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| Wednesday, July 31, 2013 10:43 AM |
| Random Review Roundup |
 by Fëanor |
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Neil Gaiman's latest novel is a strange one. It's a fantasy novel that tells of a man returning to his childhood home for a funeral and coming unexpectedly upon a memory of a terrifying and magical episode from his childhood that he'd entirely forgotten. It is a book about childhood and adulthood, and the infinite chasm, and minuscule crack, between the two. It is a book about life and what it means and what it is for. It is a simple story that is as deep as deep can be, with an aching, yearning sadness at its heart.
"All monsters are scared," says Lettie. "That's why they're monsters... Grown-ups don't look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside, they're big and thoughtless and they always know what they're doing. Inside, they look just like they always have. Like they did when they were your age. Truth is, there aren't any grown-ups. Not one, in the whole wide world."
Pacific Rim
Someone described this as the Citizen Kane of giant monster movies, and I have to agree with that poetic soul. I saw it on the big screen in 3D, and it was just an awesome experience. The effects and visuals are astounding, the action incredible, the robots and monsters tremendous. And besides that, there's actually a great story with great characters that's surprisingly emotionally effective. Maybe it doesn't all make perfect logical sense if you sit down and pick it apart, but whatever - I loved it, and I'd see this movie again in a heartbeat.
Red 2
Remember that movie about assassins with Bruce Willis that came out a few years ago? Here's my review if you don't. I loved that movie, and this is the sequel! Almost the entire cast returns (Willis, Malkovich, Cox, Mirren, Parker) and this time are joined by even more celebrities (Catherine Zeta-Jones, Anthony Hopkins, and David Thewlis to name a few). Some of the artfulness and cleverness of the first film have been lost - to be honest, the story is pretty dumb - but this is still a rollicking good time. It's funny and exciting, with some unexpected twists and turns. It's a bit disturbing that it's a goofy comedy that features the cruel and almost off-hand murders of many, many people. But if you can set that aside, it's a good time. |
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| Friday, June 22, 2012 03:57 PM |
| Recyclotron |
 by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
- New Hark! A Vagrant!
- A panda enters.
- There a whole lot of blogs involving artists redrawing/reimagining other art, but... well, here's another! It's a series of artists redoing all the character portraits from The Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe.
- One of my favorite artist/bloggers, Noelle Stevenson, has launched her fantasy web comic Nimona. It's pretty good!
- The very last Life In Hell strip was recently printed. Never really got into this strip too much, but definitely feels like the end of an era.
- This guy is redoing Blade Runner as a series of watercolor paintings, which is insane.
- A teaser trailer for the Monsters Inc. prequel, Monsters University. Looks like fun!
- A few drinks while you're pregnant is not going to permanently damage your baby. There's science now to back this up. So let's all calm down just a little bit.
- Here's a trailer for a movie called Prototype, which is about an experimental robot going rogue. Or a human being who turns into a robot? Or something? Looks neat.
- Apparently the best predictor of how well a movie will do at the box office is online buzz.
- There's going to be a Sesame Street movie! Who knows how this will turn out, but I'm cautiously optimistic.
- Apparently Hobotopia did a series of Lord of the Rings-related comics. Nice! The 2000th entry of that strip is coming up, which should be fun.
- Hey, Sin Titulo started updating again.
- The ISS re-cut The Avengers.
- A chart explaining the evolution of the alien as described in Prometheus. (Spoiler alert!)
- Crazy video of a dude killing bosses in Diablo III in ridiculously short amounts of time. Like, he polishes off the Skeleton King in less than a second. (Via)
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| Tagged (?): Aliens (Not), Animals (Not), Animated GIFs (Not), Art (Not), Avengers (Not), Business (Not), Cartoons (Not), Comedy (Not), Comic books (Not), Diablo (Not), Diablo 3 (Not), Links (Not), Movies (Not), Muppets (Not), News (Not), Parenthood (Not), Parenting (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Robots (Not), Science (Not), Tolkien (Not), Video (Not), Video games (Not), Web comics (Not) |
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| Monday, February 27, 2012 10:34 AM |
| Recyclotron |
| by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
- Fun with lyrics!
- A wonderful animated gif of an amusing moment in one of Mr. Eddie Izzard's stand-up routines.
- A real, solid, scientific explanation of why cats purr.
- Mr. Hipp mashes up Star Wars and Super Mario Bros.
- Ridley Scott explains the connection between Alien and Prometheus. I'm still a little confused, but okay.
- The evolution of "Weird" Al.
- We can print robot dinosaurs now?? Awesome.
- Here's a computer case made to look like Link.
- Amazing, gigantic Lord of the Rings family tree. (Via)
- Tongue-based computer controller!
- Hey, that dude from The Killing might be Robocop.
- A couple of interesting pics of Benedict Cumberbatch on the set of Star Trek 2. Looks like he's getting the ol' neck pinch!
- When I heard they were re-releasing the universally reviled Phantom Menace in theaters in 3D, I was really curious what kind of audience it would have. I mean, everybody says they hate this movie! Why would anyone pay extra to see it again in one more dimension than before? Then again, it's Star Wars. Star Wars has a certain cache. And nerds are famous for paying for things so they can then complain about them endlessly. Plus, there's the kid factor. Kids don't know they're supposed to hate The Phantom Menace. Well, looks like the nerd and kid factors won out, because the 3D version made $73.4 million in less than two weeks and pushed the movie's overall box office total over the billion dollar mark to make it the 11th highest grossing film of all time. Wow.
- Speaking of Star Wars, here are some rejected Star Wars products. Also, in the upcoming Star Wars game for Kinect, there will be a Slave Leia dance-off.
- Cute Wizard of Oz cupcakes.
- Here's a little boy piloting a mecha suit.
- I love this stamp.
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| Tagged (?): Animals (Not), Animated GIFs (Not), Art (Not), Celebrities (Not), Comedy (Not), Computers (Not), Craft (Not), Dinosaurs (Not), Food (Not), Links (Not), Mario (Not), Mashups (Not), Movies (Not), Music (Not), Oz (Not), Photography (Not), Products (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Robots (Not), Science (Not), Star Trek (Not), Star Wars (Not), Technology (Not), The Killing (Not), Tolkien (Not), TV (Not), Video (Not), Video games (Not), Zelda (Not) |
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| Monday, August 22, 2011 12:24 PM |
| (Last updated on Monday, August 22, 2011 12:28 PM) | | Recyclotron |
| by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
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| Tagged (?): Aliens (Not), Art (Not), Avengers (Not), Cartoons (Not), Comedy (Not), Comic books (Not), Craft (Not), Fast food (Not), Links (Not), Lovecraft (Not), Monsters (Not), Movies (Not), Music (Not), News (Not), Pixar (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Robots (Not), Star Wars (Not), Tolkien (Not) |
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| Wednesday, April 13, 2011 02:32 PM |
| Recyclotron |
| by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
- Hey, it's Mumm-Ra the ever-living! What a guy! I always loved that subtitle, "the ever-living."
- The latest entry on Making Game of Thrones is about designing the throne room.
- Oh man, Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Cosmic Cube would be so awesome. Way better than Crystal Skull, surely.
- Paramount just greenlit a movie version of The Martian Chronicles. I'm not sure it'd be possible to make a good film adaptation of that book - it seems uniquely... bookish; delicate and lyrical and easily ruined - but I'd be excited to see someone try.
- Here's the first episode of the new web series, Mortal Kombat: Legacy. But yeah, don't bother watching it unless you're really curious or a superfan. It's composed almost entirely of cliches. Also, if you're going to shoot a person with a gun, why would you move really close to that person first? You've got a gun! It hits people from far away! Sigh.
- Here's a cool thing: a World of Warcraft player hit the level cap without ever killing anything, and completing only one quest. The person apparently leveled up almost entirely via exploring and discovering.
- AT-AT for America seems like a worthy cause. Let's do this, people!
- The art of banana carving.
- I posted this to Twitter a while back, but it's worth another link: George R.R. Martin's top 10 fantasy films. A lot of great picks here. I'm especially excited about the inclusion of Ladyhawke, a little film from the '80s that my brother and I seriously adored when we were younger.
- Nesting robots.
- Oh sweet lord. Taco Bell is testing taco shells made from nacho cheese Doritos. Is this disgusting or deeply desirable? I can't seem to decide. All I know is, I'd definitely eat one. (Via)
- Have you seen this one-of-a-kind, fan-made Tron light cycle board game yet? Great concept, wonderful execution.
- "Comedian Brett Kreischer is apparently in the habit of leaving surprises for the hotel maid."
- LEGO mechs.
- Hey, Warren Ellis is going to write a couple more novels! The first one will be called Gun Machine. I really enjoyed Crooked Little Vein, so this is good news. Plus, you know, Warren Ellis. (Via)
- Oh no! One of the blogs I read - Download Squad - is closing up shop. Sadness.
- Heh.
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| Tagged (?): Art (Not), Boardgames (Not), Books (Not), Captain America (Not), Cartoons (Not), Comedy (Not), Comic books (Not), Craft (Not), Dinosaurs (Not), Food (Not), Game of Thrones (Not), Gaming (Not), George R.R. Martin (Not), Indiana Jones (Not), Internet (Not), LEGO (Not), Links (Not), Lists (Not), Mortal Kombat (Not), Movies (Not), News (Not), Photography (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Robots (Not), Song of Ice and Fire (Not), Star Wars (Not), Toys (Not), Tron (Not), TV (Not), Video (Not), Video games (Not), Warren Ellis (Not) |
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| Thursday, December 23, 2010 12:22 PM |
| Recyclotron |
| by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
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| Tagged (?): Art (Not), Books (Not), Celebrities (Not), Christmas (Not), Clothing (Not), Comedy (Not), Fashion (Not), Gadgets (Not), Holiday (Not), Links (Not), Lists (Not), Movies (Not), Music (Not), News (Not), Phones (Not), Photography (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Robots (Not), Shirts (Not), Star Trek (Not), Star Wars (Not), TV (Not), Video (Not), Web comics (Not), X-Files (Not) |
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| Wednesday, November 10, 2010 10:02 AM |
| (Last updated on Wednesday, November 10, 2010 02:29 PM) | | Recyclotron |
| by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
UPDATE: |
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| Tagged (?): Advertising (Not), Art (Not), Comic books (Not), Commercials (Not), Food (Not), Harry Potter (Not), Links (Not), Monsters (Not), Movies (Not), News (Not), Nintendo (Not), Photography (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Robots (Not), Space (Not), Sports (Not), Video (Not), Video games (Not) |
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| Monday, August 2, 2010 12:43 PM |
| Recyclotron |
| by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
- J.J. Abrams and his production company Bad Robot will produce a movie version of Boilerplate, an alternate history story about "the world's first robot, who, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, fought alongside Teddy Roosevelt and Lawrence of Arabia, journeyed to the South Pole and was involved in the silent movie business before disappearing on the battlefields of World War I." I get the feeling this could be entertaining, but also deeply sad.
- io9 lists Syfy's new TV lineup and provides snarky reviews of each show. But seriously, there are some potentially cool ideas in here.
- Ah ha, Todd McFarlane owes Neil Gaiman money for what he did to Spawn.
- Have you always wondered what it would look like if you cut open 32 glow sticks, dumped the glowing chemicals inside into a toilet, and then flushed? Yeah, me neither, but luckily we have college freshmen to come up with these crazy ideas for us and then put the video on YouTube.
- A pictorial guide to becoming super.
- Paul Yarrow has created a specialty for himself: he's the fat guy in the background of every UK newscast. The same link roundup that led me to Paul Yarrow features this fantastic preview of Paul Pope's awesome-sounding next project, Battling Boy.
- The highly unsettling and intriguing trailer for Catfish, which is composed of real footage of a guy going to meet a girl he fell in love with on Facebook. (Via)
- I find this oddly hilarious.
- Robert Rodriguez might direct the Deadpool movie? That seems like a good fit to me.
- "The Devil's... Spoon?" Really, that's all you've got? Were his knife and fork already taken?
- More plot details and an intriguing picture from The Girl With the Red Riding Hood.
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| Tagged (?): Animals (Not), Art (Not), Celebrities (Not), Comedy (Not), Comic books (Not), Law (Not), Links (Not), Movies (Not), News (Not), Paul Pope (Not), Photography (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Robots (Not), TV (Not), Video (Not) |
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| Thursday, April 29, 2010 11:13 AM |
| Recyclotron |
| by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
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| Tagged (?): Advertising (Not), Art (Not), Celebrities (Not), Comic books (Not), Craft (Not), Kaiju (Not), LEGO (Not), Links (Not), Monsters (Not), Music (Not), News (Not), Photography (Not), Pixar (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Robots (Not), Star Wars (Not), Thor (Not), Toys (Not), TV (Not), Video (Not) |
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| Monday, April 19, 2010 02:16 PM |
| (Last updated on Tuesday, April 20, 2010 09:06 AM) | | The Take |
 by Fëanor |
Fëanor's (semi-)weekly comic book review post.
This post covers new releases from the week of 3/31, plus a Fletcher Hanks collection. Beware spoilers!
Back issues and old data
You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation!
I mentioned in my review of the first collection of the work of Fletcher Hanks, I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets, that I would definitely have to check out the second collection, and now I have! The last line of the book says that these two collections constitute the complete works of Fletcher Hanks, so I guess that's that. It's quite a body of work. This volume includes a straight text introduction that repeats and augments the information included in the comic-style afterword of the first volume, adding more biographical information and even some fascinating sketches by Hanks. It's an interesting introduction, but also unsettling. Knowing more about what a wretched person Hanks was leaves me even more uncomfortable about enjoying his work so much.
In a lot of ways this book is just more of the same stuff that we saw in the first book, except that some of these stories seem to lack the truly wild imagination of those included in the first volume, and more seem to stray from Hanks' standard plot structure (God-like hero discovers evil plan, allows evil plan to commence, then finally intervenes and punishes evil-doer with poetic justice). Which is not to say that this is a bad book, or that Hanks takes any sudden, shocking turns into entirely new story types. His heroes are still all God-like, and they still spend their time defeating incredibly dangerous and destructive villains in unlikely ways. This book is maybe not as wildly inventive or as thematically consistent as the first, but it's nearly as fun and full of nearly as many crazy ideas and insane, evocative images. I particularly enjoyed the Fantomah story in which an immortal Egyptian mummy super-scientist uses a ray to blind the people of the jungle, and then resurrects all the mummies on Earth and transmits them through the sky to come live in a new jungle empire for Ancient Egyptians. Another great Fantomah story sees her fighting fifth columnists by sending hordes of lions and tigers through the sky at parachutists, and then destroying the remaining grounded planes and soldiers with Godzilla-like lizard monsters. Hanks even mimics other popular comic books of the day by giving one of his heroes, Stardust the super-wizard, his own squad of child assistants (although considering Stardust's infinite abilities, they seem kind of superfluous).
Overall I'd say this book is definitely worth getting, especially if you own and enjoy the first book.
Thumbs Up
New releases
Blackest Night #8
Here it is at last, the crappy conclusion to a terrible miniseries. I mean, if your comic opens with your main character narrating, without any trace of irony, the words "The truth is, I am afraid of one thing. I'm afraid to get close to people," then you need to consider taking some writing classes. I mean, that shit is awful. I'll admit, I always enjoy an epic two-page spread featuring everybody fighting everybody, but it's happened so many times in this series it's beginning to lose its affect. And when Jordan uses the Entity's power to just magically turn all his buddies into White Lanterns (a term which I'm still uncomfortable with), it's pretty much literally a deus ex machina. I do like the way they reverse the usual ending of epic comic book stories like this one by having the heroes fix everything by bringing the villain back to life instead of by killing him. But the way the Anti-Monitor (once hyped up by Johns himself as the biggest and most terrifying villain of them all) just pops up at the very last minute, hangs out for a few panels, and then pops out again seems pretty ridiculous. And bringing almost all of the dead heroes back to life again in one nonsensical, inexplicable act of resurrection is rather lame - it's pretty much what Johns has been doing with all his Rebirth miniseries, but multiplied by ten and packed into one giant spread. And of course he closes things up with another gag-inducingly cheesy conversation between Barry and Hal.
I think this series has pretty much put me off Geoff Johns for good. He's just not a very good writer.
Thumbs Down
Incorruptible #4
This issue isn't as great as the previous one, but it's still pretty fun, with more insight into Max's motives and character, more development of his twisted relationship with Jailbait, and a fight with a giant robot (something I never say no to).
Thumbs Sideways
New Mutants #11
This one-shot story explains the deal Moonstar made with Hela during the events of... the last big X-Men multi-book series, whatever it was called. Turns out she's now a Valkyrie, but instead of ferrying human heroes to the afterlife, she shepherds the souls of the Gods themselves! Which means she has powers again, but at a pretty high price. It's a vaguely interesting story, but one-shots are always a bit boring, and there's not a lot very exciting or imaginative going on in this one.
Thumbs Sideways
The Terminator: 2029 #1
I wasn't a big fan of Dark Horse's other recent Terminator comic book series, but this one had Zack Whedon's name on it, so I gave it a shot. I was not disappointed. Whedon wisely focuses on characters and relationships (because those are what make good stories, people!) and introduces us to a funny and interesting group of folks, including one that any Terminator fan will recognize immediately: Kyle Reese. I love that Reese tells one of his really depressing and terrifying stories, like the ones he's always telling in the first movie, and somebody finally calls him out on it: "Your stories suck." But the comic's not all people talking - after all, it wouldn't be Terminator without a bit of good, old-fashioned ultra-violence. So there's shooting and killing and a huge machine invasion, not to mention the historic and deadly first meeting between humans and the T-800 series of Terminators. This is a fine comic right here - a worthy continuation of the Terminator saga - and I'm looking forward to the next issue.
Thumbs Up |
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Jim Genzano's books on Goodreads
