year and the first movie I can remember seeing was the original Star Wars A New Hope movie in 1977. I was six years old and will never forget the opening scene with the Star Destroyer coming into view chasing the Corellian Corvette. I will never forget the first scene of Darth Vader coming through the smoke after the boarding party. These are memories that nobody will be able to take from me no matter how many re-makes there are, or added footage is added. These scenes are embedded in my mind. What kid that has seen the movies has not reached towards something and tried to move it with the force. Heck I still do that. Unfortunately it has not worked yet.

People keep talking about Lucas bleeding money out of them. These are the same people that have these same memories that I do. But you know what? People have a choice. Last I checked Lucas was not holding a gun to my head making me buy all of his products. In fact I don't own any of the movies on DVD. I made a decision not to buy them. I know people are fans, short for fanatics and do crazy things and have to own every piece of starwars celluloid that comes out. But somewhere people have to have personal responsibility. In the end these are George Lucas' movies. He can do what he wants with them. It is up to you the consumer to decide whether to buy them. As for me, I will be one of the people buying the movies. I am actually looking forward to them. If another version comes out, I will not be buying them. I don't NEED them.

Do I think Lucas is perfect? No far from it, I think he has done some pretty bad things with his movies. such as shutting down a screening of the movies that a group had arranged. So he is far from a saint, but they are his movies. I liken this reaction the George R.R. Martin completing the Song of Ice and Fire books. People were threatening him if he did not come out with the next book. As I said before fans do strange things. But let’s not forget that it was these people that made us love these things in the first place. So as you see, the title of my post was kind of tongue and cheek.

 May the force be with you.

    

52 Pickup

     Weighing in on the new DCnU. DC comics are at it again, rebooting continuity. Something that they started in the mid-eighties with a maxi-series called Crisis on Infinite Earths. This series was supposed to have streamlined their comic lines continuity. We got a new Flash out of it, origins were changed, characters died or ended up never existing, and multiple earths got mashed into one. What followed was a cluster bleep of continuity that even DC could not keep up with and they just ended up saying screw it. I mean Donna Troy or Wonder Girl went through at least 3 origin changes depending on the whim who was writing her. I don’t think she knew whether she was coming or going.

     Following this we had Zero Hour another attempt at fixing the continuity, then came Identity Crisis, Infinite Crisis and a ton of other crisis’ to try and fix things. While it did provide a temporary band-aid and boost in sales, it did not last. It just confused the readership and kind of turned them off. Now we have the latest big thing. We have the rebooting of the entire DC line of comics, well almost. The Batman titles will have the same continuity. I guess because they were selling well and don’t fix what aint broke as they say. This adds even more confusion.  So now we have a younger Superman that is not married to Lois Lane and focusing more on the alien aspect of his origin. This makes a pretty un-relatable character even more so. So here we are again. This seems like a money grab to me. I don’t know if it will last after the initial shininess wears off. Hopefully people like Gail Simone, Jim Lee, and Geof Johns will prove me wrong.

Carbon Leaf

My favorite band that you have probably never heard of. Carbon Leaf is from Virginia. The band consists of Barry Privett on vocals, Terry Clark on guitars, Carter Gravatt on guitars, Jon Markel on bass, and Jason Neal on drums. I was introduced to them by a friend that gave me a CD with both them and the band Moxy Fruvous on it. I listened to the Carbon Leaf songs and they just blew me away lyrically and musically. Their older music had a Celtic feel to it. They have since gone away from it on their later CD's but still play the songs live. This is the first band I have heard that can make a mandolin cool. They are so gracious to their fans. After every gig they hang out afterwards and talk to fans. This is after having probably drove for miles in a van to get to the gig, and then playing a two hour show. I have gotten to talk to them three times and have two signed set lists among my prized posessions.
The first video of their I am going to post is a song called "What about everything" They played a show at Virginia Tech after the shootings in 2007. It looked to be an extremely emotional show. It also shows how great they are to their fans.

The song lyrics mean a lot to me. I actually have a T-shirt from one of their shows with the lyrics to the song on it.

The second time I saw them was on my birthday. I could not have asked for a better birthday present. We got to the venue early and heard music coming out of the venue. My wife and friend and I walked in and they were doing sound check. We got to listen to them doing a song 5 feet in front of us and then got to record a video that they posted to Twitter before the show. Amazing night. Here is the video. They did a one mic version of their song "Block of Wood." Amazing. Here is the video. The people Barry is talking about in it are my wife and friend and I.

Then here is the Celtic sound that I opened up with. A song called "The Boxer"

Hope you enjoy the post and videos. They are a band close to my heart. You can follow them on Twitter @carbonleaf , and find them on the web at www.carbonleaf.com

If a joke falls flat in Twitter world will anyone hear it?

I have a love\hate relationship with Twitter right now. I need to keep my mantra of not taking things personally, and trying not to let my awkward self out so much. Sometimes I look at my timeline and think the joke is way over my head and that everyone is friends with each other but me. I guess that is what happens when I decide to follow people that all know each other and work in the same industry. It is a tough nut to crack. For the most part people are really nice about responding to a Tweet. So people are really great. I mean they don't know me. They probably have never heard of this blog. I mean I really don't have a whole lot to offer people. I don't have a million followers so I can't help promote things. I don't work in the industry. The writing that I do is a hobby and not a job. I am not a professional. So if I come off sounding awkward sometimes I apologize. Sometimes my inner geek comes out too much.

     I do want to thank Jessica Mills of Awkward Embraces. You can find her on Twitter at Geekyjessica. She is so gracious to her fans and is also hysterical. Another really gracious person is Blake Northcott. You can find her on Twitter as ComicBookGrrl. She wrote the excellent e-book Vs. Reality, which I have reviewed on here. Another talented person that I have interacted with is Amanda White. I reviewed her Toyshop CD on this site also. You can find her on Twitter at amandawhite. All are great and talented folks who inspire me to do write. So for that I thank you guys, and anything I can do for you guys let me know.  

Doesn't matter if you're black or white....

Or does it? There has been a lot of buzz about Miles Morales taking up the mantle of Spider-Man. The buzz does not seem to be so much about the reason for Miles to don the webs, like Peter Parker getting killed in the pages of Ultimate Spider-Man. The biggest backlash is Miles' race. He is a half black\half Hispanic teenager. Spider-Man has been Peter Parker a white male since his first appearance in Amazing Fantasy in 1962. I have grown up with Peter. I have been through the ups and downs of the teenage years with him. I have been through being the nerd who got beat up in school. I also saw him become something more when he was bit by a radioactive spider in a lab and given the proportionate strength and speed of a spider. 

      Peter was a symbol of being able to rise above the problems I had and a sign that things would get better.  He was my hero. Now he has been taken away. I am hoping that the reason is not for a gimmick. Writer Brian Michael Bendis says that this is going to be for the long haul. A lot of the positive feedback for the change is that people that are not white to see someone that they can identify with. One of my problems is writers have had chances to develop original characters that resonate with minorities and I think a lot of them have dropped the ball. They have been unable to come up with anything else so they piggyback on an icon. As with the movie industry the comic industry has run out of original ideas so they have to do the constant reboots.

     In this world of political correctness I can’t help but think that this is what has happened here, a politically correct change for the sake of being politically correct. I am going to give the benefit of the doubt because above all I am about the story. I hope that Peter was not made a martyr for political correctness. He deserves better than that.

      This is a tough path that Bendis has gone down. What happens if Peter comes back? This happens quite often in comics. Marvel thinks the backlash is big now. It is going to be ten times worse if a white Peter comes back to take Miles' place. It will be called racism, and just another case of the white hero taking over the place of a minority, and we will be back to square one. I hope that the stories are good. I hope that minorities get out in record numbers and buy the book and support the change they have been pushing for. I guess time will tell.

Review of Vs. Reality by Blake Northcott

What do the movie Pulp Fiction, super heroes, and MMA have in common? They are all elements in Blake Northcott's first e-book Vs. Reality.
 I have always been a sucker for flawed characters. This book is full of them, from the self mutilating Dia, the drug peddling Brodie, and the down on his luck MMA fighter Donovan, and these are the good guys. The action is well thought out and visualized. You can identify with the idealistic Donovan and the reluctant hero Dia. Their personalities are very likeable, even if you may not agree with some of the things they are doing. One of the things that I don't like about some other urban fantasy books is that I can sometimes not find one character in a series that I really liked. This book does not have that problem. This is a really fun and quick read, that will keep you engaged throughout. I am looking forward to learning more about the Basement, and seeing these characters grow. Good Start Blake.
You can buy the book here and for .99 it is a steal

Jim Butcher's Ghost Story review

     Ghost Story is the thirteenth book in Jim Butcher's seminal Dresden Files books. If you have not read any of the books in the series this is not a good jumping on place. I suggest you start at Storm Front, the first book of the series. For those that have been reading the series, this is a great continuation and good place to catch your breath. I have read a lot of reviews of people complaining that it does not advance the story at all. I have to kind of disagree with this. It does all kinds of advancing the characters to be who they need to be in the stories coming next. After twelve books, the character development aside from Harry seemed to be at a slow crawl compared to Harry’s development. With this book their growth is turbo charged. This is done pretty much by necessity, as at the end of the previous book Changes, Harry apparently dies.

     So the secondary characters have to learn to deal with the world that Harry has left behind. The world is a much darker place and this is reflected in the characters, including the city of Chicago which in the Dresden Files books is a character unto itself. Jim does a great job of turning minor characters or characters that I really did not care about into major players, and made them really interesting. In recent books Jim, has been slowly been taking away Harrys most powerful allies, such as Michael Carpenter the knight of the Cross, and Harrys half vampire brother Thomas. In this book Jim shows that Harry still allies that can and have stepped up to fill the void. I don’t want to go to deep into this to avoid spoilers, but it will surprise readers of the series. I had a couple moments of “wow I did not know they had that in them” moments.

     I liked what he did so much with the secondary characters that I almost forgot about Harry. The book starts out with him having to go back to Chicago to solve his own murder. Even in death Harry cannot catch a break. He gets sent back as a ghost with no body and no magic. The circumstances behind his death were handled well. Being a ghost also lets harry kind of take a step back and finally take a look at the consequences of his actions. He is usually a blow things up and ask questions later kind of guy. But being dead lets Harry be introspective and see what his actions have wrought with the people he left behind. This leads to some really emotional scenes. All in all this was a very satisfying book and it is highly recommended. You can purchase the book here

Review of Captain America: The First Avenger

I was not sure what to expect from this movie. The super hero movies this summer have been kind of hit or miss for me this summer. Also I after seeing Chris Evans play the Human Torch in the two Fantastic Four movies I was not sure he would be able to pull off a believable Captain America. Boy was I pleasantly surprised. There is a reason that the death of Captain America in 2007 made such big news when the comic came out. Captain America is much of an icon and symbol of America as Superman is. Perhaps even more. This movie hit all the right spots and explained why he is such a symbol and why people look up to him and want to be like him.
The movie starts out telling the story of 98 pound weakling Steve Rogers. I think one of the reason that the other super hero movies this summer were hit and miss for me were that they were origin stories. I knew these characters such as Thor and Green Lantern and did not want to sit through their origin story to wait for them to do something cool. With Captain America his origin is important as the character himself. It is the story of the 98 pound weakling who tries to enlist in the army to fight World War II and keeps getting turned away due to his size and a laundry list of ailments.
Still this does not stop him from standing up for what is right and paying the price with multiple beatings. One of my favorite lines from the movie is when he is asked why he wants to go fight the Nazis. His response "I hate bullies." Who has not felt that way themselves. In a world where a lot of people want to sit around and let other people do the fighting for them and get to enjoy the freedoms that the people fighting die for, this is a great message. Hopefully it will move people to do something.
As someone who has been through the beatings themselves because they were different it was very relatable. This movie was really good before the "hero" even showed up in his costume.
The many tries to enlist draws the attention of a scientist who has created a super soldier serum for the army. Steve is chosen to be the test subject due to what is inside of him. Again with the looking at the heart of people rather than the outside. This is how he becomes Captain America. He eventually gets to go over seas and fight the Nazis and the organization known as Hydra and its leader The Red Skull played really well by Hugo Weaving. Even after Captain America becomes buff he is still the same person inside. Earnest and honest.Chris Evans conveys this very well.
The effects and visuals of the movie were amazing. The shield work itself was awesome. Do yourself a favor and go see this movie.

I'm not worthy!

I have been trying to associate with some people that have much more cred than I do, as far as writing and getting published. They are a tough nut to crack. This is my first foray of dealing with people with a heck of a lot more noteriety than I have. I decided to come up wish some ground rules that people should follow to keep from slitting their wrists.
One: Don't take things personally. The peopleyou are tweeting to have hundreds if not thousands of followers tweeting at them. Not to mention jobs so if they don't answer your tweet just remember you are not the only one.
Two: Be respectful. These are real people with real feelings, and if you want to get an interview from them or a retweet, be respectful. Critism is ok, but be constructive. Don't put out a tweet saying F you! so and so and respect something but an F You! in return.
Three: Contribute to the conversation. Know what you are talking about and people will take you more seriously.
Four: Keep trying. If at first you don't succeed keep trying. If it is an interview be respectful and ask the person if they would possibly have time to answer some questions.
Last and most important. Have fun with what you are doing. Be passionate, people will respect you for it. I have met some really cool people and hope to keep forging relationships, not just because I want to be associated with someone famous but because I appreciate what they do and want them to know it.

First Music Review

I have done a review on comics and movies. Now for my third love, music. I first became aware of Amanda White through a mutual friend on Twitter. One of the first tweets I saw was that she had a CD for sale. I went to the site and checked her bio. I was not sure what to expect from a classically trained opera singer singer singing rock. She pulls it off well. She has voice and swagger that would stand up to any frontgirl or frontman, for that matter. She has the voice of an angel and the mouth of a trucker. A couple of my favorite songs are the opening Midnight Bride, and 'Kay. Midnight Bride comes out rocking and ends with Amanada doing double duty as leading and backing vocals. It really showcases how diverse her voice is. She can go from rocking leads to soaring soprano on the backing vocals on the backing vocals. 'Kay has a tempo that reminds me of Phantom of the opera with a great guitar solo. This is probably a nod to her Andew Lloy Webber influences. All in all a solid CD. She did a great job with the budget she had. Looking forward to hearing what she can come up with using an actual budget.
You can listen to and buy the CD here http://amandawhite.bandcamp.com/

Non-Spoiler review of Transformers 3.

First let me say that the theater we saw the movie we saw it at was awesome. It was the brand new EMAGINE theater in Royal Oak. Not only is it a theater, but it also has a Star Lanes bowling alley in it. Very cool.
Now to the movie.
I was not impressed with the second Transformers movie, and was not expecting much for the third. This one blew the first and second movie away in my opinion. It had a great story, good characterization even with the robots which is no easy feat. The stories stakes were definitely kicked up a notch for this installment. I thought the story concept was really good. One thing you can take out of this movie is Optimus Prime is bad-ass. Great fight scenes with him involved.
As for the actors in the movie, while Rosie Huntington-Whitely is a beautiful girl she did not do much through the movie except look good which I guess is her job. Shia LeBeouf plays his usual neurotic self in the movie. One of my favorite characters was Alan Tudyk's character. You may know him as Wash from Firefly. If not you really need to watch that series. There were some odd scenes with John Malkovitch. But then again he is John Malkovitch. Another pleasant surprise was Ken Jeong as a very strange scientist. It was also good to see McDreamy Patrick Dempsey get taken out in the movie.
Could the movie have been shorter? Yes, but it did not feel long. I did not really get to a point where I thought the movie was really dragging. Great action and visuals held my attention throughout. I thought the 3D effects were used really well. All in all this was my favorite movie of the summer so far. I am sure the final installment of Harry Potter will give it a run for its money, but I thought it was an entertaining movie.

Spoiler review of Green Lantern

Starting with the Caveat That I am coming from a comic collectors view and know the source material very well. Having gotten this out of the way I thought it was a pretty good super hero movie. Not great. Hal Jordan is a test pilot that gets picked to wear the ring of power by a dying alien Abin Sur. I thought Ryan Reynolds looked the part of Hal Jordan, Earths first Green Lantern, but I thought there were too many times when he went back to his comic roots. Some examples of this were when he was trying to get the power ring to work for the first time. He starts by reciting his own version of the Pledge of Allegiance, and goes through the usual He-Man references as well as others. This has been used so many times in other movies and I thought it was a bit much here. I thought once he got through that, the action sequences were well done. The constructs created by the ring were great. The Lanterns were not just shooting green light at their enemies. I thought Kilowog and Tomer-Re were well done.
The other Lanterns I thought were done well. Mark Strong was excellent as Sinestro, as well as Kilowog. They looked exactly as I would have imagined them if they were real. Oa and the Guardians were done well. My biggest complaints are about who they picked as the main villains. Hector Hammond and Parallax. I thought with the recent Sinestro War that ran through the comics would have made a really good story for a movie and hopefully now that they have gotten the origin story out of the way and with the Easter Egg in the movie at the end of the credits will lead into that. Sinestro was always my favorite Green Lantern enemy. To wrap up I think for comic fans they were kind of left wanting for a better story. The visuals I would rate an A. Story C so I would average it out to a B.

Comics and stuff

I have went around and around about what this blog was going to be about. I wanted to write about something I was passionate about. So I put on my nerd glasses and decided to write about comics and how I got into them.
I have been collecting comics for over twenty five years and have the long boxes to prove it much to my wifes chagrin. My first exposure to comics was at a book fair at my elementary school. I got a book with the first five or six issues of the New Teen Titans written by Marv Wolfman and illustrated by George Perez. I was drawn to the cover that had robin surrounded by a bunch of characters that I did not know. Robin was and is one of my favorite comic characters. He was someone as a kid I could identify with. He was around my age, had not powers, and cracked jokes while cracking the bad guys heads. I could see myself as him. So seeing him I was sold.

Cracking open the book and seeing the amazing art of Perez and the new characters created by Perez and Wolfman blew me away. The mysterious Raven, Kid Flash, who if I had a superpower super speed would be it. Along with Changeling, Cyborg, Wonder Girl, and Starfire. All great characters. They had great powers but were flawed. Kid Flash had doubts as to whether he wanted to be a superhero. Cyborg half man, half machine with a chip on his shoulder because of the circumstances that turned him that way. All characters again that I could identify with. Add to the great characters the great villians, such as Trigon, Ravens demonic father. Deathstroke the terminator the mercenary with a grudge that ended up actually capturing all of the Titans except for Robin. Great stories. They were part of my childhood and teenage years. They provided an escape. I was the typical awkward kid without many friends so comics were my escape.

Eventually my comic collecting turned to the Claremont X-Men of the 80's, Detective Comics, The embarrasing Justice League International, and other JLA titles. As I got older I got into the Sandman Comics by Neal Gaiman. This was one of the first comics that I had read that showed that comics were not just for kids but adults as well. The Spider-Man titles were also on my pull list at the local comic shop. Again someone I could identify with. Who does not with they were bitten by a radioactive spider? Eventually I moved to Ultimate Spider-Man, The walking Dead, and still had the Titans comics on pull. Even though they have been terrible lately. I mean Deathstroke leading a team of Titans? Even that pushes my suspension of disbelief. But I still love comics.

I went to the Detroit Comic Con a few weekends ago. I have to say, comic creaters are the coolest and most down to earth people around. I got a sketch by Angel Medina who did the art on the Adam Warlok comics of the 90's as well as others. He did not know me from Adam yet talked to me for at least 15 minutes. He was really cool.

Now DC the company that creates some of my most beloved comics is on the precipice of either screwing up everything or creating something great by rebooting 52 comics back to issue number one issues. This includes the Iconic Action Comics and Detective comics. We shall see how this goes. One of afformentioned cool comic creators is Gail Simone who is involved with the reboots has been twittering nonstop about the transition. I think it has helped put people a little at ease. At least I know it has me. So I will at leat give it the benefit of the doubt.