The Soupiest Week Ever

Have you ever found yourself watching some awful, reprehensible reality show that you just couldn't stop watching? You know, like some horrible car wreck that you just can't stop staring at? Well, that has occasionally happened to me. I remember about five or six years ago, before Mrs Titan and when I had way to much time on my hands, partaking in things such as Joe Millionaire, Real World, and Road Rules. I thought that everyone on the show was pathetic and watching them made me kinda sad, but I just couldn't turn away. This doesn't happen so much anymore. (So long Big Brother).

There are two shows that Mrs Titan and I watch just about every weekend to help us deal with this issue. The Soup and Best Week Ever are a couple of cable shows that basically take the week's events, with a strong focus on Reality TV, and mock them with no mercy. We get to see the worst of these shows without having to sit through them, and then we get mocking commentary that we agree with and can laugh along with.

It's kind of a guilty pleasure with much less of the guilt. I don't have to sit through an hour of Tila Tequila to watch social retards eat pig penises (hrm...lil' sis). I can just watch them and laugh at them while I sit on my moral high horse and enjoy myself. It's great fun and both of the shows come in their own fun and easy to consume bites. They are both thirty minutes long and are crammed with hilarious clips.

The Soup is by far our favorite, with Joel McHale and his snark beating the kids at their game over at Best Week Ever. Joel is able to step above the fray while recognizing that what he does is silly and, ultimately, pointless. He is able to talk about these reality "stars" as they really are and can make us understand the pathetic lengths they will go to to achieve this "stardom." He also goes above and beyond in mocking his own network almost the worst of these offenders.

Both of these shows air on Friday nights, The Soup on E! and Best Week Ever airs on VH1 and both make for perfect Saturday morning viewing. We love these shows because we can pretend we are staying above the worst, while reveling in them. Check them out and enjoy them the way we do. You'll be a better person for it.

I'll be back tomorrow with the Superman update.

Chekov and Pam!

First I want to apologize about the low content mode I fell into last week. I had things going on in the evenings and I just didn't feel like writing much. But, I'm back this week with what I hope will be a full week of content!

Charlie Bartlett

It is hard to really tell who the movie Charlie Bartlett was made for. It is all about a very mature and rich high school kid, Anton Yelchin, who's entire reason for being seems to be to make friends. He has already been kicked out of multiple private schools before being forced to go to the local public school.

He is immediately targeted by bullies, but before the twenty minute mark, has converted them to his cause by setting up a business deal. He then begins counselling his other classmates and is even able to prescribe drugs for his patients. Everyone in his new school begins to like him more and more and by the end of the movie they are chanting his name. But, of course, at the climax of the movie, he has to make a decision that could cause him to lose his popularity if he does the right thing.

Anton Yelchin is fantastic. He is able to show a full range of emotions, he can act like a high schooler, and yet has the ability to become someone much more mature. He can even do all kinds of accents. He is going to be playing Chekov in the upcoming Star Trek movie (!) and Kyle Reese (the uncle of John Conner) in Christian Bale's upcoming Terminator movie. I can't wait to see more of him, and I am sure he will put on fantastic performances.

The movie is full of cussing and there is even a quick scene of nudity, giving it a hard R rating. This isn't a film like Superbad, and it seems like the R rating may have caused it to lose a lot of its potential audience of high schoolers. It has a great message and is a lot of fun. Robert Downey also has a pretty sizable role, and is quite good in the film as well. Definitely check this one out.

LolliLove

Mrs Titan and I decided to check out LolliLove because it was written and directed by Jenna Fischer, aka Pam Beasley of the Office. She wrote it in 2004, before her name-making turn on the Office. It is a mockumentary about a rich couple who decides to do something for their community, so they decide to provide lollipops, with inspirational messages on them to homeless people. What an idea! It is played as silly as it sounds, and it has quite a few laughs.

There are also some fun cameos in it. Jenna Fischer stars with her then-husband James Gunn. Judy Greer, Linda Cartellini, and Jason Segal all show up, thereby connecting this movie to Freaks and Geeks and making it awesome. There are also appearences by real homeless people in LA, who I hope knew were going to be in a mockumentary and didn't think it was real.

The production standards of the movie were pretty low. It kinda seemed like a film student's project, with poor sound and low quality film, etc. I couldn't tell if this was intentional or not, but I assume it wasn't. Either way, it was fun, but a little bittersweet what with the breakup of James and Jenna (I think the wedding footage in the movie was genuine). I would only recommend this movie to people who are hardcore Jenna Fischer fans, or just curious to see what she might be able to do with a movie.

Desperate Plea!

I love How I Met Your Mother. Mrs Titan and I are so happy about the forth season premiere last night. It is a great show. I know I have mentioned it here before. If you aren't already watching it, you should be.

However, there is something that has been bothering me all day. Mrs Titan pointed out that the closing logo, showing that it is a Bays Thomas production, is of Laika aka Muttnik. Yeah, that one. So, two of my favorite things are somehow connected. I have searched everywhere and cannot figure out why. If anyone knows why Carter Bays or Craig Thomas chose this image for How I Met Your Mother, I would love to know. I listened to all of the commentaries on my DVDs and I couldn't even find the image on the entire internet! I had to pull this form a DVD screenshot!

If anyone knows anything, or knows anyone who knows anything, please let me know.

Superman Extra

I don't have a Superman Update for you today, but check out some history of Superman being a jerk at SuperDickery.com. There is some good, wacky stuff there and it just goes to show that being as powerful as Superman just makes you a big jerk.

Into the Wild

I'm not sure if I have mentioned it here on the blog, but one of my favorite non-fictions books lately was Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer. It is the story of a young man, Chris McCandless, just out of college who gets rid of all of his possessions and decides to go live in Alaska on his own. The story focuses on his journey there, who he meets and how he touched those around him, before following him to Alaska to explain his downfall.

The movie, starring Emile Hirsch, is a pretty great adaptation of the book. We get to meet many of the people Chris met in the book and even a couple new additions that really fit with the story. The movie also doesn't hint at his death like the book did. I imagine if I saw the movie without reading the book it would have had a larger emotional impact on me. As it was, I knew what was going to happen and it was a meh moment for me.

I thought Hirsch did a fantastic job in this movie. He was incredibly believable as a young kid who was overly philosophical and had more ideals that he knows what to do with. The other actors were superb as well. It was great to see all of these fully realized characters. Even if Vince Vaughn did kinda jar me out of the movie for a couple minutes.

The biggest difference between the movie and the book, as far as I can remember the book is that the movie essentially blames what happens to Chris on his parents. The film made it seem like the only reason he ran off to die was because his parents were terrible people and they messed him up good. The book mentioned his parents and their issues, but did not place blame on anyone.

They also seemed to make his actions seem heroic, which is silly. McCandless was basically just a young, naive, idealistic kid who was very selfish and got himself killed. It was tragic, but not heroic. He abandoned everyone who loved him, including his family and all those who he met and touched on his journey. What was really sad was that right before he died, he realized what he did to those he loved and regretted his actions. It is a tragic, but good story. I would recommend the book over the movie (does anyone ever do the opposite?), but they are both worth checking out.

Now, lets see if I can find any more movies or books about loners who go to Alaska to die. I think I see a trend here. Hmmm....

Content Free or Free Content?

I am all tapped out of ideas for a post today and I would rather play Medieval Total War 2 then try to think about something. So please, watch the first episode of Arrested Development and then go out and buy all the seasons (or, and this is top secret) just watch them all on Hulu.com.

Laika

Laika is one of the very best graphic novels I have ever read. Written and drawn by Nick Abadzis, it is based on the true story of the very first animal in space. Laika starts with the Chief Rocket Designer, Sergei Pavlovich being released from the gulags and realizing that he is a man of destiny, ready to change the world. Then we get to see the young mutt, Kudryavka (little curly), born to a high-ranking party official and soon given to the domestic help.

Kudryavka, later named Laika (barker) by the Chief Designer himself, has many adventures, becoming a stray, being taken in by a family trying to give their awful son some responsibility, and running from the dog catchers. Eventually Kudryavka ends up in the care of Yelena Alexandrovna Dubrovsky, the assistant for the dog-training sessions. Yelena and Kudryavka grow very close and it is the first time the little mutt feels safe.

The story then goes through the training that the space dogs had to go through as well as the design of Sputnik II. The entire launch was designed and launched only one month after Sputnik I, the first man0made object in space. This limited time meant that there was no time to design a way to return the orbiter to Earth. Anything launched would not return.

Abadzis takes this story, which is already sad and moving, and makes it even more so. He brings life and personality to this little puppy and is really able to demonstrate how the people in charge of the dog and the launch might feel. The story is hard to read at times, becuase we always know what is coming. Abadzis is able to show the confusion that any animal in this situation might go through, and it can be heart-breaking.

The art wasn't my favorite at first. A lot of it came off as sloppy, but it grew on me and was really expressive. Emotions were displayed really well and the overall experience was made big and important through his artwork.

If you want to check out a graphic novel, or just want to learn more about this amazing animal, check out this book. It's fantastic.

Grizzly Man Diaries

I'm not sure if I have mentioned this here before, but one of my and Mrs Titan's favorite documentaries is Grizzly Man, the Werner Herzog film about crazy Timothy Treadwell, the naturalist who spend every summer for 13 years alone in the Alaska wilderness with tons and tons of grizzly bears. It is a great movie that makes you both depressed and a little weirded out.

Well, recently, Animal Planet decided to take it a little further. They put together a show called The Grizzly Man Diaries, which combines a massive amount of Treadwell's video footage and still photos along with excerpts from his own diaries. The focus though is on the wilderness, not Treadwell himself. What he saw and experienced there was amazing and it is great to see what Treadwell was really trying to do out there. The show is really amazing to watch. It has some of the best nature footage I have seen with a really interesting narrator to back it all up.

Here's the Grizzly Man movie trailer.



Here is a link to the offical Animal Planet website with the great music from the show. It fits perfectly with the story. You should really check this show out. Or at least the movie!

Showcase Present Superman: Part 8

This is the eighth 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 Comic Book Database.

Superman #125

"Lois Lane's Super-Dream"

Tagline: "Lois dreams that both she and Clark get super powers."

Lois falls off a ledge at the site of the Metropolitan Science Fair, is knocked unconscious, and has to go to the hospital. for some reason she needs a blood transfusion, and she dreams that Superman gives it to her. In reality he just rushes off to Chicago to get her some rare blood type.

So, the first thing she does in her dream is fly away, put on a blond wig, and becomes Power Girl, and she works closely with Superman. No, not this new, disturbing Power Girl:

But a good old fashion Super Girl wannabe. Shortly after working with Superman in the dream, Clark Kent is hurt. He gets a transfusion of her blood, and Clark gets powers too! So now there are three superheroes, Superman, Power Girl, and Power Man. No, not this hip, '70s Power Man:

But a clumsy screw up with glasses and a kickin' 70's porn style mustache (20 years early)!

Clark is a terrible superhero. He continues to mess things up and Power Girl has to fix them. But soon Power Man spots a sinking Mother Goose Excursion Boat shaped as a giant shoe sinking. He decides to go to a jungle, find some rubber trees, squeeze some rubber out of them, and create a giant life-preserver. Right as he makes it back, Power Girl evaporates the river and the kids flee to safety. Who knows why they didn't just pick up the boat and take it to land. Instead they decide to wreak ecological havoc!

Clark also creates earthquakes by landing, and changing into his outfit in front of store windows before Lois finally wakes up and mocks the real Clark Kent for being a failure while he winks at us from the last panel.

Bridge to Terabithia

We watched a movie this weekend that I had heard good things about, but was hesitant to see because it looked a little silly. The Bridge to Terabithia, however, was as good as many of the reviewers claimed. It is the story of Jess, a middle-schooler who has no friends and a bad family life. He likes to draw and is quite a bit of a loner. He soon meets a quirky, artistic type girl, Leslie, who has an over-active imagination. So far it sounds kinda cliche, huh?

The two kids slowly become friends and soon find refuge from their lonely lives in the woods near their homes, where they create the mythical world of Terabithia, where they are the rulers and can do anything they want. This world is a refuge for them and a place where they can be themselves and finally be comfortable.

They have a few adventures in the woods with some CGI creatures that spring from their imaginations and it is obvious that these kids need an outlet for their lives. Their imaginations run wild, but seem like a lot of fun. Throught the story the kids face bullies at school and deal with them in some unique ways. They even learn that one of them isn't as powerful as she seems.

This movie isn't some Narnia knockoff or anything like that. It is very unique and is about these kids lives. Unfortunately it seemed to be advertised as a kids fantasy movie, which doesn't do this work justice. It reminded me of a nineties film like Radio Flyer or The War. It is a family film with heart and a message. There is a major twist near the end of the film with changes everything and is pretty hard to watch. It brings the kids back to reality and it really can be a lesson to kids.

My wife and I loved this movie. It was one of the best that we have seen in a long time. It was great to see a movie about life, love, imagination, and loss. It was not overbearing or preachy, it was just a great story with some great characters. If you want to see a really great family film, check this out.

The Events

Reading comics blogs leads me to many complaints about comic events. You know, Infinite Crisis, Civil War, Final Crisis, World War Hulk, Countdown, Secret Invasion, all of those. Most readers seem to really not like these events and complain bitterly about them and then someone will make a comment that if they don't like them they should stop buying them.

Well, the comic book companies are smart. They know that we will buy anything to keep our collections complete, to get the whole story, and out of habit. We are creatures of habit and OCD, and that's okay, it also makes us loyal.

I, for one, happen to enjoy these events. I liked Civil War and World War Hulk, and am still enjoying Secret Invasion. I have fun watching how one event affects all of the characters in the universe. I like watching the characters interact with each other in a way that is not all that contrived. I like the fact that these events are, for the most part at least, world changing events. Now, I have only been reading comics for about two and a half years, so maybe all these changes will be slowly reversed. I don't know yet.

Now, I first started reading modern superhero comics by following an event, Infinite Crisis. I had no idea what was going on and quickly got lost and confused. I didn't know what was happening and I didn't realize that other books were tie-ins. I was brand new to the industry. I also saw a comic covered in characters I recognized, the New Avengers. I liked that one. I understood it even though I missed the Avengers: Disassembled and House of M story lines that came previously (and still, by the way, play a part in the Marvel Universe).

I was quickly hooked with the Avengers and began to see the ads for Civil War. I decided to check it out and tried to pick up the tie-ins, which got me hooked on some of the other characters. It was great fun. I wanted to find out what happened and I enjoyed every bit of it. It was a great introduction to most of these characters.

But then...shortly after, World War Hulk started, which involved all the other characters. And, a few months after that, Secret Invasion! Ah! I like these stories, but they are coming too fast. I understand why, we are spending money on them and buying them. But, I would love to see a break in events so people can recover (both financially in the real world and physically/emotionally in the Marvel U).

I realized these events were coming to quickly while reading the most recent issue of Ms Marvel that I read. A giant skrull was about to knock over a building in Manhattan and people were fleeing and Ms Marvel was trying to rescue them. Have you seen Civil War and WWH? Are there even any buildings left standing in Manhattan? Why would people go back there. Give the poor city a break Marvel. Let us really believe things are recovering or at least make the Universe believable, even though it would be depressing.

I know Marvel makes money, but there has got to be a way to spread these events out a little more. Maybe some smaller events spread out over only a few of the characters every year, and a big, line-wide event every three years or so. It would make more sense in the Marvel U and be easier on customer's pocket-books, while still allowing money-making events to be on-going.

How do you all feel about Events? Are they worth it? Do they add value to the Universe and characters that you love?

Red Rabbit

I have been reading Tom Clancy novels for probably the last 10 years, and have been reading them in chronological order of publication date. I enjoy Clancy, as his writing is fairly straightforward, simple, easy to follow and usually quite interesting. His writing is my only experience with military fiction, so I enjoy the uniqueness of it compared to the other fiction I read.

Red Rabbit was originally published in 2002 fairly soon after September 11th. I though I recalled that Clancy said he couldn't think of a way to write a new novel based in the real world because of the attacks, but it might have been more because he had tapped everything he thought he could after the attacks that was in his realm of understanding. Either way, this book is set in the past, between Patriot Games and The Hunt for Red October.

What I thought was really cool about this book is that it is, in part, based on real events. Mainly, that of the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II. However, this also made the book a little bit slow moving. I wouldn't call it boring, as I actually enjoyed all 618 pages of it, but not a lot actually happened in it.

We got a good glimpse of the early days of Jack Ryan and Mary Pat and Ed Foley, but setting the story around real world events meant that Clancy couldn't use his usaly technique of building up an intricate plan that is only thwarted at the last minute. In fact, the plan wasn't thwarted at all in this book, the heroes had nothing to do with the failed assassination attempt. That was a bit of an anti-climax.

Ultimately, this was a fun read for me because of my familiarity with the characters and my interest in the cold war. Check it out if you haven't read it before but already enjoy Clancy.

TV: Things That Make Me Sad

Now, don't get me wrong, I was actually looking forward to Hole in the Wall. Mainly because of clips I have seen on of the Japanese version of the show, and this:



Then I saw the first episode, and it was horrible. The hosts yell and the contestants are some of the stupidest on TV. There is way too much talking and not nearly enough of the funny stuff. It's nothing like Wipeout, which is fantastic. It's not funny, but sad. If you want to witness the sadness, go here for the complete first episode.

Showcase Present Superman: Part 7

This is the seventh 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 Comic Book Database.



Action Comics #245



"The Shrinking Superman"



Tagline: "Superman shrinks because he wants to, not because he has to."



This story starts, like many others, in the offices of the Daily Planet. Lois is dressed in a parka because, you see, Superman has agreed to take her to see his Fortress of Solitude for a newspaper feature. Smart huh? Let's take a reporter to our secret hideout so she can share details with the world. Here are some of the thing Lois gets to see while she is there:

• His "Super Tool-Chest" ie a box of giant tools
• A bowling alley with 100 pins instead of 10
• An "atomic powered robot" that he uses to try to beat the crap out of him
• A super-creepy room devoted to Lois Lane, herself. Instead of being creeped out, she is very flattered.

Kandor, the shrunken Kryptonian city that Superman keeps in a jar (ah...I love foreshadowing)

A crystal ball which is really a two-way TV set that can contact Superman

Superman leaves Lois all alone to look around while he goes to some appointements (if I know Superman, it probably has something to do with orphans. While looking at Kandor klutzy Lois knocks the jar over and it cracks open. So, obviously a devious criminal, Zak-Kul breaks out. He is then able to re-enlarge himself (he musta used one of those emails I'm always getting) and use an "Electronic Plastic Surgery" machine with a Superman button to make him look just like our hero. He then takes the clothes off of a Superman mannequin to complete the disguise.

Lois realizes pretty quickly that Zak-Kul is not Superman thanks to a message from the real Supes on the crystal ball. The criminal immediately tells Lois his plans to shrink Superman. He then cuts off another Superman mannequin's head that falls and knocks her out. When she comes to she is able to get the shrinker/enlarger and is faced with two Supermen. You would think at this point Lois would be happy about having another option for marriage, but no, she has to figure out which is the real Superman.

She asks one simple question about some lame criminal and has made a decision, so she blasts a Superman with the shrink-ray. Turns out it was the real Superman. You see, he faked not knowing about a criminal for fear that if Zak-Kul were found out he would start a Super-Fight and wreck his temple to himself. Superman is then shoved back into the jar using tweezers. Zak-Kul, for no apparant reason decideds to assume Superman's identity and begins to save people, and even asks Lois to marry him. Score!

So, they live happily ever after. Well, no, you see, Lois still wants to know his secret identity. Fake-Superman gets nervous, so he decides to kill Lois by making her drive off of a cliff. And then...Superman swoops in a saves her. You see, he shrunk himself down so small that he fit between the atoms of the jar (FYI criminals, now you can all get out of Kandor!). He then re-embiggened himself and rescued Lois, who promply rips up the marriage license that she carried with her at all times. Phew, another marriage averted!

The Brother's Solomon

Have you ever seen a movie that everyone hated, but you really liked? This doesn't happen to me often, but every once and a while I watch a movie that I don't expect much from and then really enjoy. This weekend it was The Brother's Solomon, a goofy movie written by SNL cast member Will Forte and starring both Wills Forte and Arnett.

They star as brothers John and Dean Solomon who were home-schooled in the Arctic and have absolutely no social skills, but are very good hearted and friendly people. Their dad falls into a coma and they learn that his last wish was to have a grandchild, so they search for a woman who will give them a baby. They eventually find another SNL cast member, Kristen Wiig to carry their baby. Much hilarity ensues.

I loved Will Arnett in Arrested Development, but has not really enjoyed him too much in any other recent films, because he is always playing stupid or arrogant jerks. It was nice to see him trying to be nice and screwing up royally in The Brother's Solomon. Will Arnett has never been my favorite SNL cast member but I enjoy his goofy thought process and really liked seeing him here. Kristen Wiig is one of my favorite SNL cast members of all time, but she was playing the straight role in this movie, and she was surprisingly good. She is good enough to do drama if she wanted to. Thank goodness she doesn't want to.

So, I mentioned I liked this movie but most critics seemed to hate it. How do I know this? Well, thanks to RottenTomatoes.com, I can find out what critics think of movies. So, what did they think of The Brother's Solomon? Well, 16%. That's pretty terrible. A "good" movie on Rotten Tomatoes will be around 80%. So, here is a case where I really liked a movie that critics hated. It isn't too surprising, but it can be disappointing sometimes.

What isn't disappointing is The Brother's Solomon. It's a lot of goofy fun that ought to make you laugh out loud a few times. It's not high brow or classy, but it is a lot of fun, check it out!

Taking Orders From the Pope!

I've been busy all week taking orders form the Pope and whooping up on the French! It's great fun and way too addicting!



Yeah! Medieval II Total War! Get it and have a great time ignoring your friends and family! You won't regret it. Well...you might, but not at first!

Mad Men

I don't know how many of you watch Mad Men, but I'm guessing it's not too many of you. This amazing A & E show only had about 1 million viewers in its first season. According to the Los Angeles Times, "After drawing an impressive 2.1 million viewers in the first episode of its second season, “Mad Men” has reportedly lost a cool million in the weeks since. " The second season had a huge uptick in viewers and then they all went away.

This is terrible news. Mrs Titan and I have been watching Mad Men from the very beginning and early on we really liked it. It was so well put together. The sixties really came alive and it was very interesting. The problem for us was that as the first season went on it began to loose it's luster. It kinda got boring for us and let us down. In fact, we were waffling on whether or not to tune in to the second season.

It's a good thing we did. While the first season seemed to focus WAY to much on everyone's affairs, the second season seems to focus a little on those consequesnces and a lot on the buisness of advertising in the 1960s. I had a hard time believing that just about everyone and their mother was having an affair in the first season. It made many of the characters unlikable and it got a little old.

The second season focuses on the business. It's great. How do you advertise for American Airlines after one of the first major crashes? How much should the focus be on TV? I really love seeing real products. Sterling and Cooper ditched Mohawk Air to try to win American Airline's business. These business decisions and the way people react to things in the world of the '60s. New Xerox machine? Might cause infertility. Great stuff. If you are not watching this show, check it out. Go rent Season 1, sit through the boring stuff and enjoy! You'll thank me!

Showcase Present Superman: Part 6

This is the six 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 Comic Book Database.


Action Comics # 244


"The Super-Merman of the Sea"


Tagline: "Superman = Aquaman"


This story starts with Clark Kent leaving or a two week vacation of patrolling Metropolis and the world. Fun! Soon he sees a rocket slam into the ocean and when he goes to rescue the travelers her finds that they are mer-people from the Water World (you know, like we live on Dirt Planet). Superman mysteriously decides to stay underwater with them and leaves a stupid note floating on the surface for a sailor to see "AM UNDER SEA EXILE SUPERMAN." A one panel interlude shows Superman telling the merman that he is going to abandon the surface world forever. Is this the end of the Superman we know forever?! No, it's not, don't be stupid.


Jimmy Olsen decides to investigate and can't figure out why Superman is not coming back up, so he decides to go down under water and ask him. Turns out Superman is building an underwater Fortress of Solitude and he includes a big sign " Superman's Fortress of Solitude Submarines and Divers Keep Out". That should work well. As soon as Jimmy shows up Superman waves him away. It appears that Superman wants to be Aquaman as he monitors the seven seas. But, the best part? He uses a Guided Missile Whale (!) to gather deep sea specimens.


Lois ventures underwater next and sees Superman acting like he is in love with a mermaid. She follows them and finds another building "Home of Mr. and Mrs. Superman" with two thrones labelled "King and Queen of the Sea" inside. Again, Superman is incredibly modest.


The nations of the world decide they need to capture Superman and interrogate him to figure out why he ditched them, so they shoot a kryptonite tipped torpedo at him. I think I would have ditched them too! Superman escapes in his Guided Missile Whale and continues to help Vul-Kor the mer-man in his plot against to cover the entire surface of the planet in water using Global Warming!! Vul-Kor beings to weaken and eventually decides to abandon his plan on Earth. Superman had been poisoning him with extra salt in the water. He had to pretend to be on their side so they didn't call for backup. He poisoned them so they would never come back, but he had to abandon us dirt folk so that Vul-Kor would believe him. Genius! And perfect timing, he was done in enough time to get back to work after Clark's vaction!

Surfs Up!

I was very pleasently surprised with the movie Mrs Titan and I watched last night. We checked out Surf's Up, the other animated peguin movie from 2007. The movie stars Shia LaBeouf as a young, cocky penguin from Antarctica who goes to compete in a tropical surfing competion.

It sounds pretty...well pretty boring and derivative. How many other films have we seen that are exactly like this? Well, as it turns out, not so many. Yes, it's plot was a lot like many other animated movies these days, but it was not like those movies.

It's filmed as if it were a documentary. It looks as if it were filmed with individual standing camera men. No big fancy shots for the action. There are interviews where you hear the producers ask the characters questions, there are shots film as if from mounted cameras on the surfboards. I was really impressed with the direction. I hardly ever notice the direction in animated films, but I did in this one and I loved it. It felt as real as a movie about talking, surfing penguins can.

It is a lot of fun, but it didn't seem as if it would be as fun for kids as it was for us. It was rated PG instead of G, and it just felt more adult than many of these animated films. We really enjoyed it, but then, we watch a lot of documentaries and could see what the film makers were trying to do. The story even had a couple of small (and predictable for me) twists that made the movie fun and gave it a decent message without being preachy. check this movie out and hopefully you will be as pleasently surprised as I was.

Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day everyone! I hope you all get three day weekends and enjoy them! See you tomorrow!