199. Captain Marvel
Doodled this at the radio station the other day.
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Caught Elysium this morning, Neill Blomkamp’s follow-up to District 9, a movie that I declared my favorite movie of the year it came out. Because when I declare things, it is important. So, I was looking forward to this one. I liked it a lot, but definitely not my favorite movie of the year, or even the best I’ve seen this year or even the summer. But it was good, solid sci-fi. William Fichtner is great reprising his role as Master Chang from the movie Wrong. Matt Damon is pretty good and Jodie Foster is also pretty strong in it as well. I enjoyed the world they created and the cultures and how most everyone has some indistinguishable hodge-podge accent. If you’re looking for a well-thought through sci-fi action movie, you really can’t go wrong with it.
After that was over, I casually mosied on over to the theater where Kick-Ass 2 was playing, after stopping by the concesh stand to refill my beverage. I have not read the comics that Kick-Ass 1 or 2 are based on. I prefer not to. Mark Millar is a terrible writer and from all accounts, probably a terrible person. Which is a shame, because I did used to be a pretty big fan of his. It seems that once he became successful and popular, and in addition to severing his ties to his friend and writing partner Grant Morrison, that the quality of his work took a severe nosedive into the realm of absolute shit. I still count his Swamp Thing run as equal to that of Alan Moore’s and his work on The Authority was pretty great. Superman: Red Son is also pretty fantastic, but since those, I haven’t read a thing of his that I’ve enjoyed. So, by the time Kick-Ass was published, I was just done with his work. That said, I saw the first movie and I dug it a ton, but I have to give credit to Matthew Vaughn for that one. He hasn’t made a bad film yet.
But Kick-Ass 2 isn’t directed or written by Vaughn or his writing partner Jane Goldman.
And otherwise, I can’t really define why I did not like Kick-Ass 2 at all. I did feel it was very boring. I kept checking the time, and only a few minutes had passed since the previous check. I just… I don’t know. It was just… not good. The charm – if that’s a thing the first movie had? – was just gone. This just seemed to rely on easy, Millar-esque jokes, offensiveness and unnatural dialogue that all fall flat. The action is fine. There are some good moments, but it was not a good movie. At under two hours, it felt like three. Plus, no Nicholas Cage doing his Adam West Batman impression. I feel like maybe it needed something like that. Even Chloe Moretz as Hit-Girl felt neutered in this.
At least no one got my money for this.
Just go re-watch the first Kick-Ass.
197. Moondragon
More like BOOBdragon, amirite?
I worked at the movie theater when Starship Troopers originally came out, and all the times that I could have seen it for free, I never did. So now, 16 years later, I paid 13 bucks to watch some guys talk over it. Last night my friends and I went to the Rifftrax live event for Starship Troopers. It was amazing. It was also a super noisy movie and it was hard to hear some of the jokes. But still, I love going to these things, despite the fact that it’s usually super crowded (some of them anyway). I was also kind of amazed at the movie itself and how the CG effects kind of hold up. In fact, They’re better than some other major movies I’ve seen in the past few years. What’s up, Hollyweird?
196. Jaunty Flash
So, I’m not sure that I have mentioned this anywhere, but last night I was interviewed on the radio.
It was a great, fun, super-cool experience and I’m glad I finally got a chance to have a sorta for realsie conversation with Juliet Fromholt for once, even if it was all about me (especially since it was all about me). As soon as the downloadable clip of the show becomes available, I think you can trust me to point you toward it – that is, if you didn’t listen. And why the hell didn’t you?
The segment was the last portion of the show, and so I was in the conferencey waiting area for most of the program. Luckily my friend Joe G. came along with me as transportation and support, as well as our other friend Matt Brassfield. So as we sat around listening to the show and bands, we also goofed around like the idiots we are. And we also drew a little bit. Joe and I drew jaunty Flashes, walking happily. His is below. Mine is supposed to be waiving to Axl Rose. We are dumb. There is a backstory, but I’m not gonna tell it.
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Post-it note taken with my camera phone. Twice, since there apparently was a nasty piece of crud on the lens.
Anyway, TONIGHT! I will be on the radio!
Juliet Fromholt hosts the progam Kaleidoscope every Wednesday night and in addition to great music, the show features live music and interviews with artsy folks from around Dayton, Ohio and beyond. Tonight, I am one of those artsy folk. The show is on from 8pm – 11pm EST and you should listen to the whole thing anyway, because it is delightful. If you’re a local, you can catch it on 91.3 fm, and if you’re not, check it out streaming at WYSO.org.
Listen to me be an idiot for an audience larger than 5!
194. Owlman
Vintage.
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There’s a comic in my head that revolves around this character. The lengths that I will go to to make sure her story is never told is so great that I am actively looking for a second job. Or you can buy commissions from me so I don’t have to do either.
192. Teen Wolf (35)
It’s my birthday. I usually post something long-winded on my birthday. Today is no exception.
I was planning on seeing Elysium today, but I was tuckered out so I slept in instead. I don’t have any plans other than going to my folks’ house for dinner where my mom will probably cook the same thing she cooks for my dad every sunday, which is cheeseburgers. And that is perfectly okay to me.
What I will definitely be doing with my day though is watching the majority of the third season of Teen Wolf – the MTV adaptation of the 1985 comedy starring Michael J. Fox and written by your hero and mine, Jeph Loeb. In under a week, I watched all 24 episodes of the show on Netflix. Now, via means, I have started the third season. You (and I) might think that seems excessive, and you may think, “But Eric, isn’t that a show for horny teenage girls? Are you a horny teenage girl? If not, why do you find this show so fascinating? What is it about this program that keeps you coming back?”
And the answer is, yes I might actually be a horny teenage girl because I cannot tell you a single thing about Teen Wolf that I enjoy that makes sense for me to be binging on it like this.
A while back, I really got into True Blood despite the fact that it is a terrible goddamn show. At least though, I found some genuinely likeable characters to latch onto and care about, and when those characters weren’t around, there was titty. Because if you have an awful show with some subpar acting and maybe three characters worth giving a damn about, titty will continue to make it worth watching.
Teen Wolf has none of this. I don’t like any of the characters, the storylines are weak and there are absolutely no boobs. And yet, here I am.
“Well sure, Eric, but True Blood is also gory at times and about vampires, this is about werewolves. Surely the horror fanatic in you is connected to something there?”
Nope. It’s basically a “PG-13” level show so the gore is minimal and hidden and it is not shocking or horrific ever. And it has the worst werewolf effects I have ever seen in anything ever before, and my friend has made multiple shot-on-video werewolf movies where the creature is a dude in a rubber mask. But at least it’s a rubber mask of a werewolf. The wolves in this show basically get fangs, claws and Wolverine-esque mutton chops. That’s it. Today’s sketch is as close as I could get to the lameness of the werewolves. Sometimes there’s an “alpha” wolf who is mostly a comical CGI cartoon monstrosity, but it’s actually more lame than the “fuck, I forgot to shave” werewolves that populate the show. When I first saw promo pics for the show, I just thought it’d be a mid-transformation thing. Nope. This is it.
The acting is pretty terrible all around, but it may just be the material. The kid who plays Stiles isn’t too bad, though. The lead guy, though, our Teen Wolf in question, is awful and has a very Christopher Lambert-type quality that I sometimes find distracting, which is weird because the show is often directed by the guy who directed the first two Highlander movies (he also directed a movie with Thomas Jane, whom I also think of as “Lambert-like”).
So. Yeah. I don’t get it. I was telling my friend about this show and she was curious, so we watched the first episode together. Afterwards, she agreed. She wanted to watch more, but couldn’t figure out why.
I’m pretty sure the government hasn’t figured out a way to transmit crack via Netflix, but I don’t know. Maybe they have. And it’s called Teen Wolf.
What are you looking at, Dicknose?
191. Spider-Man
Miles Morales version. This costume is not easy or fun to draw. While trying to make it easier to draw, I actually overcomplicated it. Here’s the original:
