Wednesday Cover: Daredevil

By Frank Miller and Klaus Janson, back when Frank was still good and a cover like this was still shocking.

Feelin Groovy...

Well not "groovy," really, but I'm in a fair state of mind tonight. Which is a serious improvement.

I've been having a(nother) rough time lately. I never really got back in the groove after my foot problems this summer, and in recent weeks have been battling full-bore, Barton Fink-staring-blankly-at-the-walls writer's block (which accounts, in part, for the recent dearth of blog posts). My wife and I also - like a fairly large, and getting larger every day, percentage of our countrymen and women - have some pressing and distressing money problems on our minds. Oh, and a job I was counting on this winter completely fell through.

The worst, though, has been the writer's block. Now, I know that there are number of successful and prolific scribes who insist that there is no such thing, but I'm here to tell you (and I know a few reputable scribblers who'll back me up) that they're both incredibly lucky... and plain frakkin' wrong.

With me, the more I struggled with it, the more I worried, and the anxiety grew debilitating. Fortunately, a friend gave me a good talking to this week, and helped me see what was causing my problem. Now, for the moment, anyway, I seem to be getting past it.

I got my DVD column written this week on time, and tonight I took the script that I've been choking on, and just scrapped it, starting from scratch. So far, that seems to be working.

So... if all goes well, you'll be seeing more posts here soon.

New DVD Late Show

My latest DVD Late Show review column is now posted at Forces Of Geek.

This week's column features reviews of the following recent DVD and Blu-Ray releases: The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, The Shortcut, Radio Patrol, Castle: The Complete First Season, Life On Mars: The Complete Series, Ugly Betty: The Complete Third Season, The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi and Iron Monkey. Check 'em out!

Direct link here.

This Made Me Smile

I haven't been posting recently because I've been distracted with other things - mostly frustrating things - and, frankly, I've been sorta down lately. I'm going through a "bad period," I guess, and, while I know I'll work my way out of it eventually, it's been kinda rough lately.

This, however, from The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson - with musical contribution from They Might Be Giants - this made me smile.

Watch it. You'll smile too.

Wednesday Cover: Alpha Flight

I was never a huge fan of Marvel's Canadian super-team Alpha Flight except in its very earliest days when it was written and drawn by co-creator John Byrne. Byrne has always been a talented artist and has drawn many memorable comic book covers, but this one from AF #3, with it's imaginative and striking visual design, has stuck in my head for over twenty years.

New DVD Late Show column @ FOG

My latest DVD Late Show review column is now posted (just under the wire) at Forces Of Geek.

This week's column features reviews of the following recent DVD and Blu-Ray releases: Spring Break, Hardbodies, Hardbodies 2, The Land That Time Forgot, The 10th Victim, Fire And Ice, The Waterboy, Hero and The Legend Of The Drunken Master. Lots of kung fu and girls in bikinis. What more could anyone want, I ask you?

Direct link here.

V Rebooted

I am actually a fan of the 80's television miniseries and weekly series V. That said, I also feel that aside from the first miniseries directed by Kenneth Johnson, which still holds up pretty well today, the subsequent installments never lived up to their potential. A small budget, the need to recycle effects footage, and the general "kistch factor" (for lack of a better term) of early-80s TV, all undermined the premise and its potential. That's not to say it wasn't fun, though, which is why I have the DVDs.

So, while I usually dread "reimaginings" and "reboots" of my old favorites, I am actually looking forward to this season's new version of V, and hope that it works.

Wednesday Cover: Captain Strong

You know, as a kid, I had no idea that Captain Strong was a parody of Popeye. In retrospect, I was a pretty clueless kid. Cover art looks like Nick Cardy to me.