TimC
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Posts posted by TimC
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Bryan Talbot's 'Grandville' - it's great. Much, much better than you'd expect of anything that could be accurately described as 'furry steampunk'.
It's a beutifully produced book (kudos to Jonathan Cape), with typically gorgeous art from Talbot (in a similar style to 'Heart of Empire'), a right ripping yarn, and plenty of good jokes. The most fun comic I've read for a long time, basically.
Even though it's a funny animal comic, it's probably not suitable for small children, though. Or for American Republicans, or at least the ones who can work out certain parallels of the plot. Or for the rights holders of the work of Georges Remi, I suspect.
And inevitably, given that it's an alternative-history story, there's dirigibles.
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No idea who first used them for this purpose. I'd imagine you're right in thinking it wasn't Alan Moore, but more because the use of this trope seems too widespread to have been solely picked up from Watchmen.
Michael Moorcock's 'The Warlord of the Air' (1971) might be a contender for the first use of airships in an alternative-universe story.
I assume things like HG Wells' 'The War in the Air' or various Vernes don't count for this, as the airships there were straight futuristic tech rather than a signifier of alternate-worldness.
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So, in the alternate 1985 of the Watchmen, it was just acceptable for people to smoke meth in public?
Aren't they a sort of cannabis ball? It's a good few years since I last read the book, but I recall it's fairly well spelt out.
It's one of those things that the pissawful movie skipped over, anyway.
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No offence, but this is not
A grating Hollywoodisation,
B a character called "Jon Ronson".
I was being a little sarcastic. But, as I understand it, this is an adaptation of the non-fiction book (and accompanying TV documentaries) by the journalist Jon Ronson, in which Ewan thingy plays a fictionalised version of the author, who is apparently now American. Though given wee Ewan's previously demonstrated talent with accents (I'm mostly thinking 'Brassed Off' here), it might be hard to tell.
Anyway, here's where to buy the t-shirt -
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Ewan McGregor was playing some sort of American
And I always thought Jon Ronson was Welsh...
Speaking of grating Hollywoodisations, I finally got round to seeing the US remake of 'Infernal Affairs'. I didn't have huge hopes for it, but it has actually put me in a bad mood. Fucking mince.
Or maybe I've just been in a bad mood since reading of the planned Yank movie of 'Red Riding'...
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I think "incoherent rubbish" is overly harsh: the plot makes sense on its own terms, and there's none of the pulling a deus ex machina out of the scriptwriter's arse problem dodging that's been the worst thing about the relaunched series from the off.
The Daemon destroying himself because he's confused by Jo being silly isn't a deus ex machina, but it's still not a terribly satisfying resolution.
Mind you, there really haven't been that many actual deus ex machina endings in new Who - 'Boomtown' is the only one I can think of. 'The Parting of the Ways' may have featured a literal deus ex machina, but it wasn't a literary deus ex machina, if you see what I mean.
Pretty much everything that some Whoers moan about in 'The Last of the Time Lords' had been set up earlier in the series. Top episode.
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As a show Spooks definitely found it's voice after a somewhat uneven fourth series.
Having watched the first I'd recommend the second and the third, they form a grand meta narrative with more character work in the latter.
Failing that start fresh from the Fifth.
I'd have to say that the first few series are much better than the later ones, though I realise it depends what you like (and I've not rewatched any since first broadcast, so can't make any direct comparison). But for me, the best episodes have been the most satirical, with most of the best written by Howard Brenton. The kind of thing that the recent Torchwood series did far better than anything Spooks has done for years.
The show also used to make much better use of the flexibility of its format. The more recent emphasis on characters and plot arcs has made the programme a lot more conventional, and a lot duller. The last series was an improvement on the previous few years (when skinny posh bloke's story dragged the whole thing into dreadful tedium), but it's a long way off being one of the best programmes ever.
Also, the spin-off series made first season Torchwood look like Edge of Darkness.
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Because I liked Serenity, I checked out Dollhouse but it isn't grabbing me either. One friend who watched it said it's slightly better than Heroes, but not much. I liked season 1 of Heroes, but not the subsequent seasons, so I don't know if she meant Heroes as a complete work or Heroes at its best.
I'm midway through Dollhouse season 1, and so far it seems the best thing that Whedon's done since Buffy season 3 or thereabouts (Serenity was mostly entertaining enough, but not all that - far better than Heroes though, which is consistently pish).
And just watched the last episode of Reaper - not the greatest programme ever, but reliably entertaining. You can't go far wrong with Ray Wise as Satan.
Deadwood rocks the cock, though.
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Didn't he have a walk on in Queer As Folk?
Are you sure you spelt that right?
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I Walked With a Zombie was a 1943 movie directed by Jacques Tourneur and produced by Val Lewton.
It is a fantastic film. Did you spot that it's basically a version of 'Jane Eyre'?
'White Zombie' (1932) with Bela Lugosi is another great early zombie pic - probably the first.
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Just been to see 'District 9', and I've got to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a lot funnier than I was expecting. It's mostly reminiscent of early 2000AD strips, I thought - there's a big dose of blunt, unpretentious satire, but it's mostly an excuse for big stompy robots, gooey body horror, and things blowing up. And there's nowt wrong with that.
It's the best thing that Pete Jackson's been involved with for a long time, anyway.
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Hardcover seems to go against the whole idea of the imprint, how much is that Rankin book? is it more that a tenner? because if it's more then a tenner then vertigo marketing have made a massive miscalculation.
It's generally selling at £15, give or take some shrapnel. Which is a pint or two more than the new David Peace, or Denise Mina in hardback. Too fucking much, basically.
Will there be a paperback eventually? I recall the paperback of 'A History of Violence' which got rushed out for the Cronenberg film and sold at about £7, which was fair.
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In case that's not clear, that's Cthulhu getting a faceful from Abdul Alhazred, via his lover's interdimensional lady parts.
Tales from the Leather Nun no.1, 1973.
I suspect Garth Ennis may have read this in his cradle.
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But all of this still sounds along the lines of awesome and splattery. Any genuinely scary/creepy titles you can think of, specifically?
Sorry for beating that dead horse. I really need a good fix of old school scary horror too. It can absolutely be splattery and awesome too. But I want that fear rush. Or the hairs standing up on the back of my neck bit like I got while reading Salem's Lot and The Shining in the middle of the night.
It might not be what you're looking for, but some of David Peace's novels are the most genuinely unnerving, hackle-raising, sweatily insomniac things I've read in recent years. '1980' from the Red Riding series is probably the most itchily horrible.
His latest, 'Occupied City', is currently squatting on my shelf, till I finish the current read (Mark Ames' intriguing if didactic 'Going Postal').
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Just finished Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, I'm a huge fan of gonzo journalism so I enjoyed it throughoutly. I also watched the movie for the second time for comparison and still can't believe what Johnny Depp did for the role.
Which work of Hunter S. Thompson should I read next?
Hell's Angels. Less gonzo than Las Vegas, but arguably better for it, and nasty as hell.
Or, for a wider sampling, the 'Great Shark Hunt' anthology.
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Quick question: A friend of mine is really into Americana so for her upcoming birthday I want to get her 'a great American novel'. Which are the best ones in your opinion - rather just the revered ones. Cheers
Katherine Dunn, 'Geek Love'.
Anything by Thomas Pynchon (apart from 'Gravity's Rainbow' - not because it's not great, but it's mostly set in Europe).
Or, for yucks, Philip Roth, 'The Great American Novel'.
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Getting stuck into the new and slightly expanded US edition of the Complete (Short) Stories of JG Ballard. Even though I have 95% of it in other collections, it's a lovely thing indeed. A review.
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Well, the finale apparently involves 'a seven-minute scene of David [Tennant] and Bernard Cribbins having a conversation together in a cafe' -
http://www.premiumhollywood.com/2009/08/03...y-2-doctor-who/
Sounds terribly overwrought.
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Don't think I've read much by Millar since he failed to finish 'Saviour'. Maybe just that communist Superman thing, which was a hell of a let down.
Recent comics - just read the latest 'Phonogram', which had zero story but was the most chortlingly funny thing I've read for a while. And the final volume of '100 Bullets', which finished as it went on - nice enough art, but just sort of meh.
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I'm reading Third World War by Pat Mills at the moment. It's Mills at his most political, which if you agree with his politics should be fun. Although if you hate 1980s anarcho-punk music, you'll probably not enjoy this.
Christ, that takes me back - kept me going through my GCSEs, that did. It really went off the boil after the first series, though.
John Smith's 'New Statesmen', which ran alongside it in 'Crisis', was a cracker too. Or at least, it seemed like the best thing ever when you're 15, which was surely the point. If I recall, that was succeeded by a rather good strip by some new paddy lad called Garth something-or-other - wonder what became of him?
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New costumes for the Doctor and Amy Pond: http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/s4/news/latest/090720_news_03
Frank Muir on top, bovver-boy below. I think it's growing on me, though I really don't like bowties (apart from with black tie).
Some of the tabs have better pics of the costume (with a bit of a spoiler in the Sun) -
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/artic...-assistant.html
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showb...Doctor-Who.html
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Just to be clear, he doesn't do what you think he does.
Not a Garth Ennis comic, then.
"Who's laughing now, Brucie boy?"
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Seeing as everyone else is arguing, I'll pick you up on this. Firstly, you're wrong :wink: but seriously, did you mean that you didn't like the dialogue specifically or the whole actual plot/concept?
I've no problem with the general time-shifty fruitbattiness of it, although I do generally get annoyed at films in which the hero finds validation through his woman's terminal (if waftily attractive) illness (there was a recent Phonogram strip about the same phenomenon in songs, notable for coining the word 'emosogynist'). They were a bloody annoying couple anyway. But the 'message' (if we're to take it as such) that 'Death is the road to awe' is utter fucking bullshit. And yes, the dialogue was often excrutiatingly bad. Seriously, just try and read some of the pearls here - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0414993/quotes - without cracking up.
I can see how it was intended as a deeply personal conceptual SF project for the director, but really, 'Zardoz' was a lot less embarrassing.
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The 'Beaver Patrol' cover was fun, and that one that namedropped Alan Moore, but PWEI were generally shit. I watched the 'Auslander' video the other day after Swells went tits-up and, fuck me, it was bad.
To be fair, they weren't quite as shit as Ned's Atomic Dustbin, though. Or, shudder, Jesus Jones. Or various [over-used word]s who are somehow still going, like Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Christ, the early 90s really were shit, weren't they?
And fucking hell, I've just remembered the Wonder Stuff.
Anyway, 'The Fountain' - that's a film where I really wish the DVD had a no-dialogue option. Looks great, the music's great, but the script's utter wank.
Librarians, Liberals and Lesbians*
in Bring the Noise
Posted
Does reading it in a Chinese comic adaptation count?
I finally got round to reading 'The Catcher in the Rye' last week, probably at least 20 years after the optimum age for identifying with such moany teen angst (and some 20 years since first reading seeing the book mentioned in 'St Swithin's Day'). Although, in my teens, I'd probably have been disgusted with the whinging protagonist being so bloody posh.