Watchmen weekend

   So for the first time in a long time, I was truly happy to work at the Apple Store; We got the opportunity to watch the movie Watchmen, in IMAX, one week before it is officially released.  Not only did I get to have a print of Dave Gibbon's Roarshack but now I get to watch the movie as well.   Now, even though I am fairly new to comics, I am a huge Alan Moore fan and I was a little worried after I found out that he had no involvement in this film.  And going into this I knew that it had no chance to be as good as the comic because that comic is, as A.Moore described it, "un-filmable."  But that was a good way to feel because I would not be disappointed so easily.  the movie was much better than I expected.  The first ten to twenty minutes of the film were the best of any movie I can remember.  Maybe only Saving Private Ryan kept me so intrigued as the Wathcmen.  Holy shit! I had never been hooked so fast.  The actors were pretty much dead on when compared to their comic counterparts, the only let down was the Silk Spectre who was played by the blonde girl from that one Ben Stiller movie in which he gets married to the girl in a hurry. The two best actors were definitely  the ones who portrayed The Comedian and Roarshack.  the visuals were amazing but by now CG does not really impress me, but the color and palette was perfect to bring the atmosphere of the comic into the film.  I was a little dissapointed with the change at the end but at the same time I understood why it had to be changed.  If i was not a fan of the comic I might not have liked the true ending, actually if I was not a fan I don't know if the movie would have been what I expected.  The marketing was a superhero action movie in the vain of Spiderman or X-men, but the Watchmen is so much more then those movies and comics wished they could be.  The Watchmen is about human emotion, choices and consequences.  About utilitarian philosophy and liberal ideologies.  But, don't tell anyone, I had not been so giddy over a movie since Episode I, and we all now how that went. 

the past few months

Fables

This series from Vertigo/DC comics was written by Bill Willingham.  It's one of the more modern series that I have read, it was made in '02.  So the premise of the comic is that some dark army called "The Adversary", came to the land of the fables and stories to take over and kill everyone.  Some got out and now live in New York City as regular humans, but it is only the ones who can appear as humans that get to live in the City.  The other fairy tale and fable creatures have to be in the farm up in norther NY. That is why the first book is called Legends in Exile.  So you start off by being introduced to some of the main characters; Bigby Wolf, Snow White, Prince Charming.  So this first of the series is about a murder to one of the fable members is murdered and Bigby Wolf, who is lead detective, must solve the murder.  Snow White is the mayor of fable and assistant mayor of NYC so she oversees B.Wolf.  It is very entertaining and nolstagic once you start hearing all those names you heard as a child or teen.  Beauty and the Beast make a surprise appearance which is rather funny and true. 

The second of the on-going series is very fittingly named Animal Farm.  As you can guess this has to do with the second class citizens, the farm creatures, feel they are getting the shit end of a shittier deal by being trapped in a community which they cannot leave because of who they are.  But it is also about sisterly love and how one can turn on the other if the right circumstances arrive.  It was a good story and this Fables series reads how you think a comic that is not too heavy on the serious side of spectrum should read. It's very entertaining and even though it's not top of my list, I would read it again. 

The Golden Age by James Robinson

A comic based on post World War II, heroes from the JLA, which in all honesty I had not herd of before; but it consist of Green Lantern, Hawkman, Atom, the Flash, and a few more.  Well in this, Watchmen inspired, comic the heroes have become disillusioned, have become druggies, and or just quit the hero life.  This comic takes place from World War II in flash backs all the way up to 1956 I believe.  Much like the Watchmen, this comic is about the super heroes behind their mask and inside their own homes.  No one likes to let other people know how they really are in private, that's why it's called privacy.  It was also about growing older and finding yourself in a place where you might not belong anymore and looking to have a enriching experience relying on your past heroics or achievements. You grow to feel sorry if not pity for the old heroes and you get to see these heroes sacrifice themselves just to feel like they belong in the world again. When it comes to the drawing and ink work I liked how the artist tried to keep the art work in a more classical type of illustration.  The coloring was amazing, I honestly felt like I was looking at a vintage comic even though it was made in '95.  There was one quote in the back cover which made me think, this is the quote " ...to use the charming innocence of those beloved mystery men as a wonderful metaphor for a country still trying to convince itself it was a land of innocent dreams."  But what does that mean in context with the comic?  Well Americans were the freedom bearers for the Europeans but at home we were becoming tyrants i.e. McCarthyism,  and we dropping the Atomic bomb in Japan plays a big role in this comic especially with the Green Lantern.  But this comic was written in '95 so how does it apply to us? Well it made me think on how I believe many Americans feel innocence when it comes to our responsibilities and the outcomes of our choices as a nation over the past sixty years. Many people just don't want to see it and still want to be those G.I.'s on Normandy beach even though the situation is different.  Because of all this I highly recommend this comic.  

Amazing art

I have to give it up to this artist named Reza. It took him 2 years and 6,000 physical paintings to make this video, it is intense to think of how painstakingly tedious it must have been to finish it.  That is true art though.  Spending 2 years of your life for an end product that is only 5 minutes takes extraordinary commitment.  I can say that this guy has at least inspired me to start my art again if not more. 

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/02/6000-separate-p.html

watch it and take not just the video but the process, the brush strokes and the color change. 

Fuck yeah!

newscientist.com/article/dn16620-first-liquid-water-may-have-been-spotted-on-mars.html

Dr. Manhattan was there before us, Arnold was going to see Ricter at the party on this planet, and Jack Nicholson was killed because this planet Attacked us and now they have found, hopefully, water on MARS. 

Dave Gibbons at the Apple Store

this is a scanned copy of a drawing made by D. Gibbons at the store using Anime Studio 5.  It was fun to see him make this quick but very well made drawing of Rorschach.  I enjoyed hearing him speak of his youth and how the studios actually asked for his input in the new Watchmen movie instead of just plowing through it. I just hope the movie can be a quarter as good as the comics. So right now I am re-reading the Watchmen by the madman Alan Moore so I will be writing what I think about it once I finish it.  

The Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman

The Books of Magic is a 4 short comic series which later became an on-going series by Dc. It has so far been on of my favorite comics. It is 4 editions by Neil Gaiman who also wrote The Sandman series which has some ties to the book of magic.  In Sandman you are introduced to John Constantine  who, if you have seen the movie, is a human stuck between  heaven and hell; he is an imortant character in this story. The series is about a boy named Tim Hunter who has the potential to become the greatest magician of his time.  So this boy is introduced to four men in coats, the "Trench Coat Brigade",  who include the Phantom Stranger, John Constantine, Doctor Occult, and Mister E.  In the first book , The Invisible Labyrinth, Tim Hunter is taken through the past with the Phantom Stranger and is shown the beginnings and history of the DC universe.  This was a great beginning of the series because it is our past and mythology from Gaimans point of view.  The past gods and creatures are all tied together.  The second chapter is called The Shadow World in which Tim walks around current times with John Constantine and evades people who are trying to assasinate him, but he now is introduced to the current members of magic world. In the third volume he is taken to the land of faerie by Dr. Occult. Lastly he is taken to the future by Mister E. and has to make his choice to either live by magic or want to be a normal person. It was an enoyable series which had great illustrations. The artist of the second book is the same as the first chapter of Lucifer, Scott Hampton.  He might be my favorite at this point.  I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fantasy and history. 

Lucifer: Devil in the Gateway

So this comic is an off-shoot from the Sandman series, which I will be reviewing on a later date, that tells the story of Lucifer Morningstar.  If you can't guess which mythological character this paperback is based then you need to check yourself and start reading more. Well I won't spoil how the Lightbringer got to this point in his being, but he is now a bar owner and piano player when he is given an assignment by God and if he finishes it he will be rewarded with anything he wants. Inside this comic there is 4 chapters, the first deals with the task he is asked to complete which involved a  teenage girl and a being which grants wishes to everyone and how they defeat it. The second and third chapter deal with Lucifer learning that is wish has some strings attached and he now must go find out what he must do with this wish. The final part of the book deals with nothing of the prior three but with a little girl and her dead friend who was murdered. The art work of the first chapter is amazing, I believe it is water color and india ink and i really enjoyed the illustrations. The following two chapters are more modern regular comic book with a dash of goth illustrations. They are not bad, but not as pleasing as the first. I do recommend this series even though I have only read the first; I cannot wait to read the rest. 8.89/10

Qui-Gon Jinn in France and Ong-Bak

What  brutal movies! Wow, now these two guys kick ass without emotion or regret. They both deal with men losing something very close to them; one is a daughter, the other is a Buddha head that is the deity of the heroes home village. In the case of Taken I wonder if most fathers had the capabilities of Liam Niesen(sp?), would they go after the kidnappers in the same manner?  I would think that they would, or maybe I just would.  The car chase in Ongbak is redic! As well as his one one-on-one fights with the international fighters,(the Japanese one is pictured).  Taken 7/10. Ong-Bak 7/10

Hellboy: Seed of Destruction

...is the first chapter of the Hellboy series from Mike Mignola. I watched Guillermo Del Toro's Hellboy and Hellboy 2 and enjoyed them more than I had expected. I like Del Toro's movies but Hellboy was a character and idea I was not familiar with. But as an outcome of watching those films I became interested in the comics and here I am. Yesterday I bought and read Seed of Destruction(SD), which made me appreciate the movie more since I now know where the ideas and story-line came from.   The comic and the film do have difference though; the film has the father figure taking a bigger role than in the comic. I do have to say that Del Toro made a fucking great cast choice with Ron Pearlman or Perlman, I don't know, as Hellboy because he looks just like him. Rasputin is a sinister bastard.  The illustrations are pleasing to the eye and have a baroque or gothic look to them which I liked. 7.89/10

The whole theory of the universe is directed unerringly to one single individual - namely to You.

quote by Walt Whitman

Hello my name is Mario Castro and I'm here to recruit you. Just kidding. I don't even know if that quote is correct or not. 

but here are some pictures that describe me:

Superman: Doomsday

Just finished watching Doomsday and I have to admit I did enjoy it. What I enjoyed most from the film was the fact that I now realize why Superman has to be from Krypton and not from Earth.  Because if any human had the power Superman does, he/she would be more crooked than an Illinois politician. More about this movie and the short comings of mankind.

 5/10