Cbellisrun

Grand Unified Weekly

cbellisrun@gmail.com — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:19:21 GMT

Now this is a video blog I could get interested in...

Re: The Dark Knight (no spoilers, just opinions)

cbellisrun@gmail.com — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:59:32 GMT

I've made this as SPOILER-free as possible. You'll notice big white holes you can click if you want to join Erik & me.

Elucidate what you mean by the Joker's href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Prisoners_dilemma&redirect=no" title="Prisoners dilemma">Prisoners dilemma</a>? I loved the dynamic Nolan set up for the Batman & Joker. It follows the true spirit of their relationship in the comics. "I could never kill you. You're too much fun!"

I liked how they didn't give the Joker a real origin either. If you want to buy a single, amazing graphic novel that gives Joker a possible origin story while paralleling one of his most devastating attacks on the Batman family that perfectly illustrates the relationship between Batman, Gordon and Joker, you must get Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore & Brian Bolland.

I agree with you on Harvey. I agree with the decision however because it would be hard to justify his becoming truly evil after that three-way confrontation at the end.

The plot of this movie draws heavily on Batman: The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale.

The plot of Batman Begins drew mainly from Batman: Year One by Frank Miller & David Mazzucchelli.

Logically the next film would draw inspiration from Batman: Dark Victory by Jeph Loeb & Time Sale.

However, Bale has stated in interviews rather humorously that he won't do a film that features Robin. With Nolan's tone, I don't see his Bruce jumping on the child endangerment bandwagon too quickly. They may pine the depths of Long Halloween a bit more for the next film. There's plenty of rogues they left out.

Personally, I'd like to see Catwoman as the main villain. It would make sense with the romantic void left in Bruce's life after this film. She's a major figure in Batman lore, much like the Joker. It follows the theme of this film, a villain that challenges Batman. It's not as simple a dynamic as catch the crook, send them away. There's something about her that makes it difficult for him to see things clearly and act responsibly.

Tim Burton did a really great job of capturing that relationship in Batman Returns though. The romance between Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne and the struggle with revealing dual-identities is true to the comics. Nolan might not want to keep redoing Burton's work. But who am I kidding? It's Hollywood! I'm sure all of the producers want him to repeat his remake success.

The Penguin, in his Underworld Crimeboss persona would be a good follow-up. In the comics, Oswald Cobblepot has been shown as a "legitimate businessman" while running the underworld financially. He could become the head of the crime syndicates after the destruction of the mafia, filling the void of leadership shown in The Dark Knight.

The Riddler could be cool done by Nolan and his writing partners. I can totally see him getting Robin Williams' Insomnia character to play that role.

I would like the next film to be a mystery. They tried to show more of Bruce's detective skills in this film, but not nearly enough. Batman is The World's Greatest Detective. I think the next film should show that. Give Bruce something that he can throw himself headlong into for the entire movie without too many subplots. He certainly could use the distraction after the conclusion of Dark Knight. Plus, this would give him and Gordon something to work on together in secret while the rest of the force hunts him down whenever they catch a glimpse of him in Gotham City.

Chris "Gordon's closing speech is cinematic perfection" Bellis

Dean Koontz

cbellisrun@gmail.com — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:40:08 GMT

I read this Dean Koontz novel Intensity a while back. I don't know if it was one of my parents' old copies or a copy I found randomly somewhere else while visiting.

My first recollection of the name Dean Koontz comes from my mother's lips and her description of his stuff being too weird, bizarre and gross for her to really get into. This made me picture Koontz as a kind of Stephen King off the deep end. She described some scene from a novel of his that was too much for her (my mother the nurse cringes at gory scenes in movies) and it sounded freakish. Even so, my dad seemed to like him since there were enough copies of his novels in the home library.

Years pass and eventually I'm actually looking to read a words-only novel on vacation. I'm in an airport with my family and I go into one of those booksellers. I'm attracted to the cover of a novel called From the Corner of His Eye. It's the same image as linked, however that silvery red is actually metallic and shiny on the book cover. Creepy enough to start with, right? Well listen to the description:

"Horrormeister Koontz looks heavenward for inspiration in his newest suspense thriller, which is chock-full of signs, portents, angels, and one somewhat second-rate devil, a murky and undercharacterized guy named Junior Cain who throws his beloved wife off a fire tower on an Oregon mountain and spends the rest of the novel waiting for the retribution that will surely come. But not before a series of tragedies ensues that convince Junior that someone or something named Bartholomew is out to exact vengeance for that crime and the series of other murders that follow.

Bartholomew's own troubles begin with his birth, which transpires moments after his father is killed in a traffic accident as he is taking his wife to the hospital, and continue with the loss of his eyes at the tender age of 3. Young Bartholomew has visionary gifts, though to his mother, a nice lady who's renowned for her pie-making abilities as well as her sweetly innocent nature, he's just a particularly smart kid who can read and write before his second birthday. Eventually, Bartholomew regains his sight, Junior Cain gets his comeuppance, and fate conspires to bring love into the Pie Lady's life, reward the faithful, and put a happy ending on this genre-bending tale. Koontz will no doubt rocket right to the top of the bestseller list with this inventive, if somewhat slower-paced, read. --Jane Adams --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title."

After reading something like that on the back of the book, I've pretty much confirmed for myself my mother's take on Koontz. But it sounds interesting enough, so I get the book and proceed to read the whole thing over the vacation. My impression of Koontz turns from a kind of icky fear to an actual affinity for what I would consider his quirky sense of horror.

Over the ensuing years I read some other Koontz from my parents' library. Most notable is Odd Thomas, which my father personally gave to me shortly after finishing. I love this character and I'm delighted Koontz has gone on to make as many sequels as he has. I was surprised when the original sequel Forever Odd came out. Koontz, like King, doesn't really do sequels. The ending of the first novel was left somewhat open but it was also devastating. The third Odd Thomas book solidified the fact that fans loved him and wanted to keep him coming back for a long time. I haven't read Brother Odd just yet and in doing my Amazon searches for Koontz I'm excited to see there's even two more after that as well as a graphic novel adaptation. It all comes full circle, huh?

I saw a commercial for an upcoming Odd Thomas book that featured live low-budget actors. I believe Annabelle saw it too because we talked about it. When first viewing the commercial, it made both of us infer that there was going to be an Odd Thomas television show or film. Needless to say, that would be awesome. Too bad it's not true... yet.

What has been adapted into a made-for-tv movie however is the original novel I mentioned, Intensity. I read this around the same time I stole Velocity from someone, Vicki maybe. This was a great book. It had the same tension as Velocity, but was even more unpredictable. I couldn't believe what happened in the beginning. It's way more than the term bait-and-switch can really imply. I guess the best way to describe it would be to call it to literature what Hitchcock's Psycho was to film. After reading it, you'll understand what I mean more clearly. But I don't want to ruin it, much in the same way Hitch wouldn't let people into the theater late during screenings of that particular film. ; )

So I've set up the TiVo here in Annabelle and Becca's apartment and lately I've been playing with the cable box functions. Tonight I was exploring the On Demand feature and the free movies. I'm bored and Annabelle is asleep, so I browse the Horror films. I see Intensity Part 1 and Intensity Part 2 as titles. I'm intrigued. The brief description in the small window on the upper left says John C. McGinley and I love him. He's a great character actor and I love his inflection and intonation. I press Info and get a halfscreen longer description. Made in 1997, it describes the book I really enjoyed.

I make it my Facebook status that "Chris is pleasantly surprised to have discovered "Intensity" On Demand." I feel that's not enough to share how cool this little discovery is with the Interweb and I contemplate writing a Note on Facebook. That doesn't seem write either, so here I am back on LiveJournal writing a whole lot more than I ever expected. I had to pause the film just to finish this off. Now I'm heading back to the murder and mayhem.

ETA: As soon as I clicked preview, it showed this as Annabelle's post, in her format. And as soon as I started to try and fix it, the laptop went into random standby as it's prone to do. I couldn't get it to wakeup, so I just watched the rest of the 90 min part one. I then forced it to power off after researching the malfunction on my iPhone. I'm so glad LiveJournal gave me the prompt "Restore from save draft?" You've saved all my useless effort, thank you.

P.S. Part 1 was great. Part 2 is starting now but I should probably get in bed...

Love Eternal for Summer Glau

cbellisrun@gmail.com — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 11:55:04 GMT

http://www.wizarduniverse.com/020608summerglau.html

[Q&A] THE WIZARDUNIVERSE.COM
Q&A: 'TERMINATOR'S' SUMMER GLAU

The Wizard World L.A. Special Guest talks about her new robotic role, her career as a ballerina and her iconic sci-fi status

By Jake Rossen (Q&A), Jim Gibbons (Intro)

Posted 2/6/2008

The 'Sarah Connor Chronicles' star will be on hand for signings and more!

If killer robot Terminators all looked as good as Summer Glau, then we'd be running with open arms towards Judgment Day. But till that mushroom-clouded day comes, your best chance of meeting the actress who plays the arousing automaton on "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" will be at Wizard World Los Angeles on Saturday, March 15. Glau will be on hand for special signings and more at the LA Convention Center!

Wizard World LA runs from March 14 through March 16, check out www.wizardworld.com for more details.

Click Here To Get Your Wizard World LA Tickets Now!

"Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" was Fox's most watched scripted premiere since the year 2000. Check out some of Wizard Universe's coverage on the show with our interviews of producer and writer Josh Freidman, special effects supervisor Jim Lima and actor Brendan Hines.

Read a full Summer Glau Q&A by Jake Rossen below!

SUMMER GLAU Q&A
Any franchise that's harbored Linda Hamilton and Kristanna Loken has set a dangerously high bar for females that can whip ass and look good doing it.

Fortunately, producers of Fox's new "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" (Mondays, 8 PM ET) recognized their responsibility to eyeballs everywhere and cast Joss Whedon repertory player Summer Glau ("Firefly") as the latest cybernetic model designed to protect John Connor from harm.

Glau spoke to WizardUniverse.com about her isolationist upbringing, her sci-fi leanings, and a possible assault on California's Governator.

Read what Glau has to say here, then come meet her at Wizard World Los Angeles March 14-16 at the Los Angeles Convention Center where she'll be one of our Special Guests!

WIZARD: You were a professional ballerina. That sounds like one of those imaginary professions, like me wanting to be a cowboy.
Glau: That's what I want to do in my next life! Ballet is the hardest thing for a young girl to grow up doing. It's strange to look back and realize that was my entire life. I woke up and I went dancing. There are countless stories about what my friends went through and what I went through. I didn't go to school. I stayed home and did correspondence because I was working during the day. At the time, I thought it would be the end of the world if I had to be a normal girl.

How did you make the transition from dancing to acting?
It's a very cliché thing to happen, but I wound up getting hurt, and I wasn't trained to do anything else. I came to Los Angeles and did tango dancing for a year. I couldn't dance on point anymore, so I couldn't be a ballet dancer. So I ended up acting.

Do you see any similarities between the two?
The difference between being a ballet dancer and being an actor is that, when you come up in ballet, you look in the mirror all day and you try to be perfect. You try to be just like the girl in front of you and just like the girl behind you. There's only one perfect way to stand in ballet.
When you become an actor, you find out things about yourself that you can bring to a character that no one else could. That's the way to get cast. Instead of doing things perfectly, you have to be real. That was something I had to let go of when I started acting, the idea of being perfect.
Judging by the number of online shrines, I think you've failed. Was there any culture shock in coming to L.A.?
I was so naïve when I came out here. I was fortunate that my parents kept a close eye on me and I got involved with people who really did care about me. But I will say the first year or two I was here was a huge learning curve.

Any good stories to share?
[Laughs] None that I would tell.

Do you seek out sci-fi projects, or do they keep finding you?
They keep finding me! "Firefly" was the first series regular role I ever auditioned for. After that, I felt like the sci-fi fans were so loyal—they really follow their actors and actresses. It seemed like a natural progression to continue on in that vein. I feel like sci-fi is a good fit for me. [But] it's hard, too. When I play roles like ["Firefly's"] River Tam, it's hard for me to understand what a psychic crazy person is like.

That sounds like most people in L.A. You had to audition for "Terminator," too?
I felt I wouldn't fit that image at all. My mom pressured me into going. When I realized it was [writer] Josh Friedman ["War of the Worlds"] who had done the pilot, I got really excited, because he's an extremely smart man. I thought, "Maybe he realizes who I am." I had read for him before. I went in and read several times and I know my training helped because of all the martial arts. That's a big part of what I do, in terms of character.

Did you have to go back and watch the films?
I think everyone is familiar with the Terminator because it's so iconic, but I hadn't seen all the films. When I was cast, I went out and got the films and watched them all the way through. I had an idea, but I was really surprised about how much you cared about the characters. I was surprised by how moving the stories were. That's the thing I really carry to the series, especially since people come back to it every week.

Do you find your ballet training helps you with the action scenes?
Absolutely! We move very quickly. It's not like a film, where you do fight scenes over and over again. You have to come on the day and be ready. The guys I work with learn it like a dance. It's all in counts. It's all choreographed. I appreciate that the guys don't mind learning it like that. It makes it so much easier for me.

How has the fan reaction been?
You have fans of the films and they're suspicious about what we're doing. I completely understand what it's like to be loyal to a film. We're not trying to do a remake of it. We're just adding to a story that we really respect. We love the films and we're trying to stay true to them.

Do you have a favorite character from the original trilogy?
We're trying to answer the question of what happened to Sarah Connor. She's my favorite character from the series. I feel like she's the heart and soul of the story, and it's sad she's not a part of the third film. We're picking up after the second film and telling her story. I've been amazed by what our writers have come up with.

Arnold is like 60 now. Could you kick his ass?
[Laughs] I would never disrespect Arnold that way. He is the Terminator.

Women in Comics

cbellisrun@gmail.com — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 20:15:43 GMT

Well written and informative article from The Guardian entitled "Brilliantly drawn girls."

TBS: Very Funny

cbellisrun@gmail.com — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 12:15:14 GMT

TBS is really cornering the market on TV comedy that doesn't appear on Comedy Central. Personally, I think that rocks. It's become the sitcom channel with taste.

I really liked those John Cleese commercials about scientifically studying humor and what's funny. They've got a nice little Laugh Lab. Seems like TBS's research has resulted in several new original shows.

First up to bat is My Boys, centering around a female sports writer named PJ trying to find Mr. Right while still having time to hang out with her friends, who are mostly dudes.
Premieres Tuesday, November 28 @ 10/9c.

Taken from My Boys website:
"Being "one of the guys" can mean a lot of great things: poker games, pick-up softball games, watching sports or just hanging out at a favorite bar. But for PJ Franklin, played by Jordana Spiro (JAG, Must Love Dogs), being a girl who’s one of the guys can be challenging.

PJ (Jordana Spiro) is a twenty-something sports reporter for the Chicago Sun Times. At first glance, she’s a typical young single woman--smart, attractive, outgoing, personable. Her boys are her family, which sometimes hinders PJ's dating life, as the men she tries to date don't know how to react to her unconventional interests and the all-important men in her life.

PJ’s group of friends includes her brother, Andy (Jim Gaffigan), whose wife keeps him on an all-too-short leash; Mike (Jamie Kaler), a commitment-challenged ladies man who works for the Chicago Cubs; Kenny (Michael Bunin), a sports-memorabilia store owner who hasn't mastered the art of dating; and Brendan (Reid Scott), a hard-rock DJ whose on-again, off-again romance with his girlfriend often leaves him crashing at PJ's apartment; and the most recent addition to the group, Bobby (Kyle Howard) a sportswriter for the Chicago Tribune, the Windy City's rival newspaper. PJ's friend Stephanie (Kellee Stewart), who she's known since journalism school, does her best to give PJ advice on men and dating from a more female point-of-view."

Jim Gaffigan is a regular cast member, yay! And the guy that PJ hooks up with in the previews is a really funny dude who's only had bit parts in other more established comedies like The Drew Carey Show. It'll be nice to see him have a more central role. He's really cute and the kid's got great timing.

Next up: Comic Relief 2006, Live Tonight in Las Vegas at 9/8c
"Where there's laughter... there's hope."

First off, it's awesome that Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg and Robin Williams are doing this yet again. It's the 20th anniversary of the first benefit and this time around it's to support post-Katrina New Orleans.

The best thing about this particular Comic Relief is that it is not ONLY on HBO. By having it on TBS too it will reach so many more people than on just HBO. Until I went to the website, I didn't even know that TBS was HBO's sister-station. With a bigger audience, there's a better chance that there will be more donations and in the end more support can be given.

I've never seen the past eight Comic Reliefs because I was too young and they were on HBO. I didn't and still don't get HBO. I don't know too many people who do. TBS is part of most cable plans. People will be able to see it. People flipping through the channels tonight will com across TBS as usual and get to see this.

"The three-hour concert will be held at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas as part of The Comedy Festival. This event will also be hosted by its original trio of talent: Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, and Robin Williams—and will be filled with performances by today's hottest comedians, live segments from New Orleans, and a special showcase featuring the work of famed Crescent City filmmaker, Kenny Morrison."

Billy and Whoopi are in a kind of semi-retirement, but they're still big names. Robin Williams is still in the box office with Man of the Year and Happy Feet, so he's really the biggest draw. As some of you know, Robin Williams is one of my personal idols. I'm really looking forward to this, I'm surprised I hadn't heard much of anything about it until tonight. That seems like cutting it a little close, don't you think?

Finally, there's 10 Items or Less. TBS's other original show about employees at a supermarket. I'll research that later and report back to you on it. I recognize some of the C-lister cast members, but based solely on the preview for the episode entitled "the miracle worker," it looks like someone at TBS was watching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Same shakey camera and everything. Will it be a carbon copy? Will it be as good? Do we want more shows like Sunny? I'm betting on yes. I just hope it's as smart. : )