June 30, 2002

the weekend

so.... i don't think i'm sick anymore. but i'm playing it safe and eating non-greasy food until i'm super sure that there is no more sickness, at which point i shall resume my unnatural eating habits.

Friday night's CyberPunk game was cancelled due to ET's weird brother and his inability to catch a plane or something. unfortunately, Dan was not told and came to my house. he cursed the houses of everyone that wasn't me and Sam. so, he stayed and watched 'In the Mood for Love.'

on Saturday, we played pool for a bit and then Alex stayed over because he was afraid that he wouldn't talk all weekend again. this freaks him out apparently.

today, i'm sitting at work, counting porn and listening to stand-up on Spinner.

i'm gonna go count more porn now.

thecomicman spoke @ 03:03 PM |

June 29, 2002

sickness... and 'Love'

i've been sick for about three days now with that icky 'i want to puke every chance i get' sickness. it's horrible. but today i saw 'In the Mood for Love.' it was very good at the beginning. there were some very beautiful shots with Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung, but then it degenerated into artsy shot after artsy shot. plus, i really wanted them to be together, so Tony Leung moving away and then all those near-meetings made me very sad. so now i'm sick and sad.

goddamn it.

now reading: The Cold Six Thousand: A Novel- James Ellroy

thecomicman spoke @ 02:28 AM |

June 24, 2002

the day before

here's what happened on Sunday:

i lost my work keys early in the morning at the store and spent about a half hour looking for them with the help of two co-workers. they gave up and i kept looking for another 15 minutes. then i found them where i had left them: nestled between two books in the short story section. i put them there while i was cleaning underneath these other books so that i wouldn't lose them. ironic, huh?

i came home and finished Ghostwritten, which i ended up liking a lot, but i think the first two chapters (the two taking place in Japan, so i would normally not say this) were completely unnecessary. the rest of the chapters, eventhough taking place in completely different places and containing completely different characters, tied in together very nicely where actions in one place had repercussions in others. that was very cool. i'm still not sure what exactly this book was about, but it turned into sci-fi in the Ireland and New York chapters, which thrilled me to no end. plus, the St. Petersburg chapter was about Russian gangsters and dirty KGB agents. so that, of course, was cool. the Mongolia chapter was fantastical in that it was about a transmigrating noncorpereal entity. that chapter had a nice twist ending. i suggest you all read it. it's by David Mitchell. next on my platter is Tokyo Suckerpunch by Isaac Adamson and then The Cold Six Thousand by James Ellroy.

also, i watched 'Training Day.' it was pretty good, but the ending was blah except for some really funny bits. if you like Denzel Washington, you should definitely watch it because he is very good. he says, "my nigga" a lot. i found it funny, especially 'cause he kept saying it to a white guy, his rookie partner.

that was it.

no, wait. Franco's going away party was on Saturday night. i whupped ass on a Tekken Tag tournament between me, Dan, and a bunch of people i met just that day. i also got lots of free comics from Franco's soon-to-be ex-roommate Cruz. he was in fact smarmy, but a cool guy nonetheless.

now reading: Ghostwritten- David Mitchell

thecomicman spoke @ 02:31 PM |

June 23, 2002

this is my reply to Maggie's post about 'Minority Report'



once again, spoilers ahead, so highlight to see. i have used Maggie's title markers for easier referencing.

tech that serves no purpose and inconsistent technology: the sliding cars weren't sliding cars. the highway system thing operated like train tracks, but there is no reason to believe that they would not function as normal cars on normal roadways. and cars, in any era, serve the purpose of getting around without having to use your legs. therefore, this tech served a purpose. plus, it adds to the ambience of the future. the red Lexus was a sliding car, but since it was used on a normal roadway, it acted like a normal car.

the eyeballs: there was no 'A Clockwork Orange' reference. Maggie imagined that. holding eyes open like that (with a big metal thing on your face) is common to all procedures where cutting or lasering or whatever is being performed on the eye. closing your eyes while something like that is happening is a very bad thing. although, when tumbling down the pathway thing, they should have been pulped and such, but only the retina was needed, and the retina is a very tough surface, so i don't think it would have made much of a difference.

entering The Temple: i agree with you wholeheartedly on this. Anderton (that's Cruise's character) should have had no way of getting back into the precint without shackles on him and flanked by an armed guard. that was an overlooked plot hole.

stupid ads: i am under the impression that Phillip K. Dick blames most of his dystopian futures on capitalism, and, by extension, also adverts. while this was not a dystopia, Dick's disdain for capitalism/adverts is still present. i found myself saying 'this future sucks' because of the annoying adverts, but i think that was the point.

Gap clothes: everybody knows i think Gap is Hell and is run by Satan, but fashion not changing in the future was an out-of-movie decision, not an in-movie one. one of the reasons (i think; i don't want this to be Ridiculous Assertion #3 for the day) most sci-fi flicks, like 'Blade Runner' and other 'future' movies, don't resonate with the mainstream is because of how different they are. keeping fashion the same as it is now in 'Minority Report' was a way for Speilberg to make sure the mainstream audiences identified with this particular future.

stupid, unnecessary gags: eating the moldy sandwich and drinking the moldy milk was a way to bolster the fact that Anderton was still blind, so that the upcoming scene with the spiders was that much more tense. not really a gag so much as a plot point. unnecessary? maybe, but it made me laugh, and every movie, no matter how dramatic, needs a little comedy.

unnecessary characters: i think Maggie is way off base on this one. i'll name the main reasons why these characters are in fact necessary, eventhough i'm sure there were tons more. the wife is necessary to get Anderton out of weird cryo-prison place and to give Anderton someone to turn to when everywhere else seemed to go to crap. the guy with no eyes (a Rob Zombie cameo) is necessary to add atmosphere (something every good story needs, no matter what form it's presented in). he's there to give drugs to Anderton and to present early on that eyes can be surgically removed in this future. the detective guy was very important. he provided exposition in the beginning (the Pre-Crime stuff was explained to him, and to the audience at the same time); he was the antagonist to Anderton in the middle (he's chasing him about); he was a decoy for Anderton to blame while the real villian went along his merry way; and he figured the whole effing shebang out and laid it out to the audience right before his death. he reaveled it all, with a little help from Burgess (the old dude). Maggie's comment about not enough futuristic tech/fashion seems to against her 'unnecessary tech' comment earler. she may have been sleepy at this point, so i'm going to disregard it.

"spiders" too cute: i'm not sure where she got the cute thing from, 'cause they freaked me out a little. the coming back when the air bubble came to the surface was yet another example of how futuristic this tech was. these 'spiders' were smart. the air bubble meant person with eyes, which meant that this person needed to be scanned for the precrime police.

holes in the plot: this is open for interpretation. i thought the surgeon said that Anderton could go blind, not that he would go blind. so when the spider lifted the bandage and scanned that one eye, tension was presented and the audience was asking itself, 'holy crap, is Anderton gonna go blind now?'

flying suits badly executed: i assume that the precrime cops would have the proper attire (i.e. flame retardant and heat blocking) while wearing the jetpacks. that just makes sense and one should induce that that was the case. with the cops, anyway. but as to why Anderton's crotch didn't explode in a wonderful kaleidoscope of flame and pain while he piggybacked on the jetpack, i'll never know (Anderton was wearing street clothes at the time).

everyone is insane or too trusting: again, i'm not sure what Maggie meant, but i'll try to explain why they weren't all insane or too trusting, and if they are, why they would be.
insane folk: the guy who killed Ann Lively is insane. he killed someone, for Christ's sake. but he had a good reason for it (she was the mother of one of the precogs, and she wanted her kid back). the precogs never show any sign of insanity. they're in a pool drugged up beyond belief, and never leave until the end (except for Agatha, who i'll get to later). i think that was Maggie projecting her state of mind onto the precogs. okay, the plant lady was insane and i can't explain why. one point to Maggie. the surgeon's backstory (burning his patients) provided the reason for his insanity, plus, he'd been in prison where he'd been anally raped by large men. he got out of jail (i'm not sure how) because he went to a normal jail, not the weird cryo-prison thing. the surgeon's assistant and the jail keeper were just two more weird people in a weird place. more atmosphere for the future. Anderton wasn't insane; his situation forced him to do insane things.
trusting folk: the wife trusted Anderton and Burgess (the old man) because she'd known them both for a very long time. i'm sure even Maggie has some people she'd trust no matter what. in fact, the wife explicitly tells Burgess that she doesn't trust the detective guy, making her a normal, well rounded person who does exactly what rational people would do in her position. she trusts those she knows, and distrusts those she doesn't. Agatha trusts Anderton because she can see the bloody future! it makes sense for her to know who to trust and who not to trust. Anderton doesn't actually trust many people, except for Burgess and his ex-wife, again being a rational person.

more stupid technology: the holographic 'tv' wasn't a tv at all, but a holographic projector. i didn't see any evidence of a proper tv anywhere. the computers where just cool things to have, again, to add to the rich futuristic atmosphere present.

to me, it seemed Maggie would rather watch 'Blade Runner' again to get all the stuff she thought was missing from 'Minority Report.'

in conclusion, i'd like to stress, "to each, his (or her) own." i really enjoyed this movie, as did Sam, Alex, Noah, and Erin, and if you won't listen to me because of some imagined bad taste you think i have, then listen to Noah, who seems to have a good head on his shoulders. except when he takes it off to polish his eyes. then, the good head is in his hands.

now reading: The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II- Iris Chang

thecomicman spoke @ 04:27 AM |

June 19, 2002

more ridiculous lines than ... no wait, nothing else comes close

i just watched 'Heist'. you remember, the one where Danny DeVito says, "Everybody wants money; that's why it's called 'money'." the rest of the lines were even more ridiculous than that. the plot was hackneyed at best and i knew exactly what was going to happen about a half hour before it happened. except for the part where... well, i wouldn't want to spoil the one part that most of you won't see coming. if you all happen to actually put yourself through it. one more note about the lines: it seems that the scriptwriter knows Halifax very well, and wrote all these lines to either explicitly hurt him, or explicitly tickle him. i can't tell the difference anymore with that guy.

now reading: Tokyo Underworld: The Fast Times and Hard Life of an American Gangster in Japan- Robert Whiting

thecomicman spoke @ 11:05 PM |

now, let's leave Halifax alone... aw, who am i kidding?

revised meeting between Halifax and He-Who-Is-Unto-Like-God (except for the binge drinking... and the trembling hands... oh, wait, he really is like God) Frank Miller:

Halifax: i'm sorry, Frankie, old bean, but i'm gonna have to kick you out.
Frank Miller: but i'm Frank Miller, writer and artist of such greats as 'Dark Knight Returns' and 'Sin City'.
Halifax: ya, you also wrote 'Robocop 2' and 'Spawn/Batman'.
Frank Miller: aw hell, you're right. i'll go now.

and He decided not to cancel the signing and the Midtown bosses were merciful upon Halifax and so, he was not fired.

thecomicman spoke @ 09:00 PM |

June 17, 2002

sad, sad, sad day... (for sports fans)

well, that's it for Mexico in the World Cup. we lost 2-0 to USA. it was a very dirty game with, i believe, with lots of yellow cards for both teams. and then Kobe Jones entered the game for the US, and every Mexican player started kicking his ass because he's such a dick. the two goals by the US, one by Brian McBride and the other by Landon Donovan, were good goals. the American team played well, but there were a couple of calls that should have been made that would have given the Mexican team at least two penalty kicks. oh well, ces't la vie.

thecomicman spoke @ 05:54 PM |

holy God! adan's gone and posted again!

so Halifax decided to throw Frank Miller out of the store because he came in just as we were closing. Frank Miller said, 'But I'm Frank Miller, writer and artist of such great comics as Sin City and The Dark Knight Returns.' Halifax then said, 'well, you should have gotten here on time, like your books should.' Frank Miller stormed out of the store. he'll probably cancel the signing he was gonna do, and Halifax will probably get fired.

in other news (non-sports fans, skip this paragraph), Mexico made it to the round of 16. they play the US tonight. if Mexico wins, i'll have to wear my jersey, and American fans are going to pelt me with stones. oh well, such is life.

i watched 'Windtalkers' today. that's John Woo's WWII film about Navajo codetalkers. Halifax and Sam said that John Woo was very subdued in this film, but i thought he was still the same old subtlety-be-damned John Woo. this comes after watching 'Hard Boiled' the night before, so i think i know what i'm talking about.

okay, that's it... no wait, there's some more sports talk: i feel bad for Chris because his team Argentina didn't make it to the round of 16. poor, sad Chris.

okay, i'm done.

thecomicman spoke @ 12:56 AM |

June 09, 2002

Mexico wins again!!!

woohoo!!!!

the standings are:

Mexico: 6
Croatia: 3
Italy: 3
Ecuador: 0

now, this does not mean Mexico is automatically in, and neither does it mean that Ecuador is automatically out.

if Mexico beats Italy and Ecuador beats Croatia, there is a three-way tie for second place, and whoever has scored the most goals will go on. if Italy beats Mexico and Croatia beats Ecuador (which is more likely to happen than the first supposition) there will be a three-way tie for first, where the two highest scoring teams go on. any other permutation thereof, Mexico goes on.

goals scored up until now are:

Mexico: 3
Italy: 3
Croatia: 2
Ecuador: 1

Mexico is very likely to go on, which pleases me to no end. i was having a crappy day up 'till now. both of my D&D characters were lost (not necessarily dead, but very likely) and my Deadlands character was burned alive. although it was only in a practice round, it still hurt, especially after losing both Celdrix and Great Dog.

but Mexico wins!!!!

thecomicman spoke @ 04:40 AM |

June 08, 2002

actually...

the second Thunderbird is an Indian (from India) by the name of Neal Sharaa. and so, wrong Rick has been corrected.

now reading: American Tabloid- James Ellroy

thecomicman spoke @ 12:14 PM |

June 07, 2002

guess what?

i've finished that 'alliterative X-men' thing. go checkout below at the 11:47pm entry on June 3rd if you are so inclined. oh, and... take that, Maggie.

thecomicman spoke @ 11:31 PM |

more World Cup

oh Chris, Chris, Chris... Argentina lost to England, my boy. and now they're in danger of being eliminated. you better hope the Swedes don't tie them, because that would be disastrous to your precious Argentinian team.

in other news, Croatia and Italy play tomorrow morning at 4:55. right now the standings are:

Italy with 3
Mexico with 3
Croatia with 0
Ecuador with 0

my team's looking very good.

in Chris' (and Sam's) group, the standings are:

England with 4
Sweden with 4
Argentina with 3
Nigeria with 0

yay futbol!!

now reading: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Vol. 1 (Star Trek: The Eugenics Wars)- Greg Cox

thecomicman spoke @ 10:04 PM |

June 04, 2002

X-men questions... answered! part the second

Rick's questions:
1. What does the X stand for in X-Men?
2. Professor X has gone in and out of the wheelchair on several occasions, list the cause for each of the times he was crippled and how he healed.
3. Name as many characters who were X-Men or had their first major silver age appearance in X-Men, who were originally (or based on, or share a name with) a Golden age Marvel character.

mine answers:
1. it stands for the X-factor gene present in every mutant's dna. it's the gene that gives them their powers.
2. ...hmmm... the first time he lost the use of his legs was when the alien Lucifer dropped a big ole' rock on his spine. he regained the ability to walk again when his original body was infested by a Brood egg and then cloned so that his consciousness could be moved to the new body. then the Shadow King crippled Xavier again. he was able to walk again for a short while after Apocalypse cured him from the techno-organic virus that Stryfe infected him with during the 'X-cutioner's Song' storyline. he again walked briefly during the 'Fatal Attractions' storyline by donning an exoskeleton powered by his mind. and most recently, Xavier's spine was healed by the new Chinese X-man, Xorn, after their battle with Cassandra Nova. he seems to be able to walk with no problem at all, and for the forseeable future. until someone else drops a big ole' rock on him.
3. i have no freakin' idea. i can give you guesses, but i wouldn't be able to back them up. plus they'd still be just guesses.

now reading: A Tale of Two Cities (Penguin Classics)- Charles Dickens, Richard Maxwell

thecomicman spoke @ 12:03 AM |

June 03, 2002

X-men questions... answered! part the first

Maggie's question: Name at least 20 X-men characters and describe their primary features in 2 words each. (followed by...) I bet you couldn't do that Stan Lee way - alliterate! How about 20 characters and their primary features described by 2 words, both starting with the same letter. But it's probably too hard... I mean, NOBODY is THAT good at X-Men trivia.

i'm taking 'features' here in a very broad way. i'll be describing physical attributes, powers, or personalities. here goes *ahem*:

Gambit: kinetic energy ... Cajun casanova
Psylocke: psychic knife ... kinetic katana
Beast: blue fur ... blue biochemist
Wolverine: berserker rage (or, alternately, adamantium skeleton) ... crazy Canuck
Cyclops: optic blast ... scoutmaster Summers
Phoenix: red hair ... mutant mother
White Queen: rich bitch ... diamond debutante
Chamber: exploding face ... leather-clad limey
Nightcrawler: teleporting demon ... demonic daredevil
Colossus: organic steel ... Proletariat powerhouse
Storm: African goddess ... weather witch ... Cairo claustrophobic
Cannonball: blast field ... blasting boy
Jubilee: pyrokinetic flares ... pyrokinetic 'pafs
Longshot: uncanny luck ... Mojoverse mutant
Iceman: ice sled ... cool customer
Angel: feathered wings ... business bird ... feathered financier
Dazzler: strobe light ... disco diva
Havok: plasma blasts ... Summers sibling
Forge: technological genius ... Cheyenne chaperone
Banshee: Interpol agent ... sonic scream
Shadowcat: phasing ability ... phasing phenom
Tessa: human computer ... secret soldier
Bishop: absorbing energy ... future Fed
Rogue: absorbing powers ... Louisianna looker
Lifeguard: ever-changing powers ... outlaw offspring
Slipstream: portal runner ... surfing sensation
Xorn: star brain ... human healer
Sunfire: heat plasma ... Hokkaido hothead
Polaris: Malice host ... magnetic mistress
Gateway: Aboriginal teleporter ... silent spectator
Thunderbird: Apache warrior ... quick casualty
Thunderbird II: Indian Sunfire ... hotheaded Hindu
Red Lotus: martial artist ... Hong Kong hoodlum (i consider 'Hong Kong' one word for the purposes of this exercise)
Marrow: bone thrower ... Morlock moppet
Cecilia Reyes: reluctant hero ... philosophical physician
Stacy X: tactile pheromones ... student strumpet ... newbie nudie
Cable: techno-organic virus ... future fighter
Mimic: oft-battled foe ... contemptous copycat
Changeling: ugly costume ... shape shifter (ya, that was easy)
Magneto: Auschwitz survivor ... silver-haired savior
Maggott: Magneto hunter ... monstrous maat (maat is a South African [Maggott's home] slang word meaning something akin to 'dude')
Phoenix II: future visitor ... Shadowcat's shopmate
Joseph: Magneto clone ... magnetic master
Professor X: powerful mind ... assembly architect

let me know if i missed any X-men and i'll add them promptly.

now reading: Daisy Miller (Penguin Classics)- Henry James, Patricia Crick, Geoffrey Moore

thecomicman spoke @ 11:47 PM |

my overly Asian day

it started out very un-Asian. we went into town to because Sam had a doctor's appointment and we needed to deposit money. then we went down to Chinatown where we purchased a Korean movie titled 'Memento Mori'. we went to a Japanese restaurant in St. Mark's where Sam had sushi and i had Curry Rice with beef (very good stuff). then we went to Barnes & Noble in Astor Place where i ended up buying a book on Asian pop culture. then we went back to St. Mark's and into Sunrise Mart, a Japanese grocery store, where lots of Asian groceries were purchased. and then we came home where i realized i owned a Japanese-made video game system where i play Japanese-programmed games. i also realized the World Cup is being played in Japan and Korea. then the kicker of all kickers, my girlfriend turned Chinese!!!

...oh wait, she was already that way.

now reading: To Kill a Mockingbird- Harper Lee

thecomicman spoke @ 11:15 PM |

Italy vs. Ecuador

so i tried watching it, and actually saw the first goal, but then i fell asleep. but, Italy won 2-0, as expected. what i saw of the Ecuadorian team wasn't really much of a team at all. they were running all over the place and didn't seem to know what they were doing. but maybe i was just sleepy and couldn't tell.

now reading: Great Expectations (Penguin Classics)- Charles Dickens

thecomicman spoke @ 01:23 PM |

Mexico wins!!!

during a very exciting, but scoreless, first half, Oscar 'El Conejo' Perez (Mexico's goalie) made three wonderful saves that made me nearly wet my pants. the Croatian team played very well, but in the fifteenth minute of the second half, Zirkovick (i think that's how you spell it) tripped Cuahtemoc Blanco inside the box. Zirkovick earned himself a red card and gave Blanco a penalty kick which he converted into the only goal scored in the game.

now i must sleep because i have to get up in three hours to watch Italy vs. Ecuador. they are the other two teams in Mexico's group.

projected places for Group G:
1st- Italy
2nd- Mexico
3rd- Croatia
4th- Ecuador

remember, only the top two teams get to advance to the quarter-finals.

now reading: The Prince (Bantam Classics)- Niccolo Machiavelli

thecomicman spoke @ 04:30 AM |

June 02, 2002

i can't wait!

Mexico! Mexico! Mexico!

i shall post an in depth analysis of the game once it's over. it starts in four hours.

Mexico!

now reading: The Crying of Lot 49- Thomas Pynchon

thecomicman spoke @ 10:42 PM |

correction

while i spelled Miyazaki's name correctly, i botched the name of the anime. it's not 'Panda Go Panda' as i originally reported. i's actually 'Panda Kopanda'. but you can see how anyone could have made that mistake. right?

now reading: Barrel Fever: Stories and Essays- David Sedaris

thecomicman spoke @ 08:54 PM |

so i've been thinking...

so i've been thinking... you should all ask me lots of X-men questions over this blog thing here. that way, i can hone my knowledge.

now reading: Naked- David Sedaris

thecomicman spoke @ 08:31 PM |

hurm...

so i've noticed that some of the people i've linked to my blog haven't linked me to theirs (i'm looking at Donny-Clark and Ikyoto-chan in particular here). this makes me sad...

but i'm sure i'll get over it. i do have a huge ego after all.

now reading: Star Wars: Splinter of the Mind's Eye- Alan Dean Foster

thecomicman spoke @ 08:29 PM |

California Girls... and guys

so, i emailed a lot of blokes i know from California about this blog thing i've got going. only three of them have posted. the rest of them? they're deadbeat bastards.

now reading: X-Men Planet X (Star Trek The Next Generation)- Michael Jan Friedman

thecomicman spoke @ 08:27 PM |

lots o' stuff

Friday night: Sam, Alex, and me went to go see 'Insomnia'. it was good and stuff, but that's not the story here. the story is that when there was about fifteen minutes of the movie left, the bulb on the projector went out. we could still hear the movie, but we could no longer see it. needless to say, a full-on New York riot ensued. lots of angry people yelled at managers to give them their money back, which, of course, they couldn't do. they instead gave out 'emergency passes' that let you into any movie at ny time into any Loews theater. people were angry that they would have to sit through the whole movie again just to watch the last fifteen minutes. after lots of the screaming people had left, Sam was able to sweet-talk one of the managers into letting us into the showing that had started about half an hour after ours so we could see the ending. and we got to keep our 'emergency passes'. all in all, a good night.

Saturday: we played Dungeons and Dragons for six hours. it should have been eight, but Maggie was late. hey, that last sentence rhymed.

Saturday night: after the Justice League Detroit meeting (the writer's thing some of us do), Hal was assured that ET and Erin would not watch 'Panda Go Panda', some weird, cutesy anime that has something to do with Miyazaki (good God, i hope i spelled that right). Hal left and they watched it anyway. Sam and i watched the Argentina/Nigeria soccer match on tv (Argentina won 1-0).

Sunday (today): i worked. Hal was... annoyed... that 'Panda Go Panda' was watched without him. tonight i shall watch the Mexico soccer match. who are they playing you ask? a losing team. go Mexico!

now reading: Shadows of the Empire (Star Wars)- Steve Perry

thecomicman spoke @ 08:18 PM |