Abe

Am I the only one who looked at this and immediately wondered what market the company who made a bright red jersey with a reference to D&D on the back was targetting?

And since I assume they're Not referring to rolling a crit, what does a '20' refer to here?

Abe-

 

sorry for the delay. I looked through my issues and only have doubles of 209 and 211.  I can go to my local shop and see what they have for you if you'd like.  I bet they have a decent ammount of current back issues.

 

Let me know what you'd like to do. Other than that check ebay, it's easy to find stuff there.

 

Seth

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Thanks for all the effort Seth, and sorry to hear about your accident :(

The link that Adrian gave me back up the thread had most of the issues I'm missing. Just have to find 207 now :) I'll give ebay a shot. I've never actually bought anything there despite making frequent use of its sister site half.com. Something about ebay has always struck me as untrustworthy despite that I don't know anyone who has actually gotten burned buying something on auction there. Oh well, I think JC is worth breaking my ebay cherry for.

Thanks!

Welcome AP and Elektra!

I have to agree with Pooka, Applesauce Parker is right up there with Asymmetrical Popeye in the book of awesome names. But I may be biased since my initials are also AP...

That is alot of velvet.

And quite possibly the most heinously ugly piece of headgear I've ever seen...

I can't post the picture directly since I'm on from my work computer so don't have it, and since myspace is blocked by my office's firewall, I can't even grab it from there.

As such, here you can find a picture of me and my (current) perfect hat:

http://www.myspace.com/abepern

I used to have a cap that filled the role. I don't know the proper name for it, it was simply called 'the jewhat'. Black corduroy with a snap between the front and the bill in the style of hats that were (to the best of my knowledge) popular among Irish immigrants to America back in the... 20's? 30's? Some era like that. Don't think I have any further pictures of it. I'm fairly certain it was hideous but it fit the above definition of a hat :)

I can't be stopped!

 

And since we're singing the praise of the animated series, I have to assume that other people here feel as I do that Kevin Conroy IS the voice of Batman, now and forever.  Only actor thus far who has managed to completely seperate the two characters...and his voice for Bats can be downright terrifying.

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Yep. And while Jack Nicholson played the part very well, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to think of the Joker as having anyone but Mark Hammill's voice again. I've not heard any definite rumours about who's to play him in the Begins sequel, but I suspect I'm going to be let down regardless. The voice acting for that series is easily among the best I've ever heard.

i watched the trailer, and i saw it some times years ago. dont know if i would like it. maybe. maybe not :)

but i will check it out.

but there are more batman animated series, no?

which exist and withc are recommendable?

(excuse me for all this stupid questions, but after batman begins im kinda liking batman again, and i want to have more. what drives me to the questions which comics you would recommend to read?)

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The batman animated series that aired on Fox from 1992 to 1995 is the one being referred to as awesome by Mark (which in fact it was). There's also Batman Beyond which is a sci-fi spin-off of the Batman story. I quite like it and it's in much the same vein as the afore-mentioned series, but I understand it's not everyone's cuppa. I *think* there was another animated series as well, but I can't find any reference to it on IMDB, so I may be imagining it. If it did exist it would likely be hard to find anyway, so you're probably safe with any DVDs you can find. I know at least some of Batman Beyond is out on DVD, as well as the Mask of the Phantasm (which isn't in any way Beyond affiliated) movie. Don't know if the original series was ever put out on DVD or not. I might have to look into purchasing it if so.... Harley and Ivy were entirely hotter than non-japanese cartoons have any right to be.

Has anyone seen the new Fog movie? I realize it's a "not screened for critics, terrible reviews on Rotton Tomatoes" film, but does it have any redeeming cheese factor? I'm jonesing for an entertaining escapist popcorn movie.

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Yeah, I was up visiting a friend opening weekend. Didn't know anythinga bout it except that it was a remake of a John Carpenter oldie. Having seen The Thing recently when my roommate bought the DVD I figured it was worth a shot (that and I couldn't convince my friend that he really needed to see Serenity so that I could see it again...bastard).

It's a fun little horror movie for all that the ending doesn't make a lot of sense and the acting was crap. I could have done with less exposition toward the end; it would have left the plot murky rather than full of holes.

yeah, yeah, im using myself imdb regularly, but i want to know it from an "insider" :)

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If you've seen any of the Batman animated series, it's like that. I recall having seen Mask of the Phantasm on TV at one point years ago, but only remember that it was good. Haven't had a chance to watch it since buying the DVD. The tone is about as adult and dark as you can expect from an animated series that aired on Fox.

I'm certainly against execution as a form of punishment but I'm not terribly surprised that it's still around. The leaders of most nations are far from the most logical, well-reasoning men and women of the populace. I'd even go so far as to say that it's more true of nations like the USA where the government is chosen by the people. The president doesn't (at least in most cases) grow up knowing that he's going to be president or even that he'll have a good shot at it. They're just regular guys who manage to get picked. And usually the way they get picked is by being richer, more popular, and more influential than any of their competition. Being smarter and thinking more about what's good for the nation are not necessarily qualifications.

Any reasonable person could look at the modern penal system in most (if not all, I'm not familiar with everywhere) 1st world nations and realize immediately that they're screwed up beyond belief. There have been cases in the USA of prisoners asking for the death penalty rather than life sentences (which are, if I recall correctly, only 40 years, not until you actually die). The conditions in most prisons are so horrible that death is, for some, preferable to living through it.

People are put in prison for using drugs, public intoxication, poor driving, and any number of other inane things. They're not hardened criminals and in many cases weren't hurting anyone but themselves. They get locked away in a sadistic nightmare world for years on end, only to be released and find themselves discriminated against and unable to find work or a place to live. That's assuming they even have the skills to get work aside from having to check Yes to that "Have you ever been found guilty..." question on applications. Imagine, if you will, someone who was imprisoned in, say, 1985 and was released today. They may never have seen a computer in person, much less a cellphone. So many of the things that are common knowledge to everyone who has lived the past two decades in a developed nation would be completely lost on many people in prison today. Yet having 'served their debt to society', these men and women are expected to start new lives. Is it any wonder that so many ex-cons find their way back to prison? It may be the only life they know how to live.

The entire world's justice system is inherently flawed and the death penalty is but a small symptom thereof. A particularly gruesome symptom, but still a symptom. I have no answers as to what could or should be done to improve matters, but as it stands we are condeming people whose greatest crime may be a bit of vandalism or self-destructive behaviour to what in many cases may be a punishment worse than death.

So I was looking for the Batman Begins special edition yesterday (thanks to this forum, I might add. Were it not for you lot I wouldn't have known to stop my girlfriend buying the standard edition release) when I saw an odd-looking DVD on the rack.

It proclaims itself to be "All 15 episodes" of a serial batman movie from 1943 starring some guy named Wilson as the caped crusader. A hit to the IMDB yields this: http://imdb.com/title/tt0035665/

I considered myself a bat-fan in my younger days (still am but much less actively so) and was watching the old Adam West series and movie long before Michael Keaton donned the cowl, but I've never heard of this. It certainly sounds like it has potential (electric zombies? japanese badguy from the WW2 era? what could go wrong?). Has anyone hereabouts seen, or even heard of, this?

I wound up not purchasing it yesterday, by the way. Bought 2 Batman Beyond DVDs and Mask of the Phantasm instead (can't beat 6 hours of Batman for $24).

Yup. I went to the interactive Rocky Horror last night. I was just wondering if (by some unlikely coincidence) we saw the same show.

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Nope, just cosmic coincidence. Or maybe that guy's Time Warp was even more enthusiastic than I thought.

Hey Abe, just outta curiosity, you don't happen to live in Ontario, do you?

 

Anyways,

 

Ghost World:

 

This was a really good movie. I liked it quite a bit. Thora Birch and Scarlett Johansson were excellent in their parts. And Steve Buscemi, like always, was absolutely fantastic.

 

I found this to be a funny, bittersweet, poignant film that I can relate to fairly easily.

 

I'd buy it.

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Nope, no Ontario for me. Was a near thing, though. After the last election that was one of the places I seriously considered transferring. Little too little money and only a year and a half left until grad school (at the time; half a year left now :)) kept me in SC. Why? Was there a Rocky Horror show up there last night too?

On the topic of Ghost World... I remember meaning to see that when it came out on DVD but it completely slipped my mind. Must make a note of it for the next trip to Blockbuster.

Not technically a movie, I guess, but I caught a Rocky Horror tribute show last night. They played the movie on a video wall in the background while a live band played the music and 4 people in costume sang/acted the various parts. No throwing of food products but other than the guy standing in front of me whose Time Warp was a bit too enthusiastic it was good time.

Back on topic, I saw Stay the other night. I think it may qualify for best movie I've seen this year. I can't really say anything about the content that's not a spoiler of some sort, so for those unfamiliar I'll give the best description I've been able to come up with:

Imagine a cross between Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind and The Forgotten, only without the sucky parts (note: I liked ESoaSM but for certain parts and hated Forgotten but for certain parts).

Let's see if I can get those spoiler tags to work:

This is the only movie I can recall watching where I didn't know what was going on until near the end.  Usually I guess the twist or the surprise ending or whatever by 1/3rd, 1/2 way through.  I suspected what was up almost from the beginning, but it wasn't until the scene in the stairs after Sam had his conversation with...er...the girlfriend, Athena? that I was certain.  All of the subtle (and less subtle) signs that it was a dream were great.  All of the twins and triplets in the background of some scenes, items from one scene appearing in the background of the next, the baby crying whenever the scene went dark or someone said something that they'd said on the bridge. I particularly liked the way people would change places between camera cuts and how staircases always went on longer than they should.  In the scene on the stairs when Sam finds Henry waiting for him, they went down 5 or 6 flights only to stop on the 2nd floor where they'd started.  The feeling of disconnection whenever anyone passed from one place to another just captured the feeling and beauty of dreaming so perfectly... 

 

Usually 'oh, it was all a dream' is a cop-out and letdown in movies but I think it was actually More satisfying than any other ending could have been for this one.

Hey people,

My name's Abe (real name == forum name; I gave up on coming up with new aliases a few years back). I'm 26 and double majoring in physics and maths at university here in the 'lovely'* state of South Carolina.

I read voraciously when not otherwise occupied by homework (my unhealthy obsession with overworking myself leads me to usually be so occupied); pretty much whatever I can get my hands on. Fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, horror, non-genre fiction, non-fiction. I've only gotten back into comics in the past year or so. After hearing that there was a Hellblazer movie coming out I decided it was time I should finally get around to reading it (having heard it was good some time before). The movie came and went (I admit it, I liked it. I just pretend it was completely unaffiliated with the comic ;)) before I came near catching up, but now I'm just about there (searching for issue 207) and have loved (nearly) every minute of it.

Other than cheesy Keanu Reeves action movies, my tastes are about as varied in the movie realm as in books. My recent(ish) favorites are probably Primer, Sin City, Hero, and Serenity.

Music-wise I like rock (from oldies through contemporary), electronica (in all its many sub-genre flavors), classical, chant, some rap... oh hell, everything except country. I'm terminally unable to be selective :)

I don't watch television except for downloaded anime and Dr. Who. Everything on cable (at least in the US) is shite these days. I've heard good things about Lost, however, so I'm thinking of picking up the DVDs...

I drink socially (that is, there's usually other people around ;)). Used to favor vodka but thanks to JC G'n'T's are my new poison du jour. Mostly stick to Heineken for beer since nobody hereabout seems to serve anything that tastes less like piss in a bottle.

Well, I think that about covers it. I look forward to wasting many an hour amongst you fine fellows (and fellow-ettes).

*Here I've used the non-standard definition of 'lovely' meaning 'utter shit-hole'. No offense to any local natives.

I don't think they'd make a Books of Magic film, considering how Gaiman has never done anything to promote a Sandman script, and the Endless are in BoM sooo....

Sandman scripts have been going back and forth forever. From various interviews I've seen with Gaiman he was initially excited about the prospect and gradually grew less interested and more disillusioned with Hollywood down the years. At one point the script apparently included the US Army trapping Dream in an abandoned subway tunnel to use as a weapon and I believe another one put him in the role of a superman-type hero, including the spandex.

Here's a relatively recent interview (Time Magazine interviews Joss Whedon and Neil Gaiman) that mentions the Death: The High Cost of Living and Books of Magic movies.

http://www.time.com/time/arts/printout/0,8...1109313,00.html

It's a worthwhile read. I don't think I've ever seen a Time reporter state that they just want to see Wonder Woman porn before.

The relavent quote, for the lazy:

I just get to see, mostly from a distance, things going through awful adaptations. Books of Magic —Warner has done seven scripts on that, and it's now got to the point where my only response is, why don't you just change the lead character's name and not call it Books of Magic? You've now created something that that will do nothing but irritate anyone who thinks they're going to see a Books of Magic movie. But it's probably a perfectly decent movie, so just take the name off it.

The proverbial trenchcoat brigade to the rescue :)

You guys rock.

Whereabouts do you live, Abe?

UK or US ?

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US. South Carolina, to put a point on it. But I'm willing to pay shipping to order from across the pond.

Hey all, standard 'this is my first post, hope it's in the right forum' text.

So I've been catching up with the chronicles of JC for about a year now and have gotten my hot little mitts on every issue up through 206 in one way or another (singles, TPBs, scans...) to fuel my obsession. Unfortunately I've now hit a snag. I wanted to read the whole thing in order (I'm a weirdo that way, makes picking up a new comic series hard) so didn't buy any of the new release issues during my Must Read Them All quest. Now here I am 6 months behind and none of my local comic shops have been stocking enough copies of the last 6 issues to have any left over. Given that I'm not currently buying any other comics I'm largely ignorant of good online sources and my googling has proven less than fruitful.

So to put it short: Does anyone know where I can order copies of 207-212 online? I was kind of hoping to keep on with singles through December and start up my official subscription when Mina takes the helm, but my clever plan has gone awry.

Thanks,

--Abe