December 29, 2002

more Korean movies

instead of watching Attack the Gas Station again last night, i watched another Korean movie titled Christmas in August on VCD. this is such a good movie. it's about a man who will die in short time, and knows it. he meets a girl and they fall in love. but neither one tells the other, the man for obvious reasons. they go on like this. they never confess their love, they never have a kiss, i don't even remember them hugging, but the love is there. i started crying halfway through this movie, and didn't stop until i was safely nestled in Sam's arms. just thinking about it makes me misty.

okay, that's enough.

now reading: Dreaming: Beyond the Shore of Night- Terry LaBan, Peter Hogan, Alisa Kwitney, Peter Snejbjerg, Neil Gaiman

thecomicman spoke @ 08:24 PM |

December 28, 2002

Shaolin Soccer and A Wild Sheep Chase

i just realized the last post was just me bitching about how many movies i saw and how i got no presents yet.

this post is about the greatness that is Shaolin Soccer. It is one of the funniest things i have ever seen. Not only does it satire martial arts and Hong Kong action flicks, but it is also so over the top, it's hilarious. i don't want to give anything away, but the final soccer match has some of the best special effects ever put on a soccer field.

this post is also about the greatness that is A Wild Sheep Chase. it is very well written and really funny and really sad, and everything in between. my only gripe, at the end, i know nothing new. and that ticks me off. but it won't stop me from reading the rest of his stuff. i've now started Neuromancer and will soon be pestering N. with questions.

t.t.f.n. (i don't really know what this means, but some lady said it as she left the store, so it must be a form of goodbye.)

thecomicman spoke @ 10:31 PM |

movies and presents

this is a list of movies i've seen in the past two weeks:

Monday, Dec. 16th: Bowling for Columbine
Wednesday, Dec. 18th: Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Friday, Dec. 20th: Star Trek: Nemesis and Drumline
Saturday, Dec. 21st: Mr. Deeds
Monday, Dec. 23rd: The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys
Wednesday, Dec. 25th: Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (again) and The Gangs of New York
Friday, Dec. 27th: Shaolin Soccer
Saturday, Dec. 28th (tentatively): Attack the Gas Station

...my freakin' head hurts. and to all i implore not to see two three-hour films back to back in a dark theater and then step out into the blinding light and snow-covered world. it 'causes pain which cannot be described.

as for presents, i've got nothing. yet. i have it from a good source (my little brother) that there is $150 worth of stuff from my Amazon.com wishlist waiting for me in California from my parents and brother. he refused to tell me what they were exactly, but whatever. i know i gots good stuff waiting for me which i will see in about a week.

another thing about this trip, i may not get to post from there, seeing as how they've got only dial-up over there. i may have to find a cyber-cafe or something. man, that is going to suck.

now reading: A Wild Sheep Chase: A Novel- Haruki Murakami

thecomicman spoke @ 01:55 PM |

December 21, 2002

movies and eggnog

i have seen tons of movies this week. on Monday i saw 'Bowling for Columbine' which i thoroughly enjoyed. phooey on you naysayers. on Tuesday i saw some little, independent thing about a ring. and on Friday night/Saturday morning Sammie and i saw 'Star Trek: Nemesis' and 'Drumline.' right now, we're trying to watch 'Mr. Deeds' on this cool iControl function on our cable box. you can order a movie for a twenty-four hour period and watch it whenever however many times you want to and you can treat it like a video where you can pause it and stuff. unfortunaterly, it's acting up and i'm hold with the people who can potentially fix it as i type.

i love eggnog. unfortunately, i can only ever find around the holidays, and i can't figure out why. this stuff rocks my meerkats and should be available all year-round. if, in fact, it is available all year round from some weird store out in the Bronx or something, please let me know so that i can go there and get it in the middle of June (provided the store is near a subway stop).

and fyi, i drink the eggnog cold, with no extra add-ons (like nutmeg), and non-alcoholic. so there.

now reading: JLA Vol. 4: Strength in Numbers- Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, Christopher Priest, Howard Porter

thecomicman spoke @ 10:40 PM |

December 16, 2002

Hey kids! COMICS!!

as promised, my comics are now up. you can click the squeaky-new link in my 'places to go' area named 'Comic Shop Blues' to view my comics. there are two up, so go click and chuckle. Sam helped a lot on the computer end of the two strips, so make sure some of your chuckles are directed in her direction.

please leave some constructive criticism, if you have any. and telling me my art sucks is neither constructive nor... well, it's not nice, at the very least.

now reading:

thecomicman spoke @ 02:19 AM |

December 15, 2002

"Call me Ishmael." okay, fine, but call me done, you long-winded bastard.

i am done with Moby Dick!

i finished at about 4:20am this morning, and am i happy! this book would have been soooo much better without all that extranous crap that Melville put in there about whaling. on the up-side, i seriously feel that i could now go whaling, if it weren't illegal.

on the plate for tonight, i have to draw some comics for my final project for my Writing Comedy class. when i'm done, i will post them here. the comics, i mean, and not my class.

now reading: Moby-Dick: or, The Whale (Penguin Classics)- Herman Melville, Tom Quirk, Andrew Delbanco

thecomicman spoke @ 01:17 PM |

December 14, 2002

how my immune system works

my white blood cells act exactly like i do. they either go at warp ten, or they're at full stop. no in between with these guys. they will fight against sicknesses like hell for about ten minutes and then give up. "Ah, it's too hard," says the white blood cell commander, "Let 'em through. The kid needs to be sick more often anyway."

ya, thanks a lot white blood cell commander.

now reading: JLA: American Dreams- Grant Morrison, John Dell, Howard Porter

thecomicman spoke @ 02:14 PM |

December 07, 2002

i'm sad

'Flowers for Algernon' is really sad. it's about a mentally retarded man who gets this experiment done on him. it makes him super-smart, but because a brain unlearns as fast as it learns, his brain burnt out and he became dumb again. it was really sad. i actually cried. and now i'm all depressed.

make sure you read the short story, and not the novelization. the short story is supposed to be much better, and i believe it.

now reading: Flowers for Algernon- Daniel Keyes

thecomicman spoke @ 02:26 AM |

December 04, 2002

must... write... papers!

i am so tired. i came home last night at one in the morning from work. then i had to type my final Sci-Fi paper. i worked on it for four hours, and then i went to sleep, supposedly for only an hour. the 8am alarm clock woke me up. i rushed to my computer and furiously typed some more. i had to be done at least by 10am so that i could catch my proffesor at the end of class and hand my paper in.

10am rolls around, and i am nowhere near done. but i get an inspiration. i'll turn it in at the beginning of his second class, which starts at 12:30pm. i call work and tell them i might be a half hour late because of school stuff. they gripe, but say fine. i continue typing.

at about 11:00am, i realize i have no earthly idea where this second Sci-Fi class is. hey, no problem, Dan's in this class. i'll email him and he can email me the class site.

at 11:30am, i'm not quite done with the paper, but i figure it's done enough. unfortunately, there is no reply email from Dan. ahhh!!

that's okay. on Mondays, when i don't leave AmLit early to get to work on time, i always see Dan on his way to that very same class. i'll just wait for him on the street where we always seem to meet. that's right, i'll wait for good, old, reliable Dan.

my printer is out of ink. that's okay. i'm gonna leave at 11:30. subway ride'll be about 45 minutes. i can get to campus with enough time to print out my paper and meet Dan.

i print paper and wait for good, old, reliable Dan. 12:15pm comes and goes. where is good, old, reliable Dan? 12:30pm comes and goes. where the fuck is that asshole Dan!? did i miss him!? but he has the big green jacket! i couldn't have missed the big green jacket! calm down. who else might know where the class is located? the Registrar!!!

i run over there and thank God that there is no line. i go to the lady and tell her my problem. she asks for my id number. i give it to her. she sees my name and says, "My daughter's husband has the same name. It's a strange name."

"Hey, great, about the class..."

"Where are you from?"

"California by way of Mexico, but, seriously, the class..."

"Oh, he's from Colombia, but i still think it's a strange name, even among your peoples."

"The class. Where. Is. It."

"Oh, I'm sorry. You seem to be in a hurry, and I'm sitting here babbling. [checks weird out-dated software]. Here it is, room 410."

"thankyougottagobye." and i zoom.

i run into Main Building and up to the fourth floor. i rush to the door and who do i see? Caleb. fuck. this can't be the right class. Dan never mentioned Caleb was in the class. Caleb never mentioned Caleb was in the class. it dawns on me that i didn't get the building, just the room number. fuck. oh well, what could it possibly hurt. i go in the classroom and scan the class. no Dan, and no Sci-Fi prof. fuck. the door slams behind me and out of the corner of my eye, i see a prairie dog pop up out of nowhere. no, wait, that's not a prairie dog, that's my Sci-Fi prof! in the immortal words of Dan: "Oh Happy Day!"

he says "there you are. i was worried."

i give him my paper, and say "i know it's late, so could you tell me how much you plan on taking off the final grade?"

"it's not late. i said give it to me today and in class. i never specified which class."

woohoo!

"hey, thanks, i gotta go." and i zoom.

as i zoom, i wonder about good, old, reliable Dan. did he get run over? maybe dingos ate him. but he wouldn't miss this class. he loves it, plus the final paper is due today. where is Dan?

i rush out of Main building and who should i see?

good, old, reliable Dan.

"i'm just wee bit late."

no kidding.

epilogue: i check my email before i write this.

he didn't answer my email about the class location, even though it was marked urgent.

good, old, reliable Dan.

and now i must write another paper.

now reading: Parable of the Sower- Octavia E. Butler

thecomicman spoke @ 11:36 PM |

December 02, 2002

Biblical references

okay, can people maybe help compile a list of secular texts that add to the Christian mythos? examples are Milton's 'Paradise Lost', Bunyan's 'Pilgrim's Progress', and Hawthorne's 'The Celestial Railroad'. if there are any other texts that deal heavily with these things, please put them in the comments box. thank you.

now reading: The Celestial Railroad and Other Stories (Signet Classics (Paperback))- Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ross C. Murfin

thecomicman spoke @ 08:16 PM |

"i'm sorry, but Sabretooth is stealthy and can't be targeted 'cause he's behind a bush."

so, about this aforementioned HeroClix game...

i will now rattle off some names of people who have played this game and love it: Sam, Magda, Erinesque, N., Dan, ET, ET's friend GK, and, of course, myself. most of them have played multiple times and really enjoy it. i suggest you all try it. if you don't want to purchase any figures for yourself (because it is an evil, collectible game), then you can play with some of mine against me and some others in a frantic four-way battle for plastic supremacy!

now reading: Hudson Book of Fiction: 30 Stories Worth Reading- McGraw-Hill

thecomicman spoke @ 08:08 PM |