apologies for the silence, but it was a hectic holiday season, and it sort of bled over into all of january. Your Geek World's headquarters (also known as Tyler's apartment) has moved, and we're still trying to get everything settled back down, but we recorded a couple of podcasts before packing up, so those should go up relatively soon-ish (by which I mean as soon as tyler has a chance to edit them).
unfortunately in all the chaos, we missed both Arisia (which Tyler intended to drag me back to, kicking and screaming) and MAGfest (which I talked him into attending instead since they were the same weekend this year, but the budget disagreed). Luckily, we still intend to try and make it to Wicked Faire for at least one day, and will most definitely be at Anime Boston and ConnectiCon this year (even if ConnectiCon was a hot mess of failure last year, we have such a long track record with them that we have to forgive it).
We have a couple of musical projects in the works, heavily involving the musical talents of Chris Whittier of Little Blue Pill and Dave aka Barycoise of Cabin Fever Express, so stay tuned for those in the near future. the first has been recorded and has a video in the works, but can be listened to here until then (yes, that's our own version of the Backin' Up song from youtube's Autotune the News). I'm trying to convince them that we need to do the theme song from Carmen SanDiego next, but so far, no dice. Stay tuned!
In other news, the new My Chemical Romance album that I mentioned excitement about in my last post, "Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys," is now out, and it's everything I ever wanted and then some. (look forward to a more in-depth review in the future!) If you love campy sci-fi and catchy, unapologetically american rock music, then I can't recommend it more, because this album is best summarized as being a neon dance party in the fucking Thunderdome, hosted by a pirate radio DJ from the future (no, really. it's set up as a radio broadcast from 2019, and features a few moments with fictional DJ Dr. Death Defying, portrayed by guitarist Steve, Righ? of Mindless Self Indulgence.) Definitely check out their youtube channel to hear some of the songs (both live and studio versions of several tracks have been posted) as well as some excellent bonus materials, including commercials and cartoons from the album's universe (and yet singer Gerard Way still insists it's not a concept album. Ok, buddy. If you say so.)
and finally, I need to mention that Lar DeSouza, an all-around awesome guy and artist of the excellent online comics Least I Could Do, Looking for Group, and the Gutters , has set up an online store for his non-comic related art. All of us here at Your Geek World are big fans of his art, and we strongly encourage you to check it out!
and now, I fear that I must end this otherwise unrelenting wall of text. Until next time, dear readers!
Showing posts with label sci-fi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sci-fi. Show all posts
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Hate me all you want
but I'm actually pretty stoked about the My Chemical Romance album coming out next month.
I've always been a fan of My Chemical Romance. They have a fabulously tongue-in-cheek sense of humor about themselves that I think a lot more bands should take to heart. they have fun onstage while being fun to watch, making them easily my favorite band to see live.
Anyone who knows me at all will pick up immediately on the aesthetic vibe of this video being pretty much what the inside of my brain looks like. It's like a ten year old boy circa 1995 on a post-Halloween sugar high trying to explain the Tank Girl movie, but without the kangaroos. There's nothing about it that I don't absolutely love. Plus, death by Power Glove. I mean, COME ON. The only way you could possibly hate on this is if you hate fun.
A word of warning, though: the song is catchy as all hell and WILL get stuck in your head.
I've always been a fan of My Chemical Romance. They have a fabulously tongue-in-cheek sense of humor about themselves that I think a lot more bands should take to heart. they have fun onstage while being fun to watch, making them easily my favorite band to see live.
Anyone who knows me at all will pick up immediately on the aesthetic vibe of this video being pretty much what the inside of my brain looks like. It's like a ten year old boy circa 1995 on a post-Halloween sugar high trying to explain the Tank Girl movie, but without the kangaroos. There's nothing about it that I don't absolutely love. Plus, death by Power Glove. I mean, COME ON. The only way you could possibly hate on this is if you hate fun.
A word of warning, though: the song is catchy as all hell and WILL get stuck in your head.
Friday, September 17, 2010
an interval of silliness (VIDEO NSFW)
this is probably the shortest video that Happy Harry Toons has posted to youtube, but it's easily one of my favorites.
have a great weekend, everyone!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
and the award for 'weirdest shit on the internet' goes to...
I've spent the last two years with the same nagging question in the back of my head every time I peruse the internet. Is there anything out there that makes less sense than jedichefs.com?
After many exhausting hours of research, I've resigned myself to the fact that, as far as pages written in English (excluding fetish porn), there really isn't.
So, what's their deal?
I honestly have no idea. I've been poking around the website for over an hour, and I'm still not sure. I do, however, know that they raise money for Cancer Research UK, So I suppose that even nonsense has its merits.
I think the part of Jedi Chefs that's most confusing is the Celebrity Jedi Chef page, which is an alphabetized list of image galleries featuring pictures of celebrities, primarily from sci-fi shows, donning the website's signature floppy chef hats and wielding lightsabers. For the most part, the celebs look just as confused as we are, though some of them seem to have excellent sense of humor about the whole ordeal.
Alan Tudyk, for example, is looking a little scared. His former 'Firefly' co-star Sean Maher, however, seems to be taking it in stride.
The number of celebrities they've managed to get to take these ridiculous pictures is staggering. A considerable amount of the casts of Buffy, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, Heroes, Stargate SG-1,various Star Treks, the new and old Star Wars trilogies, and folks from all over Doctor Who fill the list, making me wonder if perhaps the YGW Away Team needs a silly gimmick to get us some celebrity endorsements. I'm pretty sure there isn't anything the guys wouldn't be willing to do if it meant a picture of them with, say for example, Felicia Day.
I don't know what confuses me more: what's going on, or why so many geek celebs are in on it!
Sunday, July 4, 2010
2010 Movie Roundup: what we loved, what we hated, and what we can't wait to see
So, at the start of the year, 2010 looked like it was going to be a pretty good year for cinema, especially if you're a nerd. Sure, we aren't getting another Star Trek until 2012, but we had some great stuff to hold us over in the meantime. We had intentions of doing in-depth reviews of all of these films when we saw them, but quite frankly, Tyler and Phil just didn't have enough to say about most of them, and you probably don't want to read the six and seven paragraph tirades that my overpriced film education would have wrought upon you had I been left to write alone. So, here we go.
HOLY SHIT. HOLY SHIT. THIS FUCKING MOVIE. This is one that even when we'd agreed to do a single roundup blog about the movies, we were still going to give it's own entry, but all we had written was HOLY SHIT AWESOME over and over again. We went in trying not to expect too much, even though the first one is arguably the best comic-to-film adaptation since the first Spider Man (and we all know what a disappointment THAT franchise turned int0). But I think we all know that, unless a stoned monkey wrote the script, it was going to be entertaining at the very least. And I would watch Robert Downey Jr. watch paint dry. So, at the very least, I would walk out happy.
Well, RDJ was just as phenomenal as he was in the first movie, and the dynamic with Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Pots was just as snappy and thick with sexual tension as it was in the first film. Add in a somewhat bland but tolerable turn by Scarlett Johansson (is anyone surprised? Really?) as the seductive SHIELD agent Black Widow and a great job from Don Cheadle (which, I mean, is anyone surprised by this?) as Lt. Rhodes a.k.a. WAR MACHINE (OH MY GOD YES). Also, Mickey Rourke being.... well, Mickey Rourke. Sure, he was ridiculously camp, but that's just WHAT HE DOES. For him, this was surprisingly subtle (though not by any other standard).
OVERALL: sure, I could go on for a few more paragraphs about the ill-fitting costumes (what was up with Scarlett Johansson's boobs being completely squashed into unnatural positions in half her outfits? Nothing hot about pancake tits!) or the lack of continuity with whatever the hell was wrong with Mickey Rourke's fingernails (half-inch thick gray acrylics in one scene, perfectly normal, clean nails in the next. Good job, makeup department!) or even about the complete disregard for physics in some of the effects, but honestly? It's a COMIC BOOK ADAPTATION. And it's a sequel. And I didn't want to gouge my eyes out. On the contrary, I enjoyed it so much that some of the glaring mistakes didn't even strike me until the second or third viewing. This is a new milestone for cinema as we know it.
A word of background on this one: Tyler and I are huge fans of the original film. His dad made him watch it a hundred times as a kid, and the only movie my grandma and I might have watched more times than this classic was possibly Wrath of Khan. So it comes as no surprise that we were immeasurably excited to see it remade with better effects and LIAM FUCKING NEESON and RALPH FIENNES together for the first time since Schindler's List.
However, we also were very much aware that there was really no need for a remake, and the currently overwhelming theme of 'rebooting' older films with fresh casts, better effects, and infinitely worse scripts quelled our excitement into more of a cautious optimism.
And it's a good thing we didn't get our hopes up, because the whole film was pretty...underwhelming. Nothing new was really brought to the table, except for the whole mess with Io, which was kind of convoluted (in the original myth, Io gets turned into a cow, not given eternal youth. The change in the myth makes no sense and is obviously done only to serve the plot) and the original got by fine without her, so why bother? At least the performance from Gemma Arterton is infinitely better than in the other film we recently saw her in: Prince of Persia. If nothing else good came of this, at least we now have the line "UNLEASH THE KRAKEN!," which we have added to our repertoire of unnecessarily enthusiastic exclamations to yell at eachother in completely inappropriate situation, along with Eric Bana's "FIRE EVERYTHING!" from last summer's Star Trek reboot. Yes, we are children.
OVERALL: not bad, but not exactly groundbreaking. The new effects were certainly a nice update in some places, but going all J.J. Abrams on everything the gods ever touched was sort of annoying, and may have given us retinal damage.
Okay, so I really don't care about Martin Scorsese anymore. Which isn't to say that I don't appreciate his impact on film, but I just don't care for most of his stuff. Perhaps it's a generational thing, or just personal taste. I don't know. The Departed was the first one of his films that I genuinely enjoyed since Cape Fear. But to each his own, I suppose. Either way, I wasn't expecting much from this one, even though my mother has been hounding me to read the book for a few years now because she knew I would love it.
Well, mom was right. At least, I loved the movie, so I can only imagine that the book is even better. But we're here to talk about the film.
I wouldn't really describe most of the film as being subtle, but the subtleties in it are what really make it. Slight, inexplicable changes in color palette and tight editing tweaks really give a sense of discomfort and disorientation, and that's where the movie thrives. At several points in the film, Tyler and I had to ask eachother if there was something wrong with the film, or if our eyes were playing tricks on us, only to realize later that it had been deliberate on the part of the filmmakers. If that isn't incredibly effective filmmaking, I don't know what is.
The acting in this was pretty top notch as well, but not unexpected. Leonardo DiCaprio seems to have really come into his own in the last few years, and is completely convincing and watchable even in the most unwatchable movies (that means you, Revolutionary Road). Ben Kingsley is also, as always, amazing. And keep an eye out for a cameo from Jackie Earle Haley.
We don't want to say much about the film because we don't want to give anything away, and the story, though a bit predictable in places, does keep you on your toes to the very end.
OVERALL: Worth seeing for the atmosphere alone, but probably just one time, as most of what makes it great really won't have the same impact on a second viewing.
Tyler, Phil and I all went to see this one together opening weekend because we were just so goddamn excited (by which I mean that I was excited and they were vaguely interested, so I dragged them along). All three of us were huge fans of the game it was supposedly based off of, and the boys both really enjoyed the rest of the trilogy, though I lost interest about two hours into the second game and never finished it.
For those who haven't seen it, the movie is relatively faithful to the original for the first twenty or so minutes, until the shit hits the fan. The Prince is still the adopted son of the King who is invading Azad (changed to Alamut in the film), even if he has other biological sons in this version who play pretty big roles (in fact, the eldest brother's role feels more like the King from the game than the King from the film does). The antagonist role, played brilliantly in the film by Ben Kingsley, has changed from the turncoat Vizier of Azad to the king's jealous brother. The role, however, remains very similar in spirit. However, once the characters are established, everything goes completely off course.
My biggest qualm with the film is that the sands are never really released. No sand monsters, just weird middle eastern faux-ninjas and lots of running away. The action is still entirely enjoyable when you can find it, but the majority of the film is talking, running away, and wide shots of the scenery, making it feel more like Lord of the Rings in Persia than like the game. The dialogue isn't bad and the pacing stays pretty solid, but the whole story is kind of convoluted and confusing if you go into it having played the game and expecting, at the very least, to see the same idea. Also, without giving away too much, the ending makes a genuine attempt to remain faithful to the game, which, given the changes made to most of the story, makes it feel a little silly and, well, completely jump the shark.
As far as the acting, Jake Gyllenhal impressed us. We really weren't expecting much from him at all, and we were pleasantly surprised to see him pull it off. (And if you had qualms with his or anyone else's pseudo-British accents, we kindly ask you to play the game again. It's one of the few things they kept authentic and consistent throughout the movie, so I'm not hardly going to take points off for it) Ben Kingsley was excellent as always, and most of the supporting cast of character actors did their parts well.
The only thing we disagreed about on this one was Gemma Arterton. We agreed that the dialogue for Farah (renamed Tamina for the film) was very faithful to the spirit of the game, and that Arterton's delivery was disappointing, sounding like she was reading and downright bored for most of the movie, except which she was screaming unconvincingly. Where we disagree is that I don't think she looked the part at all, and Tyler didn't take as much issue with it. When she is initially introduced, it is said outright by the the titular prince's brother that she is supposed to be the most beautiful woman in all the land. Now, she's a pretty girl, but not when she's been makeup-coated into the unnatural abomination she was transformed into for this role. The girl is naturally either ginger or a very light brunette, and has a freckled, pale complexion that belongs on a Irish Spring commercial. She also has a very unique face shape which, though usually pretty, looks awkward and mannish with the haircut she was given for the film (which makes no sense to me, as not only is it unflattering, but it isn't the character's normal hair anyway). If she had knocked it out of the park with her acting I probably wouldn't have noticed or cared, but when someone is cast as a lead in a high budget film and can't act, it makes me wonder why they were cast in the role at all.
OVERALL: a fun, family friendly action movie. If you need an excuse to retreat into an air conditioned theater for a few hours to escape the heat, not the worst decision you could make.
You know what? you might as well just take a peek at our blog from a while back about just how excited we are to see this movie. Nothing has changed, aside from a new trailer. We're still disgustingly excited.
Oh, hi there, Jerry Bruckheimer. What was that? You're going to ride the coattails of the sucess of the Harry Potter franchise by making a knockoff starring Nicholas Cage?
As much as I HATED the very idea of this one from the very beginning, it's growing on me. Mostly because it looks fun. And while the Potter films are becoming increasingly dark and are still interesting, they aren't really the most fun you can have with the genre. And over the years, my hatred for Nicholas Cage has reached the singularity and is starting to turn into some sort of twisted love.
Hey, remember how we talked about how much we're starting to love Leonardo DiCaprio? Well, this looks phenomenal. And I mean, look at the rest of the cast: Michael Caine, Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Lukas Haas. And of course, it's written and directed by CHRISTOPHER FUCKING NOLAN. This sounds like the perfect storm of psychological thrillers.
WHAT WE'VE WATCHED THUS FAR
HOLY SHIT. HOLY SHIT. THIS FUCKING MOVIE. This is one that even when we'd agreed to do a single roundup blog about the movies, we were still going to give it's own entry, but all we had written was HOLY SHIT AWESOME over and over again. We went in trying not to expect too much, even though the first one is arguably the best comic-to-film adaptation since the first Spider Man (and we all know what a disappointment THAT franchise turned int0). But I think we all know that, unless a stoned monkey wrote the script, it was going to be entertaining at the very least. And I would watch Robert Downey Jr. watch paint dry. So, at the very least, I would walk out happy.
Well, RDJ was just as phenomenal as he was in the first movie, and the dynamic with Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Pots was just as snappy and thick with sexual tension as it was in the first film. Add in a somewhat bland but tolerable turn by Scarlett Johansson (is anyone surprised? Really?) as the seductive SHIELD agent Black Widow and a great job from Don Cheadle (which, I mean, is anyone surprised by this?) as Lt. Rhodes a.k.a. WAR MACHINE (OH MY GOD YES). Also, Mickey Rourke being.... well, Mickey Rourke. Sure, he was ridiculously camp, but that's just WHAT HE DOES. For him, this was surprisingly subtle (though not by any other standard).
OVERALL: sure, I could go on for a few more paragraphs about the ill-fitting costumes (what was up with Scarlett Johansson's boobs being completely squashed into unnatural positions in half her outfits? Nothing hot about pancake tits!) or the lack of continuity with whatever the hell was wrong with Mickey Rourke's fingernails (half-inch thick gray acrylics in one scene, perfectly normal, clean nails in the next. Good job, makeup department!) or even about the complete disregard for physics in some of the effects, but honestly? It's a COMIC BOOK ADAPTATION. And it's a sequel. And I didn't want to gouge my eyes out. On the contrary, I enjoyed it so much that some of the glaring mistakes didn't even strike me until the second or third viewing. This is a new milestone for cinema as we know it.
A word of background on this one: Tyler and I are huge fans of the original film. His dad made him watch it a hundred times as a kid, and the only movie my grandma and I might have watched more times than this classic was possibly Wrath of Khan. So it comes as no surprise that we were immeasurably excited to see it remade with better effects and LIAM FUCKING NEESON and RALPH FIENNES together for the first time since Schindler's List.
However, we also were very much aware that there was really no need for a remake, and the currently overwhelming theme of 'rebooting' older films with fresh casts, better effects, and infinitely worse scripts quelled our excitement into more of a cautious optimism.
And it's a good thing we didn't get our hopes up, because the whole film was pretty...underwhelming. Nothing new was really brought to the table, except for the whole mess with Io, which was kind of convoluted (in the original myth, Io gets turned into a cow, not given eternal youth. The change in the myth makes no sense and is obviously done only to serve the plot) and the original got by fine without her, so why bother? At least the performance from Gemma Arterton is infinitely better than in the other film we recently saw her in: Prince of Persia. If nothing else good came of this, at least we now have the line "UNLEASH THE KRAKEN!," which we have added to our repertoire of unnecessarily enthusiastic exclamations to yell at eachother in completely inappropriate situation, along with Eric Bana's "FIRE EVERYTHING!" from last summer's Star Trek reboot. Yes, we are children.
OVERALL: not bad, but not exactly groundbreaking. The new effects were certainly a nice update in some places, but going all J.J. Abrams on everything the gods ever touched was sort of annoying, and may have given us retinal damage.
Okay, so I really don't care about Martin Scorsese anymore. Which isn't to say that I don't appreciate his impact on film, but I just don't care for most of his stuff. Perhaps it's a generational thing, or just personal taste. I don't know. The Departed was the first one of his films that I genuinely enjoyed since Cape Fear. But to each his own, I suppose. Either way, I wasn't expecting much from this one, even though my mother has been hounding me to read the book for a few years now because she knew I would love it.
Well, mom was right. At least, I loved the movie, so I can only imagine that the book is even better. But we're here to talk about the film.
I wouldn't really describe most of the film as being subtle, but the subtleties in it are what really make it. Slight, inexplicable changes in color palette and tight editing tweaks really give a sense of discomfort and disorientation, and that's where the movie thrives. At several points in the film, Tyler and I had to ask eachother if there was something wrong with the film, or if our eyes were playing tricks on us, only to realize later that it had been deliberate on the part of the filmmakers. If that isn't incredibly effective filmmaking, I don't know what is.
The acting in this was pretty top notch as well, but not unexpected. Leonardo DiCaprio seems to have really come into his own in the last few years, and is completely convincing and watchable even in the most unwatchable movies (that means you, Revolutionary Road). Ben Kingsley is also, as always, amazing. And keep an eye out for a cameo from Jackie Earle Haley.
We don't want to say much about the film because we don't want to give anything away, and the story, though a bit predictable in places, does keep you on your toes to the very end.
OVERALL: Worth seeing for the atmosphere alone, but probably just one time, as most of what makes it great really won't have the same impact on a second viewing.
YGW RATING:9/10
So, for some unfortunate reason, I am the only one here who has seen Kick-Ass. How this happened, I will never know.
For that reason, I'm going to refrain from doing an extensive review until everyone else has seen it. I will, however, admit to absolutely loving it. I haven't read the graphic novel, though, so perhaps I'll try to get that done by the time the boys see the film so we can have a proper critique.
For that reason, I'm going to refrain from doing an extensive review until everyone else has seen it. I will, however, admit to absolutely loving it. I haven't read the graphic novel, though, so perhaps I'll try to get that done by the time the boys see the film so we can have a proper critique.
Tyler, Phil and I all went to see this one together opening weekend because we were just so goddamn excited (by which I mean that I was excited and they were vaguely interested, so I dragged them along). All three of us were huge fans of the game it was supposedly based off of, and the boys both really enjoyed the rest of the trilogy, though I lost interest about two hours into the second game and never finished it.
For those who haven't seen it, the movie is relatively faithful to the original for the first twenty or so minutes, until the shit hits the fan. The Prince is still the adopted son of the King who is invading Azad (changed to Alamut in the film), even if he has other biological sons in this version who play pretty big roles (in fact, the eldest brother's role feels more like the King from the game than the King from the film does). The antagonist role, played brilliantly in the film by Ben Kingsley, has changed from the turncoat Vizier of Azad to the king's jealous brother. The role, however, remains very similar in spirit. However, once the characters are established, everything goes completely off course.
My biggest qualm with the film is that the sands are never really released. No sand monsters, just weird middle eastern faux-ninjas and lots of running away. The action is still entirely enjoyable when you can find it, but the majority of the film is talking, running away, and wide shots of the scenery, making it feel more like Lord of the Rings in Persia than like the game. The dialogue isn't bad and the pacing stays pretty solid, but the whole story is kind of convoluted and confusing if you go into it having played the game and expecting, at the very least, to see the same idea. Also, without giving away too much, the ending makes a genuine attempt to remain faithful to the game, which, given the changes made to most of the story, makes it feel a little silly and, well, completely jump the shark.
As far as the acting, Jake Gyllenhal impressed us. We really weren't expecting much from him at all, and we were pleasantly surprised to see him pull it off. (And if you had qualms with his or anyone else's pseudo-British accents, we kindly ask you to play the game again. It's one of the few things they kept authentic and consistent throughout the movie, so I'm not hardly going to take points off for it) Ben Kingsley was excellent as always, and most of the supporting cast of character actors did their parts well.
The only thing we disagreed about on this one was Gemma Arterton. We agreed that the dialogue for Farah (renamed Tamina for the film) was very faithful to the spirit of the game, and that Arterton's delivery was disappointing, sounding like she was reading and downright bored for most of the movie, except which she was screaming unconvincingly. Where we disagree is that I don't think she looked the part at all, and Tyler didn't take as much issue with it. When she is initially introduced, it is said outright by the the titular prince's brother that she is supposed to be the most beautiful woman in all the land. Now, she's a pretty girl, but not when she's been makeup-coated into the unnatural abomination she was transformed into for this role. The girl is naturally either ginger or a very light brunette, and has a freckled, pale complexion that belongs on a Irish Spring commercial. She also has a very unique face shape which, though usually pretty, looks awkward and mannish with the haircut she was given for the film (which makes no sense to me, as not only is it unflattering, but it isn't the character's normal hair anyway). If she had knocked it out of the park with her acting I probably wouldn't have noticed or cared, but when someone is cast as a lead in a high budget film and can't act, it makes me wonder why they were cast in the role at all.
OVERALL: a fun, family friendly action movie. If you need an excuse to retreat into an air conditioned theater for a few hours to escape the heat, not the worst decision you could make.
LOOKING AHEAD: WHAT WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT
SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD
I think it might be physically impossible for this movie to be more perfect for us. It's based on a graphic novel series of the same name and just as chock-full of video game references. I mean, Shigeru Miyamoto got to see a rough cut screening of the film and liked it enough to give the filmmakers his blessing to use music from Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Come ON. This movie looks so good that I'm starting to get suspicious.
SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD
I think it might be physically impossible for this movie to be more perfect for us. It's based on a graphic novel series of the same name and just as chock-full of video game references. I mean, Shigeru Miyamoto got to see a rough cut screening of the film and liked it enough to give the filmmakers his blessing to use music from Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Come ON. This movie looks so good that I'm starting to get suspicious.
THE LAST AIRBENDER
You know what? you might as well just take a peek at our blog from a while back about just how excited we are to see this movie. Nothing has changed, aside from a new trailer. We're still disgustingly excited.
THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE
Oh, hi there, Jerry Bruckheimer. What was that? You're going to ride the coattails of the sucess of the Harry Potter franchise by making a knockoff starring Nicholas Cage?
As much as I HATED the very idea of this one from the very beginning, it's growing on me. Mostly because it looks fun. And while the Potter films are becoming increasingly dark and are still interesting, they aren't really the most fun you can have with the genre. And over the years, my hatred for Nicholas Cage has reached the singularity and is starting to turn into some sort of twisted love.
INCEPTION
Hey, remember how we talked about how much we're starting to love Leonardo DiCaprio? Well, this looks phenomenal. And I mean, look at the rest of the cast: Michael Caine, Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Lukas Haas. And of course, it's written and directed by CHRISTOPHER FUCKING NOLAN. This sounds like the perfect storm of psychological thrillers.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
What exactly HAS the Doctor been up to?
WARNING: THE VIDEO CLIPS IN THIS ARTICLE ARE EXTREMELY NSFW
So, Tyler and I were having a discussion about Paul McGann and how much we loved him in the Doctor Who feature film. While I was on the phone with him, I took a quick peek at McGann's IMDB page, hoping to find something we might have heard of, or that we would be able to find on Netflix.
And then we found this.
The funny part? We've seen this one before. Lesbian Vampire Killers was easily one of our favorite films of 2009, a horror comedy on par with Slither and Shaun of the Dead in terms of high-budget hilarity. Did you spot him?
How about now? (skip to about 1:30, or for a longer scene featuring McGann, jump to about the 7 minute mark)
That's right, he's the fabulously deadpan Vicar. And disturbingly enough, doesn't look any older than he did in 1996 as the Doctor.
Now, the movie is absolutely worth watching even without him. The stylish editing and cinematography could make it fascinating to watch paint dry, but the humor (which varies from disgusting and slapstick to deadpan wit) remains consistently entertaining from start to finish, even if the female leads are some of the worst actresses to ever deliver dialogue onscreen outside of a porn.
But if we needed any confirmation that McGann was the coolest Doctor, we've certainly got it now.
So, Tyler and I were having a discussion about Paul McGann and how much we loved him in the Doctor Who feature film. While I was on the phone with him, I took a quick peek at McGann's IMDB page, hoping to find something we might have heard of, or that we would be able to find on Netflix.
And then we found this.
The funny part? We've seen this one before. Lesbian Vampire Killers was easily one of our favorite films of 2009, a horror comedy on par with Slither and Shaun of the Dead in terms of high-budget hilarity. Did you spot him?
How about now? (skip to about 1:30, or for a longer scene featuring McGann, jump to about the 7 minute mark)
That's right, he's the fabulously deadpan Vicar. And disturbingly enough, doesn't look any older than he did in 1996 as the Doctor.
Now, the movie is absolutely worth watching even without him. The stylish editing and cinematography could make it fascinating to watch paint dry, but the humor (which varies from disgusting and slapstick to deadpan wit) remains consistently entertaining from start to finish, even if the female leads are some of the worst actresses to ever deliver dialogue onscreen outside of a porn.
But if we needed any confirmation that McGann was the coolest Doctor, we've certainly got it now.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Star Trek TOS and Ke$ha go together pretty well, actually,
oh. my. lord.
further proof that I need a life: I can identify almost every clip in here by episode title.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
the greatest tumblr in the history of tumblr
Nimoy. Sunset. Pie.
that's right, folks. The entire tumblr is a collection of images involving Leonard Nimoy (mostly as Spock), sunsets, and pies.
be still, my heart!
that's right, folks. The entire tumblr is a collection of images involving Leonard Nimoy (mostly as Spock), sunsets, and pies.
be still, my heart!
Monday, May 17, 2010
Have we mentioned how much we all love Doctor Who around here?
Because we really, really love Doctor Who.
I had vague recollections of having watched the old show on PBS with my grandma (who is also the amazing woman who introduced me to Star Trek), but I didn't even know about the new series until after David Tennant took over in season two. A friend and I watched most of "Tooth and Claw" on the screen over the bar at T.G.I. Fridays and even without the sound, we were hooked.
I really enjoyed Tennant's run on the show, which comes as no surprise, as I was one of the very, very few who preferred Davison over Baker in the original show (Tyler and David Tennant himself being pretty much the only other people I can think of who felt likewise). When I got around to watching the backlog of Eccleston episodes that I'd missed, I wasn't surprised to love him, either. After all, I'd enjoyed him on Heroes, and in Elisabeth and Gone in 60 Seconds (shut up, I have a weak spot for movies with awesome cars in them).
So far, I'm a little underwhelmed by the writing quality of pretty much every episode of the new season that veteran writer and new executive producer Steven Moffat hasn't personally written, but I have faith. Mostly, because I absolutely adore the characters of Amy Pond and her bumbling fiance, Rory, but also because I've been really, really enjoying the performance of Matt Smith, and have faith in his continued ability to make terrible writing watchable.
Pretty much the only complaint I have about him is that I'm having a difficult time drawing him. I think it's his general lack of eyebrows that throws me off. Ah, well. Perhaps I just need more practice.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Geeking Out at The Garden Show
8:30 am is not a time of day I see frequently. However, my mother wanted to go to the Rhode Island Flower and Garden Show. So, armed with a camera, I headed out into Providence.
It didn't take us long to get to the convention center (which was familiar territory, as it's the home of Digital Overload and attached to the Providence Place Mall via skybridge), but the line at the door was long, and full of old ladies who smelled like funeral homes, so we both had migraines before we even made it in the door.
Once we were in, the layout was confusing and poorly labeled. For example, all of the lectures were in one room, but finding it took nearly twenty minutes because the maps they handed out at the door didn't have the lecture room clearly marked. Everywhere we turned, the elderly stopped short in the middle of narrow hallways and made getting to where we needed to be all but impossible. And to make matters more frustrating, when we finally made it to the fifth floor for the lecture, it turned out to not be what was described at all. What was billed as a lesson in landscaping on a low budget turned out to be an hour long slideshow in which a professional landscaper gloated about his own personal backyard. The transformation was stunning, but after about ten minutes, we guesstimated that between the amount of plants he'd purchased, the ten foot waterfall he'd built, the well he'd dug and the amount of heavy machinery he'd rented, he was already pushing a quarter of a million dollars. We decided to leave and go check out the floor show.
Now, my mother and I usually go to the Boston Flower and Garden show, which is considerably larger and on a higher budget, so I tried not to get my hopes up. She had been to the Providence Show with a friend last year, and insisted that, though smaller, Providence was just as high quality.
Neither of us have a clue what the hell happened between last year and this year.
The main exhibition hall of the convention seemed extremely promising. We entered into a massive, darkened chamber full of strategically lit concept gardens that blew our minds for about twenty seconds, until the old couple in front of us tripped on their own feet because the lights were far too dim for a con catering primarily to housewives and the elderly. We were surrounded by old people who couldn't seem to operate their own feet, screaming children who didn't want to be there, pouting teens who were being dragged along by their excited mothers, and husbands who could not more obviously have better places to be.
There was no order to the movement through the exhibition floor, which would be fine if it wasn't so cluttered that two people couldn't easily pass through any of the walkways simultaneously. Claustrophobia winning out, we wriggled our way past the first fifteen feet or so of the massive room.
It was then that we realized we had already seen every concept garden they had.
This may have been the most depressing moment of the convention thus far. Concept gardens are easily my favorite part of garden shows, and this one was sorely lacking. I'm not sure what the overall theme was supposed to be, either. There were cactus topiary arranged to look like elephants, park benches covered in old records, buckets full of musical instruments dumped in piles of wildflowers, a beautifully rendered gothic cemetery covered in gerber daises (Poe is surely crying in his grave over that nightmare) and some of the most run-of-the-mill garden accessories I've ever seen outside of Home Depot. There was even a concrete lawn deer. I'm not kidding. My grandmother's neighbors have sported one of those eyesores for years. In fact, in high school, Tyler and I decided to wage war on their horrible lawn ornaments by loudly attacking them with makeshift spears. I have a hard time believing that that horrible thing has been there long enough to have come back in style (were they ever even in style to begin with?). We were one Mary-On-A-Half-Shell away from the average Tiverton, RI front lawn.
From this, we were unceremoniously dumped into a small playground for the surely bored children that had been dragged to this godforsaken place. It was small, it was shabby, but at least it wasn't boring anyone to tears simply by existing. Thus far, it was probably the best part of the convention.
Once we passed the playground, we had somehow been transported to a flea market. Now, don't get me wrong, no convention is complete without vendors. But for every booth selling something relevant to the theme of the convention, there were three trying to sell you car insurance, homemade tchotchkes, and some As-Seen-On-TV kitchen device. Of the easily 30+ booths there, we found one selling seeds, three selling plants, and two selling cement lawn ornaments. The only other pseudo-appropriate booths were home improvement vendors loitering near their demo hot tubs, vinyl siding, and windows.
As we turned to leave, however, I heard one of the depressed husbands who had been shuffling along beside us chime up in pure joy.
"Oh my God, it's Mr. Spock!" he beamed.
And there it was.
Part of what was easily an eight foot tall and twelve foot long sand sculpture we somehow had missed on the way in, wedged between the playground and the concept gardens, a sculptor was putting the finishing touches on a massive and startlingly detailed portrait of Leonard Nimoy giving the vulcan salute.
I must have spent twenty minutes watching the sculptors work with the biggest grin on my face. On one side of the sculpture, Mr. Spock accompanied Fred Flintstone, the Woodstock logo, and a surfboard in a Mt. Rushmore-eqsue tribute. The ends of the work were bookended by Rosie the Robot holding up the Apollo 11 and Big Bird leaning against a tower with 'Groovy' etched into its side. The reverse side proudly displayed the Beatles, James Bond, and more of the Sesame Street crew.
Freestanding from the main sculpture were several peace signs and hands, including a pair that were playing an etch-a-sketch, and an incredibly detailed rendition of Neil Armstrong. The rock behind him (also made of sand, of course), had the 'one small step' quote etched into it. The only element of the entire scene that wasn't carved in sand was the american flag beside the astronaut. The sign just outside the massive sandbox declared that the work was done by Steve Topazio of Sandtasia.
After a considerable amount of gawking, my mother finally dragged me off to another panel. This one, though boring as sin for me, was at least informative, and she got out her notebook and listened intently while I putted around online on my cell phone. Once that was over, we did the best thing we'd done all day: we left the convention center to go to Charley's Subs in the mall for lunch, and we didn't go back.
It didn't take us long to get to the convention center (which was familiar territory, as it's the home of Digital Overload and attached to the Providence Place Mall via skybridge), but the line at the door was long, and full of old ladies who smelled like funeral homes, so we both had migraines before we even made it in the door.
Once we were in, the layout was confusing and poorly labeled. For example, all of the lectures were in one room, but finding it took nearly twenty minutes because the maps they handed out at the door didn't have the lecture room clearly marked. Everywhere we turned, the elderly stopped short in the middle of narrow hallways and made getting to where we needed to be all but impossible. And to make matters more frustrating, when we finally made it to the fifth floor for the lecture, it turned out to not be what was described at all. What was billed as a lesson in landscaping on a low budget turned out to be an hour long slideshow in which a professional landscaper gloated about his own personal backyard. The transformation was stunning, but after about ten minutes, we guesstimated that between the amount of plants he'd purchased, the ten foot waterfall he'd built, the well he'd dug and the amount of heavy machinery he'd rented, he was already pushing a quarter of a million dollars. We decided to leave and go check out the floor show.
Now, my mother and I usually go to the Boston Flower and Garden show, which is considerably larger and on a higher budget, so I tried not to get my hopes up. She had been to the Providence Show with a friend last year, and insisted that, though smaller, Providence was just as high quality.
Neither of us have a clue what the hell happened between last year and this year.
The main exhibition hall of the convention seemed extremely promising. We entered into a massive, darkened chamber full of strategically lit concept gardens that blew our minds for about twenty seconds, until the old couple in front of us tripped on their own feet because the lights were far too dim for a con catering primarily to housewives and the elderly. We were surrounded by old people who couldn't seem to operate their own feet, screaming children who didn't want to be there, pouting teens who were being dragged along by their excited mothers, and husbands who could not more obviously have better places to be.
There was no order to the movement through the exhibition floor, which would be fine if it wasn't so cluttered that two people couldn't easily pass through any of the walkways simultaneously. Claustrophobia winning out, we wriggled our way past the first fifteen feet or so of the massive room.
It was then that we realized we had already seen every concept garden they had.
This may have been the most depressing moment of the convention thus far. Concept gardens are easily my favorite part of garden shows, and this one was sorely lacking. I'm not sure what the overall theme was supposed to be, either. There were cactus topiary arranged to look like elephants, park benches covered in old records, buckets full of musical instruments dumped in piles of wildflowers, a beautifully rendered gothic cemetery covered in gerber daises (Poe is surely crying in his grave over that nightmare) and some of the most run-of-the-mill garden accessories I've ever seen outside of Home Depot. There was even a concrete lawn deer. I'm not kidding. My grandmother's neighbors have sported one of those eyesores for years. In fact, in high school, Tyler and I decided to wage war on their horrible lawn ornaments by loudly attacking them with makeshift spears. I have a hard time believing that that horrible thing has been there long enough to have come back in style (were they ever even in style to begin with?). We were one Mary-On-A-Half-Shell away from the average Tiverton, RI front lawn.From this, we were unceremoniously dumped into a small playground for the surely bored children that had been dragged to this godforsaken place. It was small, it was shabby, but at least it wasn't boring anyone to tears simply by existing. Thus far, it was probably the best part of the convention.
Once we passed the playground, we had somehow been transported to a flea market. Now, don't get me wrong, no convention is complete without vendors. But for every booth selling something relevant to the theme of the convention, there were three trying to sell you car insurance, homemade tchotchkes, and some As-Seen-On-TV kitchen device. Of the easily 30+ booths there, we found one selling seeds, three selling plants, and two selling cement lawn ornaments. The only other pseudo-appropriate booths were home improvement vendors loitering near their demo hot tubs, vinyl siding, and windows.
As we turned to leave, however, I heard one of the depressed husbands who had been shuffling along beside us chime up in pure joy.
"Oh my God, it's Mr. Spock!" he beamed.
And there it was.
Part of what was easily an eight foot tall and twelve foot long sand sculpture we somehow had missed on the way in, wedged between the playground and the concept gardens, a sculptor was putting the finishing touches on a massive and startlingly detailed portrait of Leonard Nimoy giving the vulcan salute.
I must have spent twenty minutes watching the sculptors work with the biggest grin on my face. On one side of the sculpture, Mr. Spock accompanied Fred Flintstone, the Woodstock logo, and a surfboard in a Mt. Rushmore-eqsue tribute. The ends of the work were bookended by Rosie the Robot holding up the Apollo 11 and Big Bird leaning against a tower with 'Groovy' etched into its side. The reverse side proudly displayed the Beatles, James Bond, and more of the Sesame Street crew.
Freestanding from the main sculpture were several peace signs and hands, including a pair that were playing an etch-a-sketch, and an incredibly detailed rendition of Neil Armstrong. The rock behind him (also made of sand, of course), had the 'one small step' quote etched into it. The only element of the entire scene that wasn't carved in sand was the american flag beside the astronaut. The sign just outside the massive sandbox declared that the work was done by Steve Topazio of Sandtasia.
After a considerable amount of gawking, my mother finally dragged me off to another panel. This one, though boring as sin for me, was at least informative, and she got out her notebook and listened intently while I putted around online on my cell phone. Once that was over, we did the best thing we'd done all day: we left the convention center to go to Charley's Subs in the mall for lunch, and we didn't go back.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
The Best Books of 2009 That You Didn't Know About
I'm the first to admit that I'm not always up to speed with everything (I blame Facebook and their terrible, time-wasting applications that eat away at my life), but I've been doing a considerable amount of reading lately, and some of these books, though not very new, absolutely deserve some attention.
In no particular order:
I was sort of wandering aimlessly through Borders a few months back when a particularly garish book spine caught my eye. It was the kind of yellow that you generally only see on traffic signs, and to say it stuck out would be something of an understatement. Naturally, I had to pick it up and read the back (even if it did hurt my eyes a little).
Now the excerpt on the back of the book, as it turns out, is the first page. (You can read it on Amazon via their 'Look Inside!' feature.) I'll give you the synopsis from the inside jacket cover:
In no particular order:
"Monster" by A. Lee Martinez
I was sort of wandering aimlessly through Borders a few months back when a particularly garish book spine caught my eye. It was the kind of yellow that you generally only see on traffic signs, and to say it stuck out would be something of an understatement. Naturally, I had to pick it up and read the back (even if it did hurt my eyes a little).Now the excerpt on the back of the book, as it turns out, is the first page. (You can read it on Amazon via their 'Look Inside!' feature.) I'll give you the synopsis from the inside jacket cover:
Meet Monster. Meet Judy. Two humans who don't like each other much, but together must fight dragons, fire-breathing felines, trolls, Inuit walrus dogs, and a crazy cat lady - for the future of the universe. Monster runs a pest control agency. He's overworked and has domestic troubles - like having the girlfriend from hell. Judy works the night shift at the local Food Plus Mart. Not the most glamorous life, but Judy is happy. No one bothers her and if she has to spell things out for the night-manager every now and again, so be it. But when Judy finds a Yeti in the freezer aisle eating all the Rocky Road
No, really. The absurd humor absolutely abounds here, making the misadventures of Monster and Judy into something of the urban fantasy equivalent of "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," and Monster's partner, Chester - a gnome from a different dimension that possesses a large sheet of paper - is the perfect foil. The book is worth reading for their dialogue alone.
The book seems a little slow for the first half, so if you're looking for something full of bullets-flying, chaotic action, this probably isn't for you. But if you're a fan of Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams, absolutely pick this up. It just became available in paperback January 29th, so no excuses. Go get it.
I was actually amazed to find out that this was Carriger's first published work. Honestly, I'd have thought that someone this witty and brilliant would have gone to press so much sooner! And it seems an odd choice to start with a series, but I'm certainly not complaining.
"Soulless" is the first in the Parasol Protectorate series, which is an interesting victorian horror/mystery series with a splash of steampunk. I'm hesitant to even use the term 'steampunk' at all, as any and all technology that would move this novel from historical fiction to alternate history is often fleeting and blends in so well that it's nearly unnoticeable. No one runs around with goggles on their hats or stupid brass contraptions that shoot lasers. This simply isn't that kind of book. In fact, you can read the author's own thoughts on her particular brand of steampunk right here.
There are, however, werewolves. And vampires. The majority of whom are upstanding citizens, and properly behaved aristocrats. After all, this is London. Manners are manditory.
The Publisher's Weekly blurb from Amazon :
The romantic overtones of the novel do narrow the potential fanbase considerably. To be 100% honest, I'd categorize this as being pretty girly, and wouldn't recommend it to any of my guy friends, unlike all the other books listed here. But with that said, I'm not really prone to traditionally 'girly' stuff, and this is the closest thing to a romance novel I've ever read in my life, so if it sounds interesting to you, don't let me discourage you.
It's also worth noting that Carriger has a pretty entertaining blog, and keeps track of her progress on other projects, so if you find yourself taken with her first book, you can see how long you have to suffer without another one. She also has a whole section of her site where you can view bonus materials from the books, like concept sketches and chapters that didn't make the cut.
I was wandering through a local Borders that was closing it's doors (it used to be a Waldenbooks and was recently bought out, and having a tiny in-mall location across the street from a massive, two-floor Borders does seem a bit silly), and there wasn't much left in the sci-fi/fantasy section. There were a couple Laurell K. Hamilton books that I'd already read, a William Shatner Star Trek book (which I grabbed and read, it was better than I expected), and "The Sheriff of Yrnameer." The cover art was strikingly bizzare, but last time I picked up a book because of the cover, I found a real gem, so I figured, why not? If the endorsing blurb on the back from Stephen Colbert hadn't already sealed the deal, a similarly praising note from Seth Grahme-Smith (the author of "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies") on the Amazon page for it certainly couldn't hurt. The praise wasn't unjustified. Publisher's Weekly had this to say:
I find it uncanny that every piece of criticism I've seen for this book compared Rubens to Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett when the only author who might get compared to them even more, Martinez, couldn't be more different in terms of literary style. The descriptions in "Yrnameer" are kept to a minimum, but the imagery is still consistently strong through off-hand bits of dialogue and pop culture references. Rubens' background as a television writer absolutely shines in his pacing and humor, and his familiarity with the genre gives him the elbow room to poke fun without losing the story and falling into blatant parody. Dialogue is absolutely where Rubens is at his best, and there is never a shortage of interesting characters for our anti-hero to banter with. If Han Solo was your favorite Star Wars character, read this. It will make you smile. I promise.
So, having thoroughly enjoyed "Monster," I decided to give Martinez another shot. I had just gotten a Kindle, so I read the first chapter of a couple of his books for free (easily my favorite feature of the Kindle, since you don't have to sit at a computer or stand around in a bookstore to shop for books and read excerpts). This was the one that grabbed my attention first. You can read more here, but be warned, the synopsis provided by Publisher's Weekly contains spoilers!
Martinez paints an intriguing alternate history background in Empire City, the would-be utopia in which the crime noir is set. The residents are an intriguingly motley crew, from a talking gorilla with a penchant from classic literature to celebrity technophiles and furry mutant police officers. The protagonist, Mac Megaton, is a sentient robot who was built to destroy and conquer, but decided he actually liked people, choosing instead to become a taxi driver. Mac lives a quiet life, and he's close to getting his citizenship when his friendly neighbor and her two children are abducted. Dissatisfied with the local authorities' unenthusiastic search, Mac decides to try and rescue them himself, risking his citizenship and even his functionality.
Much more linear and action-driven than "Monster" but still full of the same brilliant humor, "The Automatic Detective" was a fast read that I absolutely couldn't put down. I can't really think of anyone who wouldn't like this, unless they don't like robots. Or fun.
The book seems a little slow for the first half, so if you're looking for something full of bullets-flying, chaotic action, this probably isn't for you. But if you're a fan of Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams, absolutely pick this up. It just became available in paperback January 29th, so no excuses. Go get it.
"Soulless" by Gail Carriger
I was actually amazed to find out that this was Carriger's first published work. Honestly, I'd have thought that someone this witty and brilliant would have gone to press so much sooner! And it seems an odd choice to start with a series, but I'm certainly not complaining.
"Soulless" is the first in the Parasol Protectorate series, which is an interesting victorian horror/mystery series with a splash of steampunk. I'm hesitant to even use the term 'steampunk' at all, as any and all technology that would move this novel from historical fiction to alternate history is often fleeting and blends in so well that it's nearly unnoticeable. No one runs around with goggles on their hats or stupid brass contraptions that shoot lasers. This simply isn't that kind of book. In fact, you can read the author's own thoughts on her particular brand of steampunk right here.
There are, however, werewolves. And vampires. The majority of whom are upstanding citizens, and properly behaved aristocrats. After all, this is London. Manners are manditory.
The Publisher's Weekly blurb from Amazon :
Prickly, stubborn 25-year-old bluestocking Alexia Tarabotti is patently unmarriageable, and not just because she's large-nosed and swarthy. She's also soulless, an oddity and a secret even in a 19th-century London that mostly accepts and integrates werewolf packs, vampire hives and ghosts. The only man who notices her is brash Lord Conall Maccon, a Scottish Alpha werewolf and government official, and (of course) they dislike each other intensely. After Alexia kills a vampire with her parasol at a party—how vulgar!—she and Conall must work together to solve a supernatural mystery that grows quite steampunkishly gruesome. Well-drawn secondary characters round out the story, most notably Lord Akeldama, Alexia's outrageous, italic-wielding gay best vampire friend. This intoxicatingly witty parody will appeal to a wide cross-section of romance, fantasy and steampunk fans.
The romantic overtones of the novel do narrow the potential fanbase considerably. To be 100% honest, I'd categorize this as being pretty girly, and wouldn't recommend it to any of my guy friends, unlike all the other books listed here. But with that said, I'm not really prone to traditionally 'girly' stuff, and this is the closest thing to a romance novel I've ever read in my life, so if it sounds interesting to you, don't let me discourage you.
It's also worth noting that Carriger has a pretty entertaining blog, and keeps track of her progress on other projects, so if you find yourself taken with her first book, you can see how long you have to suffer without another one. She also has a whole section of her site where you can view bonus materials from the books, like concept sketches and chapters that didn't make the cut.
"The Sheriff of Yrnameer" by Michael Rubens
I was wandering through a local Borders that was closing it's doors (it used to be a Waldenbooks and was recently bought out, and having a tiny in-mall location across the street from a massive, two-floor Borders does seem a bit silly), and there wasn't much left in the sci-fi/fantasy section. There were a couple Laurell K. Hamilton books that I'd already read, a William Shatner Star Trek book (which I grabbed and read, it was better than I expected), and "The Sheriff of Yrnameer." The cover art was strikingly bizzare, but last time I picked up a book because of the cover, I found a real gem, so I figured, why not? If the endorsing blurb on the back from Stephen Colbert hadn't already sealed the deal, a similarly praising note from Seth Grahme-Smith (the author of "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies") on the Amazon page for it certainly couldn't hurt. The praise wasn't unjustified. Publisher's Weekly had this to say:
A down-and-out space faring rogue finds himself the protector of a bunch of peacenik artisans in this lighthearted, adventure-filled debut from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart writer Rubens. Space adventurer Cole is a liar and a thief and a cheat, and he owes a lot of money to Kenneth, an alien who wants to incubate eggs in the deadbeat's brain. Cole's escape from Kenneth lands him in the middle of a scheme to deliver a batch of freeze-dried orphans to the backwater planet of Yrnameer, which turns out to be under attack from Cole's archenemy, the outlaw Runk. Cole's ludicrous exploits keep the laughs coming as Rubens grandly ignores the niceties of world building and coherent plotting in favor of clever pop culture references and a rocket-fast, knee-slapping narrative.
I find it uncanny that every piece of criticism I've seen for this book compared Rubens to Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett when the only author who might get compared to them even more, Martinez, couldn't be more different in terms of literary style. The descriptions in "Yrnameer" are kept to a minimum, but the imagery is still consistently strong through off-hand bits of dialogue and pop culture references. Rubens' background as a television writer absolutely shines in his pacing and humor, and his familiarity with the genre gives him the elbow room to poke fun without losing the story and falling into blatant parody. Dialogue is absolutely where Rubens is at his best, and there is never a shortage of interesting characters for our anti-hero to banter with. If Han Solo was your favorite Star Wars character, read this. It will make you smile. I promise.
"The Automatic Detective" by A. Lee Martinez
(Technically, "The Automatic Detective" came out in 2008, but it didn't make it to mass market paperback until 2009, so I'm including it. Deal.)
(Technically, "The Automatic Detective" came out in 2008, but it didn't make it to mass market paperback until 2009, so I'm including it. Deal.)
So, having thoroughly enjoyed "Monster," I decided to give Martinez another shot. I had just gotten a Kindle, so I read the first chapter of a couple of his books for free (easily my favorite feature of the Kindle, since you don't have to sit at a computer or stand around in a bookstore to shop for books and read excerpts). This was the one that grabbed my attention first. You can read more here, but be warned, the synopsis provided by Publisher's Weekly contains spoilers!
Martinez paints an intriguing alternate history background in Empire City, the would-be utopia in which the crime noir is set. The residents are an intriguingly motley crew, from a talking gorilla with a penchant from classic literature to celebrity technophiles and furry mutant police officers. The protagonist, Mac Megaton, is a sentient robot who was built to destroy and conquer, but decided he actually liked people, choosing instead to become a taxi driver. Mac lives a quiet life, and he's close to getting his citizenship when his friendly neighbor and her two children are abducted. Dissatisfied with the local authorities' unenthusiastic search, Mac decides to try and rescue them himself, risking his citizenship and even his functionality.
Much more linear and action-driven than "Monster" but still full of the same brilliant humor, "The Automatic Detective" was a fast read that I absolutely couldn't put down. I can't really think of anyone who wouldn't like this, unless they don't like robots. Or fun.
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