TV - When There's Nothing On

As we all know, summertime means less scripted shows, which directly translates into less fun shows airing on TV. So, what's an agoraphobic, pasty, TV-lovin' fella to do? Well, this pasty, TV-lovin' fella (too bad I'm not agoraphobic too!) turns to DVDs for his TV fix. Mrs Titan and I turn to numerous TV shows on DVD to get the good stuff. Over the years we have watched Curb Your Enthusiasm, the BBC version of The Office, Extras, Creature Comforts, and Home Movieson DVD, but right now we're on to something different.

3rd Rock from the Sun. This sitcom ran from 1996-2001 on NBC. I can't remember what night it aired on, but I remember truly enjoying this series as I went through high school. I didn't actually see too many episodes after the first season because it was but up against Star trek: Voyager and the Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That was before I recorded everything, so I just skipped it.

Recently, I realized I could rent the series on Netflix, so I went for it. I thought I would check it out to see if it held up. Mrs Titan and I are currently on the fifth season of the series and are loving it!

"So, Tom," you're asking, "what the heck is this stupid looking show all about?" Well, rude reader, essentially, four aliens come to Earth in the guise of humans to study and learn about what it means to be a human. I know...deep huh?

But wait, it's better than that. The show is hilarious! While at first it seems silly and a little corny, this show is really a quite intelligent comedy. Many of the episodes take something that humans do, like paying taxes, and examines these acts from an outsider's perspective. Not only does this open our eyes to the silly things we do every day, but it also makes for some great comedy.

The aliens, also known as the Solomons, Tommy, Dick, Sally, and Harry are played over-the-top, but by great actors who truly make the parts and the characters work. John Lithgow is amazing. He has two Oscar nominations, four Emmys, a Golden Globe, and two Tony Awards. It is amazing to see this actor with classic theater training hamming it up on a goofy sitcom. He really brings up the level of this show. I understand he is still on stage in a show currently and I would love to see him live and in person. Joseph Gorden-Levitt is also great, and has appeared in a few indie movies since the series ended. I haven't seen any of them yet, but I look forward to them. His abilities really shine through, even on this kind of show. I've seen French Stewart here and there on various shows and he always looks a little funny to me after his career-making turn on this show. His character was never my favorite, but was an integral part of this show. Finally, I haven't really seen Kristen Johnson since 3rd Rock ended, but according to imdb.com she has a couple of movies coming up, so I hope they do well for her.

Also, I have to say, I love Jane Curtain! She is hilarious, and she is as good on this show as any of the aliens. If you like any of her characters on SNL, you will love her on 3rd Rock. Anyway, here's a little something for you, enjoy:

If you haven't experienced this show, check it out. Or, at least rent it! Do it!

Showcase Presents: Superman Part 2

This is the second of numerous posts on Showcase Presents: Superman. I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed the stories.

Now, this won't be like most comic blogs with scanned pictures posted throughout. Mostly because I don't have a scanner, but the stories should speak for themselves, but also because I want to go through the whole book in the next few weeks, and I want non-comics readers to enjoy the kookiness that us comics readers understand from the Silver Age. While I may mock these stories, I am not making anything up, this is all straight from the comics! While I may mock, I love these stories and the character of Superman. This is great stuff! The cover scans are from The Grand Comics Database.

Action Comics #242

"The Super-Duel in Space!" This is the first appearance of one of Superman's most powerful enemies, Brainiac. The whole story starts with Clark Kent and Lois Lane blasting off into space ("where the stars shine in daytime!") on a rocket for a newspaper story. As soon as they are up there a flying saucer attacks them. Clark knows he needs to change into Superman to save the rocket, so he pretends that Clark freaks out, puts on a spacesuit and DIVES BACK TO EARTH! No one seems to care that Clark should be dead. Oh the naivete of space in the '50s.

Anyway, it turns out that Brainiac is stealing all of the cities of Earth, shrinking them, and putting them in jars. All so he can repopulate his home planet, who's population was wiped out by a plague. Superman follows Brainiac until he lands on a "planetoid" and then rips apart an asteroid to smash him. Unfortunately, his ultra-force shield protects him.

Superman is finally able to get onto the ship and shrink himself down when he finds a lost city from Krypton! Kandor! He gets the help of his fellow Kryptonians, and re-embiggens the Earth planets. Finally, he is able to re-embiggen himself, leaving the embiggening ray out of juice. So, he is forced to keep Kandor in a bottle in his Fortress of Solitude. Poor Kandorians.

Superman #123

"The Girl of Steel!" Boy, first we get the first appearances of Brainiac and Kandor, and now we get the first appearance of Supergirl! Well...sorta. Let me explain. You see, our good friend Jimmy Olsen gets his hands on a Magic Totem, giving him three wishes. Jimmy, being the lovable kiss-ass that he is, decides to spend his wishes trying to do something nice for his main man Superman.

As these things usually go, the wishes tend to backfire. The first wish, of course, is for Superman to have a female companion with powers equal to Superman's. They become instant companions, working together to save lives, etc, etc. But soon Superman realizes that Supergirl is inexperienced and he is forced to come to the rescue every time she screws up. Soon, Superman calls her out and gives her a lecture, so to prove herself to him, she rescues him from kryptonite. This kills her. Yes, kills her. She's gone, the real Supergirl, who is still alive, I think, shows up much later.

After writing a story about the Magic Totem, which Jimmy publishes in The Daily Planet, thieves break into Jimmy's apartment and then wish for Superman to lose his powers. Poor stupid Jimmy. Superman loses his powers so he and Jimmy must come up with ways to prove he still has his powers. First, they use a giant magnet to deflect bullets shot at him (I saw Mythbusters, this doesn't work). Then, they attach Superman to a glass pole which Jimmy holds to make it look like Superman is flying (since when did Jimmy get super powers?!). They use an acetylene torch as heat vision, massive bellows as super-breath, and an "electronic computer" to quickly solve complex calculations. Finally, the crooks being tricked, Superman steals the Totem back and GIVES IT BACK TO JIMMY. Ah, so that's where Jimmy gets his stupidity.

Finally, Jimmy wishes Superman can go back in time to visit Krypton before it was destroyed. He is a phantom however, and cannot interact with anyone. Superman and Jimmy soon realize at the same time that Jimmy wished for "Superman to mate his parents on Krypton" not meet. Oops. And...ewww. Moving on. Superman's folks are treated as criminals (they were underground secret agents) and are shot into space. Superman flies after them and becomes solid when he leaves Krypton. He then saves them from Kil-lor (best name ever) and convinces Jor-El and Lara to hook up! Great and icky, all at the same time! He is then able to return to the future.

Whew, that was a lot! We'll hit more bizarre Superman stories next week!

Incredible (?) Hulk

Another weekend with only one movie. Have you looked outside in Colorado lately? It's been beautiful! Anyway, we did take some time Saturday morning to go watch the green giant smash the crap out of stuff.

I gotta say, that after Iron Man, I was a little disappointed. I mean, the last Hulk movie wasn't all that great, but after the yummy goodness that was Iron Man, I was expecting more from Marvel Studios with Incredible Hulk. That's not to say that the movie was bad, only that it wasn't as good as Iron Man. It was definitely better than the last Hulk movie though, so that's something.

Ed Norton was good as Bruce Banner, but that's no surprise. The filming locations were pretty amazing. The slums of Rio in Brazil, BC Canada, and NYC all looked great, and I thought it helped to base the series in reality (you know... for a comic book). I also thought that the action set pieces (at least those with the Hulk) were pretty good.

Now for the bad. I was disappointed about how Banner became the Hulk. Boring experimentation? Where's the nuclear blast? It would have been cool to see Rick Jones too. I didn't think there was enough of the Hulk. I would have liked to see him on screen and maybe talking a little more than his two lines.

Spoilers below, unless you have seen the trailers (does that count as spoilers?):

The fights with the Abomination were a little hard to follow because for some reason the director decided to use really tight shots. It seems like two giant monsters fighting on the streets of NYC should be seen in wide shots to truly show how massive the battle was. Too bad. Finally, the Tony Stark scene at the end was short. In fact, you know what you saw in the trailer with Tony? Yeah, that was it, that was the entire scene. And, it was the very last scene in the movie. A little disappointing. Also, why would Tony go to General Ross about the Avengers? Seems like he should have found Bruce. Oh well.

Anyway, the movie wasn't terrible, but it wasn't nearly as good as Iron Man. Next time, more "Hulk Smash" please!

Lesson: No matter how many times you shoot the Hulk, you will not hurt him! Give it up!

What Weekends Are For

Not sure if you all have heard of this, but if you haven't, you need to know about this. Recently, LucasArts has been releasing Lego games based on movie properties. A couple of years ago they released Star Wars, where you could play as little Lego characters through the most recent trilogy. Next they released Lego Star Wars II, which covered the original trilogy. They then put them in one amazing package covering all six movies! The Complete Saga! Well, a little more than a week ago Lego Indiana Jones was released!

All of these games are amazing. They are very well done, with lots of nice animation, humor and action. The games are very fun and well worth playing. I especially enjoy playing with Mrs Titan. The cooperative gameplay is great, with each person having their own unique skills and abilities. We play at least one level a day and we always look forward to it. While these games can look like they are for kids, they are not just for kids. It you want some fun and play a game with someone who might not normally play games, check these out.

Well, guess what was recently annouced? I can't wait!! Keep it up guys!

What is Brainiac? Or, This is Not a Comic Post

This confession will surprise no one, but I love trivia. Mental Floss is my favorite magazine. I soak up odd facts every time I hear then, and I usually spout them out to people if they start talking about something incorrectly. Every time Jeopardy is on, I have to watch it using the TiVo to prove to myself that I can get the questions right. I also have a one-a-day Jeopardy calendar, and every day I write the trivia question up on my whiteboard for people at work to play along. I forgot to write a question up one day, and my coworkers got upset at me! They want their Jeopardy. It's a good place to work.

When I first heard that Ken Jennings, the famous Jeopardy champion had written a book called Brainiac, I was not immediately excited. I mean seriously, isn't this guy doing well enough? He won $3,022,700 on Jeopardy, does he really need to cash in with some lame book about the show? I thought it was kinda sad.

Then I read some reviews. They were pretty glowing, and then I saw the subtitle: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs. I was surprised, I was intrigued. So, on a whim one day at a Barnes and Noble, I decided to pick up a copy. Now, I never really thought of myself as a trivia buff, and after reading this, I know I am not a trivia buff!

Jennings does talk about his Jeopardy experience, which was much more interesting than I expected. He is very humble and self-depreciating, which is a nice surprise after the title of the book. His Jeopardy story is really just in the background in this book, however, as the true story is about his exploration of the trivia world.

He visits the history of trivia, college bowls, pub trivia challenges, AJ Jacobs (oooh, meta), and, my favorite section, a town with a 54-hour, town-wide, radio-broadcast trivia contest. Ooh, Stevens Point, WI sounds like an awesome place! Jennings has an amazing way of writing about the trivia and, more importantly the people behind it. I loved the various stories of these trivia competitions and the people obesessed with them.

Jennings has a very addictive writing style and I didn't want to put the book down. His style reminded me of some of the best investigative journalism, of the likes of Mark Bowden, just a lot more fun and uplifting. If you like trivia, even just a tiny bit, check this book out, I guarantee you will not be disappointed. And, Mr Jennings, if you ever read this, please write another book!

Summer Viewing

Well folks, summer is upon us. The TV season is over and we left with a drought of good quality programming until September at the earliest. But, we mustn't fret or get upset! There is still a good number of shows worth watching some scripted, some not, but all good. Here are a few:

30 Days
If you liked Super Size Me, you will like this. The creator and star of Super Size Me, Morgan Spurlock started 30 Days three years ago with a simple premise. Exactly like his famous movie, someone spends 30 days doing something they are not comfortable with as a mind opening experience.

There are some crazy match-ups. Here are some examples: Living on Minimum Wage, a devout Christian lives with a Muslim family, a couple nightclub employees stay at a commune, a computer programmer who's job was outsourced moves to India to see how they work, and an atheist lives with a Christian family. These are just some of the episodes from the first two seasons. Season 3 started two weeks ago and it is as good as always. There is more packed into one hour of TV then almost any other show out there.

This show also does what most other TV does not, it really makes you think and can open up your mind along with the people on the screen. It may not change the way you live, but it might change the way you think, and honestly, isn't that what quality entertainment should do?

Stargate: Atlantis
Atlantis comes back on July 11th with new episodes, and isn't that a good thing? For those out of the loop, Stargate: Atlantis is the spinoff of Stargate: SG-1, which was a spinoff of the Stargatemovie that came out in 1994. Atlantis takes place in a different galaxy than SG-1, but it still maintains the fun adventures of the original series.

For a good understanding of this show, just think Star Trek set in the modern era with the military running things and no such thing as the Prime Directive. The SG teams can and do mess with anyone that gets in their way. The show features an enemy race (the Wraiths, an alien race who feeds off of human the human life force) and deep mythology that is not necessary for understanding the episodes. The Stargate team is working to defeat the Wraith and keep the humans in their galaxy safe. The show is very witty and fun, it is more comedy than drama, and you can tell that the actors have just as much fun. The Stargate series is one of my favorites and it's too bad more people don't watch it. Check it out if you've never seen it.

The Mole
The Mole is back this summer after a four year break. Anderson Cooper, the old host is not back with the show, which is too bad, because he was fun, but now he's off as one of the biggest names in news. Oh well. The Mole is a different kind of reality show. There are 12 people competing, but one of them is a plant, they are working to sabotage the game and keep the group from winning money. The challenges are kind of cooperative, as all of the money goes into a group pot, which the last player standing wins. People are kicked off the show by getting the lowest score on a quiz all about the Mole. The more they know about who the mole is, the longer they stay in and the better chance they have to win the money.

There are two things I really enjoy about this show. The first is that there is not as much backstabbing or silliness on other reality shows because people are working to build a common pot. There is, however, a lot of suspician, which is kinda fun, because every tiny thing makes people suspicious. The other fun thing is that we don't know who the mole is. That's right, we play right along with the other competitors, trying to figure out who is sabotaging the game. It's great fun! I'm glad it's back!

Mad Men
Mad Men, the A&E show all about ad men on Madison Ave in the 1960s comes back July 27. Now, this isn't one of my favorite shows, as it can move a little slow and doesn't grab me as much as these others, but boy is it something different. The show is really great to look at. Everyone wears stylish '60s outfits. The sets are lush and colorful, and the atmosphere really seems accurate. Everyone smokes, everyone drinks, there is a definite and obvious boys club, and people are excited about the world of business and advertising.

The story is where I get a little bored. For instance, last season they built up a big mystery about lead character Jim Draper's past. This story didn't really have much of a conclusion and it kind of let me down. A few of the characters are just really unlikable and I don't really feel the need to watch them every week. However, these weaknesses aren't nearly enough to make me stop watching. The show is wonderful to watch and almost makes me wish I lived in the sixties. There was a definite innocence to the era, although, I have a feeling that we will see that go away as the series continues.

Anyway, there's tons on to watch this summer, so stay inside and out of the heat and enjoy the idiot box, it's the gift that keeps on giving!

Showcase Presents: Superman Part 1

I recently picked up Showcase Presents: Superman at my local comic shop and thought I would share some of the wonderful stories with you. Showcase Presents is series that DC puts out which is a collection of older issues of their best characters. The first volume of Superman collects issues of Action and Superman comics from 1958-1959. I will be going through this book ever Tuesday (you know, Comics Tuesdays) for a while until I complete it. I hope you all enjoy it.

Now, this won't be like most comic blogs with scanned pictures posted throughout. Mostly because I don't have a scanner, but the stories should speak for themselves, but also because I want to go through the whole book in the next few weeks, and I want non-comics readers to enjoy the kookiness that us comics readers understand from the Silver Age. While I may mock these stories, I am not making anything up, this is all straight from the comics! While I may mock, I love these stories and the character of Superman. This is great stuff! The cover scans are from The Grand Comics Database.

Action Comics #241
The first story, "The Super-Key to Fort Superman" is all about the Fortress of Solitude. Actually, it is the introduction of the Fortress of Solitude. This is essentially where Superman stores all his junk, or "trophies" and souvenirs." He also has rooms devoted to Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Batman, and Clark Kent. These rooms have full size wax figures and all sorts of memorabilia related to his friends. It's kinda creepy.

This story is essentially a mystery. Someone breaks into the Fortress, which boggles Superman's mind as the key is too big for anyone to move and the door is too heavy for anyone to budge. One day when Superman heads to the FoS to perform some experiment there is writing on the wall taunting him to figure out who broke in and how.

After being very upset and coming and going multiple times we find out that Batman hollowed out part of the key and hid inside. He has been hiding in the FoS for at least two days and posed as his own wax statue when Superman was there. Why did the World's Greatest Detective break into Superman's private sanctuary? Obviously, it was a Birthday present! Nothing is better than a difficult mystery to solve, right? Please, no one break into my house for my birthday. I will not be happy.

Superman #122

There are three stories included in the collection, "The Secret of the Space Souvenirs," "Superman in the White House," and "The Super-Sergeant."

"The Secret of the Space Souvenirs." While working one day Superman all of a sudden falls into a trance and takes off into space to collect different objects (aka souvenirs) to put into a time capsule to be opened in the 50th century. He collects, from various planets and moons in the solar system: a musical mineral, six-legged horse fossil, giant snowflakes, flying saucer of Atlantis, a knotted tree, a martian statue, a rainbow flower, and a stone Superman head.

When you take the first letter of the locations that these objects came from, it spells Superman! Hurray! So, why did he collect these things? Well, obviously, it was the people of the 50th century compelling Superman to collect these things across time so that they could honor him in the future. Well, duh.

"Superman in the White House." Jimmy Olsen is assigned to write about famous presidents, so, while looking at a portrait of Superman, he gets knocked on the head and dreams of a Superman presidency. Jimmy's dream consists of Superman solving the country's problem with his super powers. Three assassins try to kill him at once: one with a knife, one with a gun, and one with a bomb. These must be the stupidest men in America.

Other feats of Presidency: He shakes the hands of a million people lined up outside the White House. He throws out the first ball of the opening game of baseball season, and he throws it so hard that the ball goes from Washington DC all the way to Tokyo. Also, to balance the $387 million budget deficit (so big!) he finds sunken treasure on boats to cover the shortfall. He also christens a warship and is then forced to push it out to sea because it is stuck in low tide (awkward for the Navy I guess). Finally, Jimmy wakes up and realizes that his dream could never come true because Superman is not a native-born American (sorry Arnold).

The last story, and the cover story is "The Super-Sergeant." No, Superman doesn't join the army (that happens later). Instead he is struck by lightning, which then hits a GI who gets a carbon copy of Superman's powers. Also, he doesn't notice. Lightning in the '50s must have been weak. Clark Kent then signs up for one week in the army to keep an eye on the poor guy. Superman has to fix the Super Sergeant's screw-ups, but will not work to get rid of his powers (apparently as easy as exposing him to Kyptonite).

We soon learn that Superman is actually trying to trick two spies who are on the army base into believing that the US army has created super soldiers. They run off to tell their superiors, which is all Superman cared about I guess. So, the Russians freak out and call off their attacks while the spies run free with bad intel. Superman then takes away the sergeant's powers with no warning. What a jerk.

I'll be back next week with more great and bizarre stories from Showcase Presents: Superman. Tune in tomorrow when we talk about some summer TV programming.

Movie Mondays!

We only watched two movies this weekend, To End All Wars and Funny Farm.

To End All Wars
This may be the very best POW movie I have ever seen. I'm pretty sure it is a British movie as it stars a cast of unknowns (and Kiefer Sutherland). The film is a true story about a troop of Scottish Argyles captured by the Japanese is southeast Asia and forced to build a railroad. It is based on a book by Ernest Gordon who is played by Ciarán McMenamin. McMenamin is great in this part and I hope we see much more of him in the US.

Ernest, along with some of the other POWs work to bring civility and education to the prison camp. They set up a school and many of the prisoners begin to attend. Their education focuses on philosophy and religion. As the movie plays on, we notice a change with the prisoners. They are more accepting of the Japanese and working harder. This change is noticed by the camp leaders and the classes are actually encouraged.

I have never seen a war movie that had the message of humility, of humbling oneself to others, especially your enemies. It made me happy to see religion and philosophical ideas (like those of Plato) put to use in real situations that had positive outcomes. This rarely happens in movies these days. It's not like To End All Wars was a Christian film or anything like that. There was plenty of violence and cussing. It was just nice to see a war movie with some values behind it.

Lesson: Turn the other cheek for as long as possible, or else your captors may kill you before Liberation Day.


Funny Farm
I love classic Chevy Chase and I loved this movie. If you haven't seen it, it's a classic, and you must. As usual, Chevy plays a down to earth normal guy until something happens that sends him over the edge (see every National Lampoon Vacation movie). It really is a great film!

I don't have much else to say about this movie except that it really seems to stand up really well to the tests of time. It is over 20 years old, and still as enjoyable as it was the first time I saw it. I really truly wish that Hollywood still made films like this. It's not raunchy or dirty (don't get me wrong, I love that too), and it has a character we can all relate too interacting with a bunch of quirky people. I love the way Chevy acts and overacts and how he is so genuine and caring, even to a fault. Rent or buy it!

Here is one of the only scenes I could find on You Tube (turn it up a little):


Lesson: If you buy a dog to be your friend, make sure he loves you before you let him run around on his own.

Friday Movie Notes and Lessons Learned

I'm doing Friday movies today. I still have to catch up from the trip. So, we're going to do it a little differently. Here are some notes for five movies that we watched lately. These won't be reviews, merely some thoughts.

Fast Food Nation

• Very disappointing
• Some scenes were filmed in my home town!
• Anti-capitalist
• Put Colorado in a bad light. Boo!
• Lesson: Better become a vegetarian.

Apocalypto

• Very well made and enjoyable
• It reminded me of a much much better 10,000 BC
• Had humor and heart
• Not as violent as I expected
• Action-packed and tense
• Lesson: don't leave your wife and child in a hole in the ground or she will drown

27 Dresses

• Not as funny as it could be
• Seriously, Ed Burns over James Marsden?! I didn't understand that at all!
• Katherine Heigl can play funny
• Judy Greer can play funnier
• Must be the most predictable romantic comedy I have seen in a long time
• Ed Burns instead of James Marsden? Seriously? I must have NO idea what women want.
• Lesson: Clean out your closet, it will get you a man.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

• All I will say is that this is the best Indiana Jones film out of all four of them.
• I love this movie and think Indy and his dad work perfectly together
• Lesson: Third time's the charm!

Dan in Real Life

• Steve Carell is great as a normal and not overly wacky guy
• There was not as much chemistry as I expected between Carell and Juliette Binoche
• The first movie I haven't hated Dane Cook!
• A huge family with a beach house means non-stop family activities
• Lesson: If you're going to cheat with your brother's girl, leave town!

That's it for today. If anyone has any lessons imparted from a movie lately, feel free to leave it in the comments! Also, today's my birthday, send me presents!

Beasts of No Nation

Thank you all for your patience yesterday. Mrs Titan and I had a fantastic anniversary thank you very much. It is amazing that it has already been two years. I am one lucky Titan.

So, on our Washington trip, I decided to bring the exact opposite of what people bring on vacations. It was not a beach read, not an excapist novel or science fiction or something really fun. Instead, I brought Beasts of No Nation by Uzodinma Iweala. I had heard about this book from a couple of sources and it intrigued me. It is essentially about child soldiers.

Iweala writes the story as if it were a biography of a young (maybe 14?) boy, Agu, in an unnamed west African country who is forced by a rebel army to fight for them. The story is writen as if it were dictated by Agu and recorded verbatim. Iweala captures his voice almost perfectly. He speaks in pidgin english with a child's understanding of what is going on.

I was amazed and disturbed at Agu's story. The things that he and his fellow soldiers do in the story are disturbing and depressing. Once I got used to the different writing style I found it incredibly easy to read. I also couldn't put it down. In a way I feel guilty about this, it was like slowing down to stare at a car wreck. But at the same time, I had to find out what happened to Agu. How could anyone survive anything like this?

The book is short, only 142 pages long, but it is very well written and really opened my eyes about something I knew very little about. Uzodinma Iweala, a 25 year old like me, has an incredible ability to write a moving story and I hope he continues to write. Anyway, pick up this book for yourself, just be warned that it can be graphic and it is quite depressing.

No new post today...

...well, besides this one. I know, I know, I'm sorry, I said I was back to regular updates. I would have been, but today (Tuesday night) is our anniversary. As much as I love posting and writing something for all of you to read every day, I would much rather spend the evening with my best friend and love of my life, Mrs Titan. So, I will be back tomorrow, I might even try to write two posts to catch up, so come on back to see what I got. See you all later.

Trades or Floppies?

This seems to be one of the new questions when it comes to the comic business. Trades or floppies? Do you want to buy a floppy (individual issue) comic once a month for about $3 that contains a part of a story in about 30 pages? Or, do you want to buy a book bound, 100-200 page comic every 6-8 months for $10-20 each?

To put it simply, I go both ways. At the moment, most of my comic buying is in floppies. As I've said before, I buy Marvel books, and, if you don't know this, most of these happen to be superhero comics. The way Marvel and DC run their businesses these days is to have numerous crossovers and events. Therefore, to get the entire picture of what is happening in the universe and in these big events, I need to keep up with each of these. To do this in the trades, I would need to buy way more than I do now, by buying all of the trades, not just the floppies that relate to the event I am interested in.

I also usually find the floppies to be cheaper. For instance, each floppy, with my hold file discount, costs me about $2.25. Each trade consists of an average of 5 issues and usually costs $15. So, the same issues that cost $11.25 in floppy format cost $15 in trade. Now, there are the occasional sales at Amazon.com or at the comic shop where I can get these trades for about $10. This, unfortunately, is not the norm, however, so I can't rely on these.

The biggest problem for me with floppies is that I can sometimes have a problem keeping up with the story a month or more after the last chapter. Trades can solve this problem by containing the entire story in one place. I can start at the beginning and read the entire thing without having to wait.

I am still kinda impatient, however, and don't want to have to wait. But, there is one huge reason why I buy trades. Older material. I'm not sure how most comic shops work, but mine tries to buy only as many copies of a particular issue as they plan to sell. And they do a good job of it. Smart guys. However, this means that I can't guarantee back issues. Trades solve this problem.

There are currently three series that I buy regularly: Y: The Last Man, Fables, and DMZ. All of these kind of remind me of serialized TV shows like Lost, Heroes, Alias, and all the others. They have self-contained stories, but also have an overarching story that plays out over the series. These are perfect for trades.

As I see it, I can go either way. I like both formats, but what I like the most is a good story. Give me that and the rest is secondary. I understand that many folks in the industry feel that it will move more towards all trades and no floppies, and if that is the case, so be it, just give me fun things to read and I will be all over it!

Prince Caspian and the Crystal Skull

Okay, so I kinda slacked off on the Iron Man post. Although, I didn't think there was much I could add that others haven't already said. Also, Mrs Titan and I have really been cruising through the Netflix list, and, as much fun as it is to review movies that are up to 20 years old, does anyone really care?

Anyway, last weekend we went to see The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, and Saturday we saw Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, so I thought I would talk a little about both of them.

Spoilers!!!!

Do not read on if you haven't seen Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. Seriously, I'm gonna go nuts ruining everything, so if you haven't seen it, go away. Prince Caspian has been in print for 57 years, so if you don't know how it ends well then...what can I say, go read the book or see the movie. If you want it to be a surprise, stop reading.

Spoilers!!!



Indiana Jones
I have read a couple reviews of the movie and I hear one of two things. "It was good but not as good as the first three." Well duh! Did anyone think it would live up to or be better than the first three? I hope not. And "It was horrible and weird and not like Indiana Jones at all."

I, however, thought it was great. Not as great as the first three (well, except maybe Temple of Doom, I think I liked it better than Temple of Doom), but great nonetheless. The action was fun and exciting. A little unbelievable, but no more than your standard action flick these days. There was the right amount of humor, fun, believable bad guys (you know, the ones that are starting the next Cold War), and a cool plot.

There were two things I really liked about this film. First, was the history that Indy talked about with others in the film. Not anciet, archeological history, but his history. He discussed his past relationships (he almost married Marion?!), his father (Sean Connery) and Marcus Brody (the great Denholm Elliott, who died in 1992) have died, and his time in World War II. How cool would a movie be with Indy in WWII? These conversations really made the character feel real. He wasn't just missing for 19 years, he was living his life. He had numerous other adventures that we never got to see (but I wish we could). Suffice to say, I have already put the The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones in my Netflix Queue.

The second thing that I really liked about the movie was the theme, which I assume was intentional. The 1950s were all about the future. The War was over and people were looking forward to the future. The world was excited by technology and the space race began in 1957, the same year that Crystal Skull takes place. So, what is the movie about? Aliens of course! Aliens that have been on earth for over 5,000 years in fact. The movie focused on something that would have been very exciting to those in the '50s. I think it was very unexpected in an Indiana Jones movie, but it worked and it was very entertaining.

I really loved the scene at the end of the film where, during the wedding Indy's hat is blown from the rack up against Shia LaBeuof (who was actually quite good). You know, just like the scene where Indy gets the hat in Last Crusade? Anyway, it looks like the hat has been passed on, we have a new Indy! Right until Harrison Ford walks up to take his hat back! It was great! Go Harrison! Anyway, it was a great movie, definitely one I would recommend!

Prince Caspian
I gotta say, Prince Caspian was a much better movie than I expected. It's not that I expected it to be bad, I just didn't think it would be as great as it was. The movie was a lot of fun, the Pevensie kids go back to Narnia to help Prince Caspian take Narnia back from the Telmarines for the Narnians.

The action scenes were tense and very well done. The animated mythical characters were looking good and were as real as these things can be. They were also a lot of fun. Trumpkin, Nikabrik, the centaurs, minotaurs, and fauns were all great, but Reepicheep the mouse steals the show. He is a great little fighter who is intensely loyal to Aslan and plays a pretty big role in some of the other books.

My favorite thing about the film was the Pevensie kids. As you recall (you do recall, right?) they lived an entire lifetime in Narnia in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. They were adults before they were swept back to the real world and were the same age as when they left. When they come back to Narnia, they are not just little kids, they act as adults and are brimming with confidence. I thought this was great. Of course they would act like that when they get back to the place the ruled for at least 15 years. I thought they all did a fantastic job, with extra kudos for Anna Popplewell as Susan and Skandar Keynes as Edmund. The middle kids didn't have a ton to do, but they were great.

I am truly looking forward to the rest of the films. Things change from now on. The Pevensie kids are no longer the center of all of the stories, and, in fact, Susan and Peter will not be back to Narnia. If Walden Media continues to make these films, I will continue going to them. They are a lot of fun and if they are all this well made, I think we will all be able to enjoy many more adventures in Narnia. If you haven't read all seven books, check them out, they are great and quick and easy to read. You won't regret it.