TV transitions

In the past few months, the 2008-2009 television season drew to a close with the cancellations of numerous genre shows. I was particularly fond of comedies Pushing Daisies, The Middleman, and Reaper (all of which may wrap up storylines in comic book form). Long-running, critically acclaimed shows such as E R and Battlestar Galactica
(BSG) finished, as did immature ones like Crusoe and Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles.

I thought the whimsical Eli Stone, Valentine, and Cupid deserved a chance, and we’ll never know if dramas such as biblical allegory Kings would have lived up to their potential. Space operas BSG and Stargate: Atlantis ended with a whimper, although each promises to have more spin-offs with The Plan/Caprica and Stargate: Universe, respectively.

Thanks to HBO and Showtime’s free preview weekend, Janice and I caught the second
season premiere of vampire melodrama True Blood and the dark comedy Nurse Jackie. While neither was particularly realistic, both showcased the quality of writing that
distinguishes HBO from its many competitors.

I can’t say the same thing for Frank Miller’s live-action adaptation of Will Eisner’s The Spirit. As a fan of the recent comic book continuation by Darwyn Cooke and others, I was
disappointed that Miller chose to emphasize over-the-top violence rather than the wry humor of Eisner’s blue-masked gumshoe.

I’d put the rotoscoped cyberpunk A Scanner Darkly, Brendan Fraser’s juvenile adventure Journey to the Center of the Earth, and comedian Jack Black’s Be Kind, Rewind somewhere between those two extremes. Each of these movies was reasonably entertaining.

The remake of Blind Samurai was interesting, and it’s a shame that Fox didn’t give the speculative fiction Virtuality a chance beyond its television pilot. As a student of Arthurian lore, I wanted to like BBC/NBC’s Merlin but was instead annoyed at the numerous ways in which it dumbed down the characters and plot for a younger audience.

HBO’s No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency and PBS’s latest Poirot have been solid, if not overly faithful to the source novels, according to Janice, who somehow retains plot details of numerous mysteries for years (I suppose my own knowledge of comic book continuities is similar).

Coming soon: The summer TV season begins!

Music month

I'm
sorry that it has been a while since I've updated my blog on Yahoo 360/Profiles and MySpace.com, but as you can imagine, I've been
busy with my
new job. It has been going well so far.

This
past weekend, Janice and I met former and current co-workers
at a fun party hosted by Donna S. It was the first time I had seen many of
these people since my layoff and Ken G.'s
fun Cinco
de Mayo
party
at the start of May. The excellent band of Donna's husband played classic rock,
the spread of food was impressive, and we were lucky to have a rare June day
without rain.

The
recent deaths of pop-culture icons such as singer Michael Jackson, actress Farrah
Fawcett, and pitchman Billy Mays reminded me not only of the ephemeral
nature of life but also the enduring influence of memorable people. On a
related note, in the past month or so, I've been catching up on musicals on cable
television and DVD.

Janice
and I belatedly enjoyed the Bollywood drama Slumdog Millionaire
and Across the
Universe, whose rearrangements of Beatles songs were surprisingly well
done. I'm more dubious, however, about plans to take Spider-Man to Broadway, despite a strong cast.

We
also liked Once, an understated movie
that I had borrowed from my parents. For insight into the artistic process, I
highly recommend Sundance Channel's Iconoclasts and Spectacle With Elvis Costello,
both of which feature unexpected pairings of celebrities. Live From
Abbey Road has featured some intimate performances in the famed British
studio.

Kenneth
Branagh's Love's
Labours Lost successfully set Shakespeare's romantic comedy in the late
1930s, while Ian McKellan's King Lear was a
powerful (nonmusical) drama. Branagh was good in the BBC/PBS Masterpiece Mystery:
Wallander, and I look forward to his take on Marvel Comics' Thor. I'm
also interested in seeing McKellan in AMC's remake of the late Patrick
McGoohan's paranoiac classic The Prisoner later
this year.

For
more than 20 years, I've relied on friends David I.S. and Corbin A.Y.'s
recommendations regarding music because our tastes are similar. I've been
watching VH1 Classic's That
Metal Show and enjoyed the concert film Iron
Maiden: Flight 666.

In
the coming weeks, I'll try to post about other genre entertainment and planned
visits by friends to the Boston area. What would you like to see?

9 June 2009: Comics musings

In the past month or so, I’ve been able to catch up on reading and filing comic books and graphic novels. Here are some of my observations.

The trend of adapting licensed properties to comic books has continued, just as Hollywood keeps raiding the medium — and not just superheroes, but also other genres — for ideas. I’ve already mentioned the solid translations of Conan/Red Sonja, the Lone Ranger/Zorro, and Buffy: the Vampire Slayer/Angel, as well as Star Trek, Star Wars, and Farscape. They’re being joined by revivals of Sherlock Holmes, the Muppets, Doctor Who, and Buck Rogers.

Unlike some past comic versions, most of these are being done with reverence for the characters and stories of the source material, and the art and writing is nearly as good as
reading a classic book or watching the original TV shows they’re based on. Other independently published books that I recommend include anthropomorphic animal fantasy Mouse Guard (in the same spirit as Watership Down and Redwall), the noirish Powers, and the surreal Umbrella Academy.

In more mainstream superhero titles, I’ve drifted off from DC Comics‘ “Blackest Night” and Marvel’s “Dark Reign” back to monthly issues based on individuals or smaller teams rather than crossovers. Although Batman and Superman aren’t even appearing in their own titles right now, the writing has been pretty good, as it has been for Captain America and the Flash. In the case of most of these superheroes, former sidekicks have stepped in to replace Bruce Wayne as Batman and Steve Rogers as Captain America, while the Silver Age icon Barry Allen has returned to take back the mantle of the Flash from Wally West. Justice Society of America and Titans have also illustrated the appeal of so-called legacy characters.

As a longtime fan of Green Arrow and Black Canary, I’m disappointed at the cancellation
of Birds of Prey, which focused on the DC Universe‘s superheroines. However, as part of Grant Morrison‘s trippy replacement Batman storylines, perhaps Gotham Girls will be good. Of course, most big changes are only temporary in these fictional universes, as writers must balance decades of continuity with most readers’ desire for their favorite characters to be unaging.

Despite continuing speculation about the imminent demise of print, costumed vigilantes are also doing well in other media, with Smallville, Batman and the Brave and the Bold, Wolverine and the X-Men, and a new computer-animated Iron Man on television, as well as X-Men Origins: Wolverine starting off the summer movie season. I haven’t yet seen the revisionist origin story of Wolverine, partly because of mixed reviews and partly because of the recent glut of mutants, metahumans, and antiheroes in theaters.

On the other hand, Batman and the Brave and the Bold continues to impress with its tribute to the sensibilities of the 1950s and 1960s, and in the coming weeks, Disney XD’s energetically retro Spectacular Spider-Man will begin its second television season. I’m also looking forward to direct-to-video releases such as the upcoming Green Lantern: First Flight.

Up and away!

Friends, I hope you've had a good fortnight. Last weekend, Janice
and I went to Harvard Square,
Cambridge, for its book shops and restaurants, including B Good Burger. We also met the Levines
in Boston for a nice dinner at Legal
Sea Foods and dessert at Finale.

My first week at my new assistant site editor job went well. It's
the first time in 10 years that I've had to get used to a new employer and
corporate culture. So far, my commute, hours, and co-workers have been great.
It has taken some time to learn the technologies and processes at TT, but I
expect to have quite a bit of work to do once I'm up to speed.

Yesterday (Saturday, 6 June 2009), we went to a street
fair in Needham, Massachusetts, followed by meeting Thomas K.Y. at the AMC Framingham
16 for a matinee of Pixar's Up.

I enjoyed the computer-animated movie more than I expected to.
From the previews, I thought it would be just another comedy, but as with Wall-E,
the first 20 minutes had little dialogue but great emotional depth. I'd give Up an 8.5 out of 10, or an A-.

After the movie, we had dinner at British Beer Company, where every meal we've
had so far has been good. I'm still catching up on reading comic books, genre television, and gaming notes,
and I've got more blogging to do!

It has been difficult for many of my peers to focus on entertaining
diversions lately because of concerns about the ongoing economic recession,
global political tensions, and ailing family members. I hope that we'll all be
able to get through these tough times together!