My last article for CW, co-written with Ken G., went live online today:

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9132545

On Saturday, 28 March 2009, Janice and I went to the Sugarloaf Crafts Festival in Hartford, Connecticut. As we were browsing through the art and food booths, we ran into Janice's folks! After hearing about the craft show from Janice, they had decided to go. It was nice to see them (especially since we might have missed them altogether with our new cell phones turned off).

On Sunday, Janice and I drove up to Thomas K.Y.'s place in Lexington, Massachusetts. From there, we went to lunch at Mifune, an Asian restaurant in Arlington, Mass., followed by a midafternoon matinee of Monsters vs. Aliens.

The computer-animated comedy has many allusions to the science fiction/horror movies of the 1950s, such as The Thing, Godzilla, and Attack of the 50-Foot Woman. Like Meet the Robinsons or The Incredibles, it has a retro sensibility for adults and gentle humor for young audiences. While not as manic as Doctor Strangelove or Mars Attacks, fans of Cold War social commentary will be pleased to hear comedian Stephen Colbert as the dimwitted president.

The rest of the voice cast is good, with Reese Witherspoon as new mutant Gigantica, Kiefer Sutherland as monster handler Gen. W.R. Monger, Seth Rogen as the blobby B.O.B., and Hugh Laurie as The Fly-inspired Dr. Cockroach. Overall, I'd give Monsters vs. Aliens, which is rated PG for crude humor and cartoon violence, a B+.

Of the previews we saw, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs looked mildly amusing, and of course, I plan to screen the cinematic Star Trek reboot. An impressive fan-made trailer for The Hunt for Gollum (related to Peter Jackson and Guillermo Del Toro's upcoming Hobbit films) can be found online. What movies are you looking forward to?

Coming soon: Comics and gaming reviews!

How many of you stuck with Battlestar Galactica? Ron Moore's "reimagined" postapocalyptic military space opera ended last Friday after a critically acclaimed run. Although I haven't approved of the revisionist show's dour mood (Who's alcoholic or murderous this week?) and some of the changes from its late-1970s progenitor, the quality of the acting and special effects has earned BSG high ratings for the SciFi Channel.

The final few hours of BSG started out with a spectacular space battle, although some of the tactics and objectives were questionable. The last hour or so (Note: some of the reviews linked to here have "spoilers") featured a character-driven attempt to wrap up storylines, although given the amount of internecine conflict and clinging to old ways for most of the past seasons, the pseudo-mystical explanations of the Cylons' (and writers') plans seemed to me even more forced than the finale of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. I don't expect to follow BSG spin-off Caprica, which looks like a melodrama involving cybernetics, not unlike Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles.

As someone who has followed genre news at the former SyFy Portal, now renamed Airlock Alpha, I'm annoyed at the SciFi Channel's attempt to rebrand itself as "SyFy," continuing a move away from its core audience marked by schlock horror telemovies of the week, so-called reality programming, and wrestling. Sure, such shows may draw mainstream viewers, but both genre classics and original programming have been neglected or cut short.

While I embrace my identity as a fanboy, I don't like the outdated stereotyping of uncool geeks or nerds. It remains to be seen whether Sanctuary and Warehouse 13 can match the canceled Farscape and Stargate SG1 for creativity or fanbases. As I've mentioned before, I'm also looking forward to the eventual return of the more heroic Doctor Who and its spin-offs, Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, and even K-9 and Company!

Coming soon: Wonder Woman, other animation, and comic books!

Friends, I hope you've had a good week. On Wednesday, 18 March 2009, Janice and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary (and 19 years of being together) by going out to a nice dinner at Blue on Highland in Needham Heights, Massachusetts. Several friends and family members have also had birthdays or anniversaries this month.

On Thursday, fellow copy editors Michele L.D'F., Bob R., and I met former co-worker Jacqui M.D., who was in town on business. We went to P.F. Chang's and gelato at the Melt Café in the Natick Collection. My Mongolian beef dish was very good. Among other things, we talked about the social networking Web sites, the ongoing economic recession, and challenges facing the publishing/journalism industry.

This past weekend, we ate out at Stone Hearth Pizza and Fresco Café, also in Needham, and we stopped in at New England Comics in Norwood. It's been a while since I've reviewed comics, but I'm currently enjoying Doctor Who: the Forgotten, Marvel Adventures: Avengers, and Superman/Action Comics. The direct market — local comic book shops — has been suffering along with other print publications, but I hope the art form endures.

Yesterday, I joined Dexter V.H. for Lord of the Rings Online, and later, him, Beruk A., and Byron V.O. for a Pathfinder: "Holy Steel" teleconferencing session. I took off from work today for a doctor's appointment, and the D&D4e "Vanished Lands: the Faith-Based Initiative" game will reconvene next week.

Among other genre television, I caught up on the premiere of NBC's Kings, a decent drama about an alternate reality in which a modern monarchy parallels the story of the Biblical David. The season finale of computer-animated space opera Star Wars: the Clone Wars was also good, but Batman and the Brave and Bold continues to surprise with its fresh takes on obscure DC Comics characters from the Silver Age.

Janice and I have started watching Castle, an ABC mystery/comedy show starring Firefly/Serenity's Nathan Fillion. It's closer to the canceled Women's Murder Club than to Psych in tone, but it's still amusing in the style of classics such as Magnum P.I., Simon and Simon, and Remington Steele. I'll try to review the series finale of Battlestar Galactica and the direct-to-DVD Wonder Woman in the coming week or so.

Friends, I hope you had a good weekend. On Saturday, 14 March 2009, Janice and I met Beruk A. and Thomas K.Y. at the Comcast IMAX theater at Jordan's Furniture near where I work in Framingham, Massachusetts. We screened the live-action adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen. Janice and I both read the landmark graphic novel last week, and note that some of the links below may lead to "spoilers" for those unfamiliar with it.

The superhero movie closely follows the source material, in which costumed vigilantes first appeared in the 1940s but mostly disbanded by the 1970s. In that alternate reality, the metahuman Doctor Manhattan helped the U.S. win the Vietnam War, and Richard Nixon is still president. The murder of some of their colleagues brings a few would-be heroes out of retirement.

Director Zach Snyder, who previously adapted Frank Miller's ahistorical but entertainingly macho 300, is not only faithful to the look of the mid-1980s 12-issue DC Comics miniseries, but he also manages to keep the adult sensibilities and complexities that made the original so influential. Snyder does focus on violent scenes, preserving Gibbons' gritty New York setting and retelling the origins of the main characters through copious flashbacks.

The acting performances are also strong, led by Jackie Earle Haley as the masked, tormented Walter Kovacs/Rorschach, who serves as narrator amid Manhattan's seedy streets, which aren't that different from how I remember them from my own childhood. Rorschach, who is loosely based on characters such as Batman or The Question, is like Bernie Goetz as played by Clint Eastwood.

Jeffery Dean Morgan is also compelling as Edward Blake/the Comedian, a ruthless soldier of fortune, as is Patrick Wilson, who plays Dan Drieberg/Nite Owl, a gadgeteer gone soft and the most conventionally heroic member of the former team.

Thanks to motion-capture technology, Billy Crudup is both godlike and touching as the blue-skinned Dr. Jon Osterman/Dr. Manhattan in a world on the brink of Cold War self-destruction. Some people have made fun of the fact that Dr. Manhattan, the only true metahuman in the story, is naked much of the time, but that doesn't detract from his role.

Carla Gugino and Malin Ackerman provide a much-needed female presence as the ambivalent mother/daughter team of Sally and Laurie Jupiter/Silk Spectre I and II, respectively. If there is a weaker link among the actors, it's Matthew Goode as the genius Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias. He's a bit young for the role of the cool calculator who profits from action-figure licensing, but that's a small quibble.

Snyder does an excellent job of recapping the fictional timeline before the opening credits, paralleling both real-world events and the development of comic books. Viewers familiar with Forrest Gump, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button will be familiar with the technique of placing characters into historical events.

Watchmen does earn its "R "rating with adult language, sexuality, and graphic violence. While we may take these things for granted in movies and graphic novels today, back in 1985, Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns marked the turning point from the youthful idealism of the Silver Age to the darker Iron Age.

Postmodern comics such as Marvels, V for Vendetta (another Moore work faithfully adapted), and Powers have continued the rumination on the nature of identity, power (both personal and governmental), and morality. Recent movies such as X-Men and The Dark Knight are also indebted to the psychological realism of Iron Age storytelling. After such films, Watchmen may seem like a period piece, even if it's a progenitor.

In fact, some recent superhero comics and cartoons, such as Justice by Alex Ross or Spectacular Spider-Man, have been a reaction to what some call overly angsty depictions of costumed icons and hearken back to a more heroic attitude.

Watchmen's soundtrack, which includes popular music from the 1960s and 1980s, is good if a bit overwhelming at times. Snyder uses his trademark slow motion for the fight scenes, leading some viewers to mistake martial arts for superhuman feats.

Fans of the original graphic novel might find the so-called motion comic or eventual DVD with th
e "Tales of the Black Freighter" pirate subplot to be more faithful, but I think the film was long enough at nearly three hours! Aspects of the plot's end have been changed (spoilers), but mostly for the better, I thought.

I'd give Watchmen a 9 out of 10 or an A for its faithfulness to the source material, even if the movie slipped in box-office receipts after a wave of negative criticism. I found that many mainstream media reviews missed the point of both the original graphic novel and the film adaptation, which continues the trend toward more adult superhero stories.

Before the movie, I took Janice to Big Fresh for the first time, and after it, we joined Beruk and Thomas for dinner at Minerva. I've been busy with gaming and work since then, but I hope to review more games, comic books, and genre television in the coming weeks!