Whaddafuck, Avery?

Why we trade for a premiere point guard if he's gonna ride the pine in the deciding final seconds of the game? It's like buying champagne and not breaking it out on New Year's Eve.

COMIC CHOPS 2/28/2008

I hope to catch-up on Fables and Criminal this weekend.


ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #119 ****

As bad as POWERS has become I cannot blame Bendis’ increased workload for ruining this book. Because this title is as good or better now as it was in it's debut. Bendis must be accepting dares from Marvel staffers about what he cannot make cool and then proceeds to make storylines like meeting Iceman & Firestar the best direction for the series.
Yet another friend outs Peter Parker in this issue and it’s a classic scene, one which endears the character to the audience. So, get ready for said character to be kilt!



ALL STAR BATMAN #9 ***1/2

It’s no secret how shockingly bad the writing in All Star Batman was the first four issues. But being the fanboy who cannot pry away the crackpipe even when it’s poison, I just kept giving Frank Miller my money. And this week’s issue #9 is the first where the writing is actually PRETTY GOOD, before the end turns sour and once again Batman & Robin, of course, end hunched up in a graveyard.
Batman really should just build a second headquarters under the grave of his parents. And then a third one under the grave of Robin’s parents.
The mourning in this issue just feels like a convenient trapdoor, like Miller couldn’t write his way out of the excellent second act.
This is a talking issue for the most part. Three men in a yellow room. The room is yellow because one of the men is Green Lantern and yellow is his weakness. The room is yellow because Robin painted it yellow to allow Batman a level playing field in negotiating with the JLA.

Miller finally has stopped adding supporting characters allowing some room for the principals to grow a little bit. It’s strange to be nine issues in and finally think he has a handle on the boy wonder (NAMBLA alert). But Robin is really cool here, he steals the issue…, and Jim Lee draws cartwheels and spin kicks better than most.

KICK ASS #1 ***

Mark Millar is hilariously trying to hype this as a unique concept. Why didn’t anybody every think of a hero in the real world setting before?
Dude, how many indy superhero comics do NOT start out this same way?
Just because you have profanity and plenty of pop references does not make THIS any more the real world than anything else. But JR JR’s action scenes are always first rate.



DAREDEVIL #105 ***1/2

This is the most satisfying issue of DAREDEVIL since Matt Murdock went to jail. Mr. Fear didn’t do jack until the conclusion of this arc, but I won’t spoil just how he catapults to a first rate villain in my eyes.

CAPTAIN AMERICA #35 ***

There’s not much wrong with CAPTAIN AMERICA, it’s still one of the best reads out there. But, man, I wish Brubaker could’ve found a way to keep Bucky as The Winter Soldier instead picking-up the shield.
#1. All the supporting cast was really getting a chance to shine. Bucky, Sharon, The Falcon, Black Widow, Tony Stark, Red Skull, the other villains- It had almost fit into a 100 BULLETS-type groove, where we just watched them move in and out of each other’s missions.

#2. How cool would it have been for Rogers to remain dead for a few years instead of replaced? And I don’t totally buy that Bucky would want to take the name to honor the man. Still sounds like this was pressed through management.

This issue is solid, but I’m tired of watching Sharon Carter imprisoned, bed ridden, or brainwashed instead of putting fascist assholes in the morgue!

Moneytime for Big D.

Mavericks play The Spurs & The Lakers in the next 4 days and this decides is if they’re back in the Western elite. Like many, I thought Kidd was a joke when he left Dallas and then neglected to follow his career at all until I knew there was a possibility of his return. And after watching the four games since I’m convinced he’s a positive contagion; if they lose after his infecting the team with a pass first attitude it won’t be because of him.

The pressure is on Avery now more than ever. He’s got as many stars in the line-up as ANY team with Dirk, Howard, and Kidd and two guys who are rejuvenated, JET and Damp, since Kidd arrived. Stack’s been coming off the bench and hitting key shots like he wasn’t moanin' just 10 days ago (what’s up with that, makes you think his absence was about something more than injury).

Let’s go, you little dallas mavericks. Let’s do it for the little general person coach.

THE NEW FRONTIER

Full disclosure, I was a big fan of the ambitious miniseries DC did a few years ago called DC: THE NEW FRONTIER which reimagines the origin of Green Lantern and others on the way to establishing The Justice League. What I loved most about it remains intact for the beautiful DVD adaptation; it's sophisticated narrative in marrying fantasy heroes to the paranoid political atmosphere of late 50's America.
Bruce Timm and the other creators use new designs for Superman, Batman, and company as well, not just coasting in with the version from the last Cartoon Network series. Some of the characters, like Wonder Woman, are much darker than even the current comic versions and that makes the payoff even sweeter.
Highly Recommended.

MOVIE CHOP: MARTY

Being in the mood to look back at some Oscar films being rolled again on TCM and Encore this weekend I noticed one which I'd always dismissed in Delbert Mann's 1955 character peice MARTY. It's easy to say it might be more Paddy Cheyefsky's picture over Mann's or Ernest Borgnine's (the unlikely Best Actor dark horse pulling through in 55), but Mann proves himself very capable with some terrific staging and evoking of all performances.

Originally written as an episode of the "Philco Television Playhouse" in 1953, Chayefski added a couple of subplots which add a cynical layer to the film. This was unexpected but not near as surprising as how good Borgnine is as the good hearted lonely butcher. Borgnine glows and rambles when he is in the company of a woman whom he might stand a chance with, but then shift gears perfectly when delivering a monologue about the pangs of his darkest despair.

I did not want to like MARTY because my introduction to Borgnine was through horrible vehicles like CBS' AIRWOLF when I was a kid. But MARTY set me straight. I have a newfound respect.

The Main Reason to Vote for Obama

On the radio today I heard how Clinton has gone on record saying her favorite film is GONE WITH THE WIND, when just months ago she said it was CASABLANCA. Even with her movies it's like she's taken a poll and gone with the safest possible choice(s) to ensure voters.

Obama doesn't go down the well travelled road on his TV choice.


http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/obama_on_the_wire


Obama on The Wire
Posted by Eli Sanders on January 14 at 10:15 AM
J. Patrick Coolican, formerly of The Seattle Times, now of The Las Vegas Sun, scores an interview with Barack Obama in which he briefly talks with the presidential candidate about two of Slog’s biggest loves: The Wire and The Gays.
Even more Sloggerific: Despite the tolerance he showed toward an anti-gay preacher back in October, Obama reveals his favorite character on The Wire to be… Omar.
That’s right, Omar (above center), the gay gangsta who robs drug dealers for a living, cries over the brutal death of his gun-toting boyfriend (above left), and turns out to make a killer government witness. (And, you know, full disclosure: Omar’s also my favorite Wire character.)

Alec Baldwin on Clinton VS Obama

Baldwin's politics are scary sometimes but he does nail Clinton's dilemma, from his most recent Huffington Post commentary.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alec-baldwin/obama-vs-clinton-what-t_b_87422.html



Watching some Democrats kick around Mrs. Clinton has grown into a sad spectacle.

Hillary Clinton would make a fine president and I think all reasonable people know that. She would make a better president, offering more constructive policies protecting more Americans, than McCain could ever hope to. Her problem is that Americans, in any given election cycle, can become inflamed with a true passion for change that can only exist in a country like ours. She does not represent that change as well as Mr. Obama does. In spite of her superior capabilities in many areas, Obama would still move into the White House with more foreign policy experience than George Bush had when Bush and his brother stole the election in 2000.

Americans can put up with a lot. After these past eight years, they have proven that they can put up with more than anyone ever imagined. However, that cannot hold forever.

What Mrs. Clinton has that Mr. Obama does not have, Mr. Obama can get. What Mr. Obama has that Mrs. Clinton does not have, she can never get.

Which one is the best hope at defeating McCain, who sounds more like a Bush brother with every passing day?

THE STINKIN' OSCARS

So, Michael Moore is inviting the recently retired Fidel Castro to accompany him to this years biggest award show.
Which reminds me-


This has gotta be my 5th consecutive year of skipping The Academy Awards. This won’t be a rant, trust me. I could soapbox forever on this but I tend to hate myself when I look at those posts later and I wanted to write about something else. So, I’ll just list the reasons why below and you can jump ahead.

1. We should not make movies compete in a contest against each other for substantial gain. And there is substantial gain for Oscar box office. The Oscars is just another tense long running reality show.

2. Hollywood often picks movies just to show how liberal it is. (See CRASH)

3. Comedy is never ever rewarded.

4. “It’s a celebration of film! “ Why is film so special? Do we throw a celebration for cars & trucks? Do we celebrate the medical profession? And if we do why not televise them? The Oscars is a celebration of CELEBRITY. There’s a reason they reward most of the technical stuff on a separate night. If it was a celebration of film, don’t you think those hard working guys would be lifting their statuettes at the big party with everyone else.

5. It’s mostly about how much tit can poke through a $10,000.00 gown and get away with it.

I say I’m skipping The Oscars, but I do keep tabs on it. Since the TIVO age this has become very easy to do, of course. If the wheels go flying off a presenter (as they often do) then I do want to have immediate access. So, I will park myself on the internet and play a game until I’m notified such a beautiful moment has taken place.

Watching someone fall apart in front of millions is a curious experience for me; I often must walk completely out of the room, just barely within earshot of the telecast and ask for play-by-play from whomever may still be watching in the other room.
Thank God I stopped watching before I married or my wife would have zero respect for me.
When the very frail Betty Davis took the stage many years ago and attempted to recreate her “Fasten your seatbelts.” speech, I nearly departed for the airport and changed my identity it was so tense.

BEST PICTURE WORTHY

Not many pictures end where I walk out of the theater and feel like I just watched something from the 70's catalogue, by a maestro like Lumet or Pakula. THE LIVES OF OTHERS did in 2006 and MICHAEL CLAYTON did this year.

Now if anyone had a grudge against something called "Michael Clayton" it would be me. Michael Clayton is the name of a Bucs' receiver whom I drafted in fantasy football both his rookie and sophomore year only to watch him fade like a 25 cent tattoo.

But I warmed up to the film quickly as it starts with a crackerjack Tom Wilkinson voiceover in the credits and methodically builds to an unconventional last shot, which shows how confident and capable an actor Clooney has become.

It won't win Best Picture , but atleast I don't totally hate the other choices this year. The Coens or Anderson both deserve major props for their work as well.