Blackthorn and Human Centipede 2: The Ultimate Double Bill!

Get sick, watch some movies. Grabbing whatever was on top of the stack, first up was BLACKTHORN, starring Sam Shepherd as an older and wiser Butch Cassidy. When Butch is sort-of robbed by a charismatic Spanish thief, the two form a friendship while being chased by a same version of the "who ARE those guys?" posse that tracked the original Butch and Sundance in the brilliant William Goldman/George Hill movie. It would be very tough to measure up to that film, but Blackthorn is less homage to the old hit than a throwback to the Randolph Scott/Budd Boetticher "loner" movies like THE TALL T. It's deliberately paced (which is different than "slow") and I could watch a), almost any Western and b) Sam Shepherd read the phone book, so it worked for me.

HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2 is more or less everything BLACKTHORN is not. Bizarre, raunchy, grotesque, repulsive, and that's just the poster. I'll be honest, I didn't actually wade through the entire movie. Sometimes fast forward can be your friend. I am assuming most reader know the original was about some loon mad scientist stitching together victims to form one long "digestive track." Suffice to say part two is about a creepy little man who grows obsessed with the original Centipede film and decides to replicate the surgical procedure, except sans the "medical accuracy" of the original. It is endlessly, gratuitously violent, degrading and taboo breaking (hello there, pregnant Centipede part!) -- but other than appreciating that someone would actually get out of bed to film a guy smashing out someone's teeth with a hammer and chisel, there ain't much there there. Frankly I was more interested in the special features, which show some of the make-up and FX involved in suturing/stapling ten people face to butt. With some relief I can report that each chunk of Centipede is equipped with a fake bottom. And that the actors seem to be enjoying themselves, though being on your hands and knees for hours can't be THAT fun. Director Tom Six claims he wanted part 2 to make the original look like "My Little Pony", and I guess if that's the bar he more or less succeeded. He also claims to be working on part 3. Go for it, buddy, but I think I'll sit the next one out...

Kill List The Movie

So let's say you have this list of folks you want to kill? * How would you go about getting it done? Probably NOT the way the characters tackle the problem in KILL LIST, a recent U.K. feature effort. It does a disservice to the movie to go into too much detail, but suffice to say that following some excruciating domestic squabbling, a hit-man and his buddy meet with some folks who give them their next assignment(s). Things go awry from there. For those with of a more delicate nature, be warned there is some fairly graphic violence. For those who think A SERBIAN FILM is a comedy, you won't be terribly impressed.

What I can say with some certainty that you will not see where this one is going. I certainly didn't, though I'm not sure that's a good thing. The ultimate resolution seemed rather random to me. I don't need the world spelled out, but this one is so baffling that... well, it left me flummoxed. And that is not a word I pull out at the drop of my Santorum-scorned college-educated hat!

* Please note that this blog does not encourage such behavior.

What A Snob!

Just when you think this Republican Presidential race has reached an apex of nadirs... here Rick Santorum accuses President Obama of being a "snob" because he encourages kids to go to college. Eliciting much agreement and amusement from his audience. So we now have a nominal frontrunner for President of the United States who is against prenatal care, contraception and thinks trying to get an education makes you a "snob." We live in interesting times, he said, struggling to hold back a college-educated spew of expletives...

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/rick-santorum-obama-wants-to-send-your-kids?ref=fpa

Back To The Blog!

Suffice to say I've had a busy few weeks, culminating with wrapping up my work on Falling Skies season two (it looks great!) and embarking on a new adventure that shall be announced very soon. Let's see if I can catch up on past events...

I had a great time working with director Adam Kane on episode 209 of Falling Skies season two. Guest stars Terry O'Quinn (from a little show called "Lost"), Matt Frewer (famous for "Max Headroom" and more recently Mr. Spielberg's mini-series "Taken") and Ty Olsson (from Battlestar Galactica) joined our fabulous cast for an episode that takes the 2nd Mass in a new direction -- or does it? You'll find out sometime this Summer! I also enjoyed my weeks in Vancouver B.C., a lovely town...

After wrapping my episode, I sojourned down to Seattle and the Battlestar Galactibash at the EMP Science Center. I joined writers David Weddle and Bradley Thompson, plus composer Bear McCreary and director Michael Nankin to discuss BSG and check out their great exhibit. I had a lot of fun meeting BSG fans (I count myself among them!) and catching up on the latest BSG news.

And now... the soon to be announced "next thing." Onward!

When Creators Collide

I have no dog in this hunt whatsoever, but I was taken by the dueling blog posts between writer John Rozum and artist Scott McDaniel over the unfortunate creative process that developed while they were working on a recent DC comic series (Static Shock). Rozum felt cut out of the creative process early on and went public because he felt his writing career was taking a hit from the failure of a book that he essentially wasn't allowed to write. McDaniel, who was plotting and then more or less writing the book, went public in rebuttal, posting a lengthy piece on how things started well and then went very very bad. I suspect the moment when artist McDaniel pulled out a Robert McKee screenwriting book and read a passage to Rozum to make a point about writing craft was a special low point...

I've made it a personal policy of never broadcasting my creative disagreements publicly. (Sit me down with a drink, and I'll regale you with many a tale... but I will never put them into print/blog form). This doesn't mean I've never had creative disagreements -- there have been plenty, believe me. I've received sole credit on several television episodes that make me cringe -- because there are elements in the show that I didn't write and worse, really don't like. But I can't append pop-up balloons explaining "this stupid dialogue was NOT MINE!" or "yes, I know that plot twist was convenient, explain that to the other guy!" And as time rolls on I have the absurd confidence that I've done enough okay stuff not to sweat it when the odd clunker comes along. In the words of producer Larry Gordon, when confronted with the failure of a project: "next!" Some ask why I didn't remove my name from most egregious examples. Well, since residuals are tied to credit, that would be adding financial insult to creative injury. Or, to put it more bluntly, if I have to suffer the critical slings and arrows, then I'm damn well going to get paid for it!

(By the way, not to get too full of myself here, I have also written episodes where I cheerfully take personal responsibility for the odd clunker lines and/or bit that didn't quite work. But overall I'm more or less sanguine with my produced "stuff"...)

Anyway, I'm not sure either of the aggrieved parties in the Static Shock situation did themselves any favors by rinsing their dirty laundry in public. I understand that Rozum felt his career was taking an unfair hit because his name was attached to a high profile underachiever. And I understand McDaniel not wanting to let it go. It's just too bad it went that south in the first place, I guess. Links to the various blogs can be found in this post from Heidi McDonald's great site --

http://www.comicsbeat.com/2012/02/08/mcdaniel-talks-his-side-of-the-static-rift-and-what-it-reveals-about-the-new-52/

Oh Canada

I've been in Vancouver BC for the last few days and will be enjoying Canadian hospitality for another couple weeks as my next episode of Falling Skies winds through the production process. I'm still having an odd sense of deja vu... I'm staying in the same hotel chain that we used when Falling Skies shot in Toronto, and even though I spent quite a bit of time in Vancouver for Battlestar Galactica, I keep confusing the two cities. Hey, where's that comic book shop I liked? Oh wait, that was Toronto. Gee, maybe I'll go to Niagara Falls and... nope. Toronto again. Hmm, maybe I'll call some West Coast friends, but with the time difference... but wait! I'm in Vancouver! Yaaaahh!

I have to admit I do miss my American television. There are many American stations available here, but as a political junkie I wish I had my MSNBC and could access my Tivo'ed Daily Show and Colbert fixes. Yes, I know I could probably stream some of this stuff, but I'm old school, baby. I want to see it on TV. Also, for some insane reason Falling Skies was only available on some exclusive pay channel package (don't ask me to explain it, I'm just visiting) so hardly anybody here knows the show. So the "what do you do?", "oh, I write and produce this little show with Steven Spielberg called Falling Skies" exchange really doesn't provide as many dividends as it might in, say, PLACES THAT MAKE THE SHOW EASILY ACCESSIBLE.

The other benefit of Vancouver is the ready access to multiple casinos... this is where the Canadians have it all over the U.S. I can walk out the door on my hotel and begin losing money, I mean, "winning" after a ten minute walk. Now that's what I cal civilized. However, great tragedy ensued when I went to my former-fave casino and discovered they had torn out my beloved "Top Dollar" slot machines. Oh, the horror, the humanity. My despair must lasted all the way to the bar, when a shot of Woodford's Reserve eased my pain. I will have to investigate other casinos now to find "the precious."

The other tragic by-product of the global economy is that US money isn't worth jack up here. In the old days, when the exchange rate made the Canadian dollar worth 70 cents to a US greenback, businesses just LOVED to take your US currency one to one. But now that the tables have turned, the squints and "I don't knows" you get when we flash your Washingtons can be devastating.

But aside from that and the bitter cold, it's a really nice place...

One Colbert Doesn't Get The Other Colbert

Thanks to Mark Evanier (again!) for the link. This guy thinks Stephen Colbert's on-going Super PAC riff is injurious to the body politic. Me, I think he's doing the system an enormous favor by dissecting the absurdity of our current, money-bloated electoral process.

I am also intrigued over the irony that the first candidates to squeal over the unfairness of Super PAC big money are mostly the same who supported it from the right, but that's neither here nor there...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/stephen-colberts-unfunny-run-for-president/2012/01/20/gIQAyCzWEQ_story.html

Up (The Political TV Show, Not The Excellent Movie!)

The best political show on TV right now is "Up With Chris Hayes" on MSNBC, which for the moment runs at the criminally ridiculous West Coast time of 5:00AM to 7:00AM on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Hayes brings four guests to his round table, and they basically discuss the issues of the day for two solid hours. There is no screaming, no hosts cutting off guests, and a scary level of intellectual curiosity about how the political machinations are going. Politically it unapologetically skews to the left, but there are usually guests representing opposing views. This morning, for instance, featured David Stockman (Reagan's budget guy) on the panel, and Republican-turned-Libertarian Presidential candidate Gary Johnson was on yesterday.

I have no idea what kind of a rating a 5:00AM show on MSNBC could possibly clock, but they've added one more viewer in Los Angeles...

Penultimate! I Like That Word!

...because I'm currently writing the penultimate episode of Falling Skies season two. I don't think it spills any beans to announce the title, "The Price of Greatness," or to report that it involves, well, the 2nd Mass and stuff. I haven't been posting a lot of info about the upcoming season of F.S. because virtually any content I might spill would constitute a spoiler, but I can say that I've seen cuts of multiple episodes and this season definitely continues to kick (alien) butt. Many surprises are on tap, both from the sci-fi perspective and emotionally between our characters.

I just tweeted that I was looking forward to a rainy writing day this morning, but then the sun came out. Given the weather in the rest of the country, bitching about sunshine may seem a bit untoward. Still, I do love cloudy/rainy days in Southern California. Growing up in Oregon, cloudy/wet was the default until I moved South, and somehow light precipitation still feels more "homey" than sunny and 80. Plus a constant drizzle lowers the impetus to work-avoid, as in visiting the beach, shopping in an open air mall or going out for lunch. In fact it leaves me stuck with the last refuge of writerly work avoidance, my blog! So back to it --

Jaw, Say Hello To Floor

My friend Mark Evanier linked to this article from his blog (newsfromme.com), calling it "the stupidest option column anyone has ever written." I think Mark undersold it.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/01/20/newt-gingrichs-three-marriages-mean-might-make-strong-president-really/

Watch Ernest Troost Then Buy His Stuff

My old friend Ernest Troost, besides being an Emmy award winning film composer and really nice guy, has released three CDs of lovely original music. Which he has been playing around the country in equally lovely performances. Ernest played McCabes in Los Angeles a week or so ago, and several video tracks from the concert have made it to YouTube. Check out the tracks, then head over to CDBaby.com, type in Troost and buy his CDs/downloads. I'm especially partial to his latest, which is a CD of his Jan. 2010 performance at McCabes, but they all come with my highest recommendation!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC59PQBc8EI

The Amazing Buddy Rich

I like to pound the drums from time to time (I still keep a set in my home office), so jazz drummer Buddy Rich was naturally someone whose musical chops I admired. But apparently he could be a bit of a pill toward his band. And waiters. Audiences. Bus drivers. The guy running the lights in the back of the auditorium. In fact it appears that Buddy was perpetually furious at virtually everyone that crossed his path, in any capacity. There is a famous, secretly recorded Buddy verbal tirade (almost assuredly google-able) that is legendary for its sheer venom. And I just came across the following post recounting one player's adventures during a Buddy tour...

http://forums.allaboutjazz.com/showpost.php?s=ca57c82339b30b7aaf491fbc064ef001&p=456495&postcount=13

But if you go into the comment thread itself, you'll find a somewhat heart-warming story of Buddy warming up when he meets a 7 year old drum prodigy.

http://forums.allaboutjazz.com/showpost.php?s=ca57c82339b30b7aaf491fbc064ef001&p=93194&postcount=4

Which just goes to show. People. They're a curious bunch.

Varied And Sundry...

MICRO CONCERT REVIEW:

We caught the B-52's in concert last night, a lovely albeit really loud show in a smallish venue in Anaheim. This was the first time I'd seen the band live and I was not disappointed, except in that they didn't play "Dance This Mess Around." Their new live CD, "With The Wild Crowd", pretty much captures the audio version of last night's concert in superb sound. The blu-ray coming out in March (of the same show as the CD) will most likely capture the visual element in similar fashion. But they're still fun to see live!

MICRO GUILTY PLEASURES REVIEW:

I'm kind of a sucker for the band "Enuff Z'Nuff", a Cheap Trick-ish group that's been around for years. At their worst they do really dumb guitar-metal with a shriekey/growley lead singer, but at their best they do sublime multi-layered power pop that tickles my fancy. Couple years ago they put out a live CD recorded at a Japanese club called "Club Citta." "Live And Peace 2009" celebrates 20 years since the last time they played the joint and offers an equal assortment of good Z'nuff and, well, enough Z'nuff. Sound quality is exceptional, though. Sadly, the CD set appears to be hard to find now. I plucked one off the collector's market for *grumblegrumble* but I'm betting those with better internet skills can find it for less. Assuming I haven't scared them off with this less than enthusiastic, and yet somewhat enthusiastic review...

MICRO ASSASSIN MOVIES REVIEWS:

"Columbiana" was kind of savaged and/or ignored when it came out last Fall, but I liked it. 'Course I'm a sucker for almost anything with the Luc Besson pedigree. Zoe Zaldana plays a woman who lost her family to drug assassins as a child, then grew up to become an assassin herself so she can track down the bad guys who messed with her. Multiple fights, explosions, chases and sexy interludes ensue. This one's a little colder than "Taken" or "The Professional" and maybe that's what turned folks off. But I like Zaldana and I enjoyed the movie.

On the other hand, "Killer Elite" (not the Peckinpah version) was a baffler. It features a great cast (Jason Stathem, Robert Deniro, Clive Owen) stranded in an over-complicated plot that left me completely confused at several points. Some okay action, but lots of moments where I was just trying to figure out who was shooting at who and why. I don't mind it when Terence Malick leaves me scratching my head, but I want my assassin movies to make sense. Damn it.

Bastard Speaks FRENCH?!!

Really? Now understanding/speaking a foreign language is a line of attack for the Republican candidates? I'm no Romney fan, but even I'll give him a pass 'cause he can do speechin' like some damn Frenchie.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2012/01/13/_just_like_john_kerry_he_speaks_french_.html

I WIll Buy Them

Great news that Universal, celebrating 100 years in the film racket, are going to be doing full on blu-ray restorations of the 1932 Dracula (both English and Spanish versions), Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, plus several others classics including To Kill A Mockingbird and Jaws. (That last one already needs restoration? That's sad.) I will not be satisfied until the entire Universal Monsters catalog exists in the highest def possible, but this is a start!

http://www.deadline.com/2012/01/universal-launches-centennial-year-long-celebration-announces-major-restoration-of-13-classics/#more-212347

Literally!

Gotta love Gov. Rick Perry's quote from this evening's Republican debate. Regarding the pull-out from Iraq, he said: “We are going to see Iran, in my opinion, move back in at literally the speed of light." Guess those Iranian FTL drives are coming along well! Literally!

Ragemoor!

No, not what I'm going to do after a couple of margaritas this evening, but a new book coming from Dark Horse, written by my great friend Jan Strnad and illustrated by his great friend Richard Corben. Check the link for an interview with these two gents and then buy their book!

http://westfieldcomics.com/blog/interviews-and-columns/interview-jan-strnad-richard-corben-on-dark-horses-ragemoor/

Happy New Year!

I gave up making New Year's resolutions three drinks and a pack of cigarettes ago, but here's why 2012 will be a great year for America: our continued celebration of diversity. I mean, what an amazing country. I can believe what I believe, you can believe what you believe... because as a nation we embrace diverse thought, cultures and lifestyles. We accept that we're all different, while simultaneously understanding that the free expression and tolerance of those differences only makes us stronger...

Oh wait. This just in from Presidential candidate Rick Santorum:

(...)Santorum appeals to Iowa voters with a mix of unusual lines that won’t play outside the Hawkeye State. “Diversity creates conflict. If we celebrate diversity, we create conflict,” Santorum told the audience in Ottumwa.

Nevermind...

http://www.buzzfeed.com/zekejmiller/rick-santorum-may-win-iowa-and-nowhere-else

Remembering Eduardo Barreto

A very nice remembrance of a very talented man...

http://www.comicsbulletin.com/main/columns/eduardo-barreto-1954-2011

Reason To Change The Channel (next in the series!)

"...we haven't heard much from Sarah Palin recently, but the..." *click!*