 |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A few weeks ago in Anaheim, Ca there was a comic book convention known to the world as Wonder Con. Wonder Con is a lot like San Diego Comic Con, except it's a lot smaller and a lot less busy. Normally, it's held in San Francisco, but for some reason this year they moved it to Anaheim, which was good for me because I live not too far away from Anaheim. So The Lady and I bought tickets, packed up a bunch of hardcovers for people to sign and went. We both had a really great time. Spent way more money than we should have (half off trade paperback/graphic novel booths will be the financial death of me someday), but it was a blast. You've seen pictures of cosplayers, I'm sure. I don't think I'd ever do that myself, but I have to give them a lot of credit. A lot of them put a lot of work into their costumes and, really, they play a big part in why comic conventions like this and San Diego are so much fun. You could just sit along a wall somewhere and people watch for a few hours before you go home and probably still have a good time. There were a number of people attending Wonder Con this year that I was interested in meeting and/or getting autographs from. When I was going through my shelves picking out stuff I wanted to bring, I tried to stick mostly to hardcovers or trade paperbacks that were still in nice condition. I didn't want to lug single issues around because I don't really care all that much about getting those signed. I want my autographed stuff on my bookshelf. Anyway, of all the names on the guest list for Wonder Con, the one that stood out the most to me was Bill Sienkiewicz, pronounced Sin-KEV-itch. He is, without question, my favorite artist of all time and has been for probably a little more than a decade. He has a very distinct style that I refuse to try and describe because I think I'll just sound dumb, so instead I will ( post some examples of his work. )I'm not entirely sure when I first saw Sienkiewicz's work, but I definitely remember the first time I noticed it: Elektra: Assassin. Something like 14 or 15 years ago, I was the type of comic book collector who would find a writer he really liked and would proceed to try and acquire everything that author had ever done, and one of the writers I was attempting to be a completist of was Frank Miller. I found the entire Elektra: Assassin mini-series in a bargain bin somewhere, bought them and brought them home.  I can actually remember sitting at the kitchen table in the condo I lived in with my parents, reading the first and issue and being completely bewildered. I had no idea what the hell was going on. It was so difficult to tell what was happening, who was talking, what was being talked about and the art was REALLY fuckin' weird and completely unhelpful in regards to conveying what was happening on the pages. I remember thinking to myself "Is this the same Frank Miller that wrote Sin City?" and actually wasn't sure if I wanted to even try reading the rest of them. I decided to soldier on, though, because it was Frank Fucking Miller and that meant it was going to be Worth It. And it was. By around the 3rd or 4th issue, I had gotten the hang of the way the story was being told and by the time I finished it, I was completely head over heels in love with it. I read it again. And when I got to this page:  My love affair with the artist Bill Sienkiewicz had begun. Sometime soon after that, he became my favorite artist, but after reading tons of his other stuff, nothing ever hit me anywhere near the same as the way Elektra: Assassin did. Or still does. It is, easily, my favorite comic mini-series even to this day. You can have your Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns and V For Vendetta. I'll take Assassin over them any day. Fast forward to 2012, a couple days before Wonder Con. I'm going through my massive stacks of books and trade paperbacks looking for stuff to bring and have signed. I look at, and put back, some of the more rare Sienkiewicz stuff I've got ( Big Numbers, Brought To Light, etc) because they're not hardcover and I don't really want to risk them getting damaged by carrying them around in a backpack all day. I come across my copy of the Elektra: Assassin collection and I hold it for a minute. It's worn, the spine is dented and fucked up, the corners are bent... I decide not to bring it. I figure, I'm going to a comic convention, I'm sure I'll be able to find a nice, new looking copy there. No worries. I continue going through my stuff, but don't find much of anything that I want to have Sienkiewicz sign. Nothing. I can't find my copy of Stray Toasters for some reason. But, again, I figure that I'm going to a fucking comic convention, there should be plenty of stuff there for me to have him sign. Then I remember that a few years ago, Marvel released an Elektra Omnibus that included Assassin in it.  How fucking cool would it be to have that signed by him??? Shit, maybe I'll even pay him to draw a sketch inside the cover. That would be the coolest thing ever on the goddamn planet in the fucking universe. YES. Oh, it's out of print. Goddammit, Marvel, why do you do that? BUT WAIT. There's a hardcover of Elektra: Assassin listed on Amazon!!! The Amazon iPhone app says it's only $15!!! YESSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Oh, it's not out yet. Comes out, like, a week after Wonder Con. FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK. The next day or two, I spent a goodly sum of time trying to find either online retailers or local comic shops that might have the Omnibus in stock and might possibly also be able to overnight it to me or, at least, get it to me before the Con was over. I don't care how much it costs (sorta). No luck. I even had the bright idea to just go ahead and buy a new copy of the trade paperback online beforehand so as not to have to worry about it. S'nothing. Probably cost me $20. That's cool. Oh, all the previous trade paperback versions are out of print. FUCKING REALLY? GODDAMMIT. Ok, alright, calm down. You're going to a big comic book convention. Bill Sienkiewicz is going to be there, people will have stuff of his to buy and you can just buy it there and not have to worry about it. Hey, maybe someone will even have the Omnibus! Wouldn't that be sweet? Well, after searching every frickin' booth that had even a single trade paperback on display for all three days, The Lady and I were completely unable to find any copies of Assassin anywhere. Sigh. I was lucky enough to find plenty of other stuff he'd done, including a Moon Knight hardcover , the 30 Days Of Night book he did, a Superman book and various other assorted titles, but no Assassin. Thankfully, the hole that this left in my heart and soul was filled somewhat by some Elektra prints he had available at his table and some sketchbooks I was able to find at the Alex Ross table, who he had given a bunch of his original art to for them to sell for him. I was able to get all of those signed, and, really, my Sienkiewicz-related haul was pretty substantial, even if it was missing the crowning jewel. I know it sounds lame, but I was seriously stressing/upset about not having a copy of Assassin for him to sign and getting the prints and sketchbooks (one of which had Elektra on the cover and a bunch of Elektra sketches inside) made me genuinely feel a lot better. You might think that the opportunity to meet with him again will probably come up again someday. I hope it does, but to that point I had not seen his name on the list of any conventions I'd been to save one. He was, supposedly, at San Diego one year that I was there, but I never saw him. I saw his table. I saw stuff on it, including a print of that Venture Brothers picture posted above, but I never saw him sitting at it. It was always empty. And I checked it a whole bunch of times. So I don't know. We'll see. Now let me skip back a bit. The first time The Lady and I walked by his table at Wonder Con, he wasn't there. I had a brief moment of worry, but didn't dwell on it. I didn't have anything for him to sign anyway yet and if he didn't show up, at least it wouldn't be like I missed him. Later on, we saw him at the table. I was really surprised at the way he looked. He's a small guy. But, man, was he ever nice. I'm a little older now and I don't get awestruck as much as I used to by meeting people I admire (don't ask me about the time I shared an elevator with PJ Harvey), so I was actually able to talk to him some without stuttering or making a complete douche of myself. He was pretty disorganized, probably because he had just recently arrived, but he had a stack of prints and a bunch of original art to look through. I asked him if there was any Elektra stuff and from his pile, he dug out a couple of Elektra prints, which I immediately purchased and had him sign. SUCCESS! Looking at his original art pages was awesome, but I already knew that they'd be well out of my price range, so I only looked. And maybe drooled a bit. The Lady and I walked around, and we looked for copies of Assassin and other shit to buy. I would find something else Sienkiewicz had done, buy it and put it in my bag to have him sign later. While waiting in line for Scott Snyder to sign stuff, I saw the Alex Ross table with the sketchbooks and another print:  Bought all that. All in all, I think we were at Bill's table five or six times. The Lady was a little embarrassed by the last time, but she let me have my thing and stood by me while I was geeking out and stressing out the whole weekend. Every time we were at his table, Bill was incredibly nice and cool, willing to talk to anyone who was there. He was truly cool. One time, I was at his table and he had to get up and take some stuff to the Alex Ross art table. While I was waiting, I was going through his art books and I came across a sketch that made me double take. It looked a hell of a lot like a rough sketch of what was eventually used as the cover for Criterion's recent release of the original Godzilla .  The cover for which was done by Mr. Sienkiewicz. He also did the cover for Criterion's release of Robinson Crusoe On Mars . Anyway, the Godzilla sketch was inked, but it was just Godzilla. No buildings or fire anywhere. It also had his feet showing. Otherwise, though, it was the same image. We talked a little bit about it (and Criterion stuff) and then I asked him how much it would cost to buy. He said he normally charges around $400 for things like that, but that he'd be willing to work with me on the price. That was not the first time that day I wished I was rich, but it was probably the most earnest. He really did seem willing to deal on it and when I turned it down he said he'd work with me on the price again, but... well, if I hadn't just spent a buttload of money on other stuff and if I wasn't also trying to save a little for my wedding in October, I probably would have seen if I could have gotten him down to $100. Maybe even $200. Oh well. It was really cool of him to offer the way he did and I really think he would have sold it to me for that cheap, even if just because it was obvious that I was in love with him. One the last day of the Con, before leaving, we stopped by his table one more time. I handed him a couple books I had found since the last time I'd seen him and he signed them. I asked him for a picture and he stood up and put his arm around me.  What a cool guy. For the record, the Elektra: Assassin hardcover is currently selling at Amazon for $15.66, which is an insanely good price. There is also a new Elektra: Assassin paperback due out in August that you can pre-order for $10.52. It isn't for everybody, but... I kinda like it. Tags: comic con, comics, heroes
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, they're doing it. They're bringing back the Ring franchise. On May 12th, theaters in Japan will be showing Sadako 3D to audiences.  Here's the first teaser trailer: And here's the synopsis, copied and pasted directly from my own post at 24FramesPerSecond.net: Akane is a high school teacher who hears a rumor from her students that there is actual footage on the Internet of someone's suicide. The footage is said to drive anyone who sees it to also commit suicide. Akane does not believe the rumor at first, but when one of her female students dies after viewing the footage, she and her boyfriend Takanori are fatefully drawn into the horror that has been created by the man who appears in the suicide footage, Kashiwada. Kashiwada's intention is to create chaos in the world by bringing back Sadako and the power of her curse. Now Akane has to fight against Sadako and Kashiwada to save the lives of herself and Takanori.It doesn't do much to inspire confidence, I have to admit. I'm not going to completely write it off as having potential, but at this point the whole long-haired scary Japanese lady coming to get you schtick is pretty well played out and doesn't seem to hold much terror for people anymore, so I imagine the reaction of most people who watch this is something akin to disappointment at having wasted 45 seconds of their life. Not for me, though. Regardless of the eventual quality of the film, I'm always happy to see more Sadako. For those of you unfamiliar with the story of Sadako and the various Ring films, I offer you this primer, which will provide you with knowledge that will undoubtedly come in handy at some point during the remainder of your life on this planet. ( Cut for length )And so, we come to Sadako 3D. Much like The Ring 3D, this project was announced over a year ago, but obviously things are actually happening with this one. According to what's being said, Sadako 3D will be based on a new book by Koji Suzuki that has not yet been released, so regardless of the film's quality, the entire thing is now officially Worth It. Hopefully, an english translation of the new book won't take too long to get released afterward. It'll be interesting to see what comes of this new movie. You'd have to think that if it does well at the Japanese box office, there might be more sequels. Hopefully, some U.S. distributor will pick up the rights to the film and release it out here before it's available to everyone on DVD (at which point, I will immediately import a copy), but I kind of doubt it. In the meantime, if you're at all interested, I highly recommend you keep your eyes on 24FramesPerSecond.net (if you're reading this as a LiveJournal user, you can add ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif?v=92.1) 24framesfeed to your friends list) for updates and news about the movie, or if you can read Japanese, there's an official website for the film. If you just want to learn more about the series, I cannot recommend highly enough The Ringworld, which is an exhaustively detailed site regarding all things Ring related. It hasn't been updated since around the time The Ring Two came out, but since very little has happened with the series since then, there's not anything wrong with that. I used it quite a bit during the last couple of days writing this. You also might want to visit The Ring Trilogy Wikipedia page, which includes a detailed plot synopsis for all of the movies as well as other information. And if you're really interested in all of this, I would also encourage you to check out The Ring Companion , which you can buy used for $.01. I read it about six or seven years ago and found it thoroughly worthwhile. In addition to discussing the Ring phenomena in great detail, as well as a history of horror films in general.  In addition to all the Ring material available, there's another Koji Suzuki/Hideo Nakata project that is well worth checking out called Dark Water, the book , is a collection of independent short stories by Suzuki; one of which, Floating Water, was adapted into a movie by Nakata in 2002 called Dark Water . Much like Ring, this film is a slow burn, creepy horror film about a young girl turned malignant spirit.    In my opinion, it's actually a better film than any others Nakata has done in his career, including Ring, and the book is well worth a read, as well. Another film worth mentioning here is Chaos , directed by Nakata in 2000. It's a mystery thriller based on a book by an author not named Koji Suzuki, but starring Miki Nakatani who also appears in Ring and it's sequels (not including Ring 0). It's a very good film and even though it's not a horror story, it has a similar atmosphere and stands as a fantastic example of how good a director Nakata used to be. To wrap this up, let me say that the Ring films are not for everyone. The Lady, for instance was bored to tears when I tried showing her the original movie and there are plenty of other people who dislike the film(s) while at the same time enjoying other entries in the Japanese horror genre like Ju-On or Pulse. As far as I can tell, there isn't any specific way to tell in advance whether or not someone is going to enjoy themselves if they give it a try. I will point out that Ring has a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but beyond that you're on your own. 
I once told The Lady that I'd thought of getting Sadako's name tattooed somewhere on my body. She'll never let me forget that I wanted another woman's name on me.For myself, the entire series holds a special place in my heart, even though there are really only a couple good films in it. The series and the character of Sadako in particular hold a special fascination for me that I find hard to articulate. It might simply be due to the fact that it acted as my gateway to the entire genre of Japanese horror. It might just be that there's nothing I like better in a movie than a slow build up with a tremendous payoff that actually delivers on its promise. Or it could be something completely separate. I don't know and I don't really care, to be honest. Tags: geeking, movie news, movie reviews
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I'm late with this, I know. Originally, the idea was to wait a bit and see if I could squeeze in viewings of some of the movies that came out in late 2011 so that I could take them into consideration, but that didn't really happen. There were/are a lot of presumably great movies that came out in 2011 that I didn't get to see. I'm not sure how many of them would have made my list, but I expect there are at least a few. I'd be pretty surprised if any other movie was able to crack my top 4, but who knows? Not me. Ever since 2005, I've been keeping a list of every movie I watch every year. It makes this sort of thing a lot easier and it's interesting to me to look at the numbers afterward. This year's stats: Total # of movies seen: 223 Total # of movies seen in a theater: 49 Total # of movies seen elsewhere: 178 Total # of different movies, cutting out repeat viewings: 216 Total # of movies seen for the first time: 178 The total number of movies I saw in 2011 was down a little from last year. For some reason, I thought that a full year of being in a house with The Lady and having access to a DVR and movie channels was going to give me a bump there, but clearly whether it's DVR or DVD, it makes little difference. I actually watched a couple more in the theater over last year, which is also surprising. It feels like I watched a lot less. Maybe there was just more that I wanted to see? My top 10 is based on movies that were either released in the US in 2011 or weren't, but I saw them anyway through the magic of DVD mail order. A couple of these may have actually debuted in 2011 at film festivals or advance screenings or whatever, but if a movie makes it's debut in Toronto in late 2010, how am I supposed to see it before 2011? Right? I say this is a top 10 list, but this year I'm also including 5 honorable mentions. Because I can. ( Moving On. )Tags: top 10 list
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Some brief thoughts on some movies I've watched recently.  3 Women - What the fuck, dude? I got this for X-mas. It had been on my wishlist ever since Criterion announced it because it has two of the weirdest looking women ever (Shelly Duvall and Sissy Spacek) and the description I read of the film included the words "chilling" and "surreal". So, yeah, that sounds pretty awesome. Let's pop it in. Sissy Spacek starts her first job at a rehab clinic for old people. Shelly Duvall is already employed there and shows her around. Shelly Duvall is one of those people that is extremely confident, self-assured and know it all for no apparent reason. No one seems to like her. People ignore her while she's talking to them and barely even acknowledge her presence. When they do acknowledge her, it's usually with disdain. Sissy, though, latches on to her like a lost puppy. Eventually, they move in together, even though Shelly doesn't seem too pleased with her. Sissy keeps fucking things up, as Shelly sees it. Things come to a head, Shelly starts yelling, and Sissy decides to take a swan dive off the balcony of the apartment complex. And that's when shit starts to get really weird. Apparently inspired by a dream Robert Altman had while his wife was in the hospital, everything I've read about this movie since watching it makes me feel a little bit better about feeling like a lot of it went over my head. There's a lot of imagery and repeated actions that feel like they mean something, but I have no idea what. Surreal is an excellent word to describe it. I plan to listen to Altman's commentary on the film sometime soon, but I get the feeling it won't answer a lot of questions. Apparently, this is a movie he intended for the audience to "feel rather than understand". In that, he succeeded. It's a crazy, WTF head trip. I liked it. I'm just not sure how much.  Bedevilled - Still waiting for this to show up in the US, so last time I was at Amoeba I pounced on a bootleg. Had to wait until The Lady was out of the house to watch it. Hae-won is a bitch. She works for a bank, approving loans. She treats people like crap and after slapping one of her co-workers (for doing something the co-worker didn't actually do) in the middle of the office in front of customer, her boss puts her on a mandatory vacation. Hae-won decides to spend it on the remote island where she grew up and her childhood friend Bok-nam still lives. The island is so remote and undeveloped that there are something like 9 people on it and it takes a couple hours to get to by boat. Upon arriving, the focus of the film slowly shifts to the friend, Bok-nam. We see her being mistreated and abused by everyone, especially her husband and his mother and brother. She seems to try to put up with it for the sake of her daughter, though, and tries to keep a happy face when Hae-won is around. It gets to be too much for her, though, and she asks Hae-won to help her escape the island with her daughter. Hae-won refuses and even accuses her of making stuff up in order to gain sympathy. Bok-nam tries to escape anyway, but is caught. And from there on, shit gets fucked up. Bok-nam snaps, grabs a scythe and decides to murder everyone on the island. It's not going to be easy, though. It's a pretty fucked up, slow-burn of a movie. The director spends a lot of time giving you reasons to hate pretty much every character other than Bok-nam and her daughter. So that when the violence finally starts, you are fully on Bok-nam's side. To the point where I was a little disappointed that a couple of the killings weren't gruesome enough. At times, it gets a little too ridiculous, but overall I'd say that if you're at all into violent horror cinema, this is definitely one to watch. ( A bunch more. )Tags: movie reviews
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This, and my top 10 movies, are late. I've been busy and I've been trying to cram as many 2011 releases into my ears as I could lately because there was a TON of probably awesome stuff released this year that I wasn't able to get to and a lot of it I don't feel like I got to enough. Last year was a horrible year for me, music-wise. I lost the job where I had done the majority of my music listening and my car was not technologically savvy enough to do anything other than play actual, official CDs. No CD-Rs, no mp3s, no mp3 CDs. So I was stuck being able to listen only to music I bought, which is fine, but it severely limits the amount of stuff I'm willing to try without having heard it first. It's no problem when Massive Attack puts a new album out, but when someone recommends something to me that I've never heard, I'm going to be a little hesitant to drop $15 on it. This is no longer an issue for me, though. I bought a new car in May that has an iPod jack, a USB jack, plays CD-Rs and plays mp3 CDs. Additionally, The Lady bought me a badass 120GB iPod for my birthday in November. So now I feel free to download anything that looks even remotely interesting if I feel like it. Having said that, I'm only listening to music in the car. My job doesn't really afford the opportunity to have music on while I'm working currently and I don't listen to music at home. So once I got the car I acquired a whole bunch of new music and even though I can listen to it now, I never really got caught up and I never really stopped downloading stuff. Which means there was still about one metric ton worth of music that came out this year that I wanted to listen to, but either didn't or only got to listen to a little. For example, Bjork released a new album. I like Bjork enough to buy whatever she releases without having heard it first, so I did. I listened to it once, didn't think it was all that great, and haven't listened to it again. Normally, I'd listen to it at least a few more times to give it a chance to win me over. Lots of albums have in the past and I think this one has the potential. It's just that I was too busy trying to hear all the rest of the new stuff that I got, so I never bothered. There are a large number of albums that came out this year that met with this fate and, as I've said, even more that I didn't hear at all. Alllllllllllllllllll that to say that I feel like this list is incomplete. Back in 2009, I heard so much good music that I had a top 10 list AND 30 runners up. This year, when I wrote out all the possibilities for my top 10, the list was only 19 albums long and about half of those are albums I listened to more than three times. So: this list feels incomplete. I'm doing it anyway. With each album, I am including a link to Amazon, where you can purchase it or preview tracks as well as embedding a track from the album that can be streamed or downloaded right here on this page. Additionally, a zip file with all of these tracks is included at the bottom for anyone that wants to hear them all without having to download them individually. Ok? Ok. ( Moving On )Tags: mixes, top 10 list
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know, for being one of the best movies to come out of Hong Kong EVER, Infernal Affairs sure doesn't get treated very well in the U.S. I did a search for it and couldn't find anything, but long time readers of this blog will remember (with immense amounts of fondness, I'm sure) that I used to spend a goodly amount of time ranting and raving about horrible DVD cover art. I even created a tag for posts about it (though it looks like I never finished going through old posts and tagging all of them, because if I had this entire paragraph could be one sentence long). And the most horrifically offensive cover art, for me, was that of Miramax's Infernal Affairs. Observe.  Those of you unfamiliar with my feelings toward this abomination are probably saying things to yourself along the lines of "yeah, it sucks, but is it really the worst?". And to those of you having that internal monologue or a similar one, I say to you: YES. IT IS. You: But... why? What's so terrible about it? Me: Well, other than the fact that it's ugly and looks like some kind of 80s straight-to-dvd softcore action flick, which is offensive enough given the movie it's supposedly representing, there is the matter of the female front and center on it. You: What's wrong with her? She's not THAT ugly. Me: No, I didn't say she was. You: Then what's the problem? Me: SHE'S NOT IN THE FUCKING MOVIE. You: ...What? Really? Me: YEAH. REALLY. You: Wow. Me: Yep. Just some random Asian chick. No idea who she is or where the photo is from. I kind of assume they acquired some sort of Asian Chicks With Guns clip art from somewhere and just cut and pasted it, but I have no proof. And it would go on from there. Most likely, if you haven't seen the film, you would shrug your shoulders, unconcerned with the trivial nature of this wrongdoing. If you have seen the film, though, you understand that it is, indeed, something of a travesty, but chances are it isn't going to ruin your day. Unless you're like me, and you saw this at the time as just another act of war by a company well known for similar atrocities in The War Against Shitty DVD Covers and the larger, more important battle The War Against Poor Treatment Of Foreign Films. They're related battles, that sometimes share combatants. I won't bother you with the details at this time. If there being a battle over this is news to you, then I suggest you take it upon yourself to become educated on it. Maybe I can help later. I don't have time now. Just know that there is fighting and it has been intense and bloody. I consider myself a veteran, wounded on the front lines who now must merely be an advocate from home. Anyway. The point is, Miramax, then run by the Weinstein brothers, has a long, sad history of doing this sort of thing. Especially to well-loved Asian films. It's something I took/take personally, as doing things like this, or releasing old Jackie Chan and Jet Li films with no optional subtitles and original audio track (thus forcing you to watch it dubbed), or editing films they acquire without the consent of the filmmakers (like the Weinsteins recently did to the Oscar winning The King's Speech) really does not help them in any way that I can see. If anything, it limits their audience and since these Hong Kong movies come with the original audio track as part of the goddamn acquisition package, it doesn't really make economic sense in any way I can perceive, either. Shit, dubbing can't be any cheaper than subtitling, can it? So, when this absolutely fantastic cops and robbers movie came out in the U.S. with this absolutely horrible cover myself and those of my tribe railed against it furiously. To no avail that I'm aware of, but that doesn't mean it isn't a worthy cause. Anyway, again. When the film was remade in the U.S. by one Martin Scorsese as The Departed, the Weinstein Company partnered with Miramax (who they had split from) and released a box set of the three film Infernal Affairs trilogy in a nicer fashion.  Except that the set included three separately packaged DVDs (instead of, say, a fold out case), with the second and third films packaged in art similar to the box art and the first one still in the same shitty package cover.   Time passed. Those who wished for better art or superior special features and disc quality investigated the various non-U.S. releases and found contentment. Then Blu-Ray came along. Infernal Affairs was one of the very first films to get the Blu treatment over in Hong Kong, and it was released on a REGION FREE disc (playable ANYWHERE, including the U.S.), that I can personally verify as being worthy. Good transfer, good sound.  You can still find it for around $20 at various retail sites that sell imported Blu-Rays. If you need some recommendations, let me know. And so now, the Weinstein-less Miramax has decided to give the original film a proper stateside release, years after anyone really wanting a copy already acquired the REGION FREE Hong Kong release. And, hey, they changed the artwork! Take a look:  Rather than make a serious improvement on the previous, terrible cover, though, they opted for a miniscule one. Let's talk about it. You: OK, what's wrong with this one? Me: You see that guy there on the cover? You: Yeah... oh, shit, don't tell me he isn't in the movie, either. Me: He is, actually, in the movie. You: Oh, so... Me: Yeah, BUT... You: Wait a minute, I think I can guess. Me: Oh? You: Yeah. Because I'm an intelligent human being and not in any way, shape or form one of those people that thinks all Asians look alike, I can tell that the person on the cover of this Blu-Ray release is not a face I've seen on any of the previous covers for these movies, many of which you have posted here in this entry. Me: Well, I'll be damned. You: And this, I assume, means that the gentleman gracing the cover of the new U.S. release is a minor character in the film. Perhaps even a cameo appearance. And that, therefore, is further evidence that either Miramax is actively trying to annoy you and the other soldiers in your trenches or that someone within the company is and anyone else there with decision making power above that person simply does not care. Me: I am genuinely impressed. You: Thank you. Me: You're welcome. I know that those of you not well-versed in Asian, or Hong Kong, cinema might not know the difference between the guy on this cover and the actual stars of the film, but I assure you that there are plenty of people who live in the U.S. that are. Tony Leung and Andy Lau are two of the biggest names in Hong Kong cinema. Many movies starring them have many times played here in the many United States, and I'd be willing to bet even the most casual of Asian film fans (presumably the target audience for a release like this) knows who they are. So WHY in the WORLD would you not put their faces, or even just their names, on the cover of this Blu-Ray? Again, going this particular route does NOTHING positive for them from a financial standpoint that I can conceive of. All it does is annoy the people who might, actually be looking forward to this release or cause it to potentially get passed up by casual buyers who wonder if it's not the right movie. I can't make any sense of it. Even if the number of people annoyed by it and the number of people who pass it up for the reasons specified is 10, WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO DO THAT when it can be avoided fairly simply? Why not just use the original poster, used for the limited theatrical run the movie got here in the States?  Sigh. I don't really, actually believe that Miramax and the Weinsteins are out to get us hardcore fans, especially at the expense of lost sales, but... really, what other reason is there for something like this? I can't figure it out. And if that's not sad enough, reviews of this new disc are starting to come out and they're not very encouraging. For example, BluRay.com said this about the picture quality: "This is a weirdly shoddy looking Blu-ray that is plagued with noise, digital sharpening and a just kind of ugly look... large swaths of the film are just bathed in noise that begins to approach the look of swarms of locusts, things are quite soft generally while having the odd addition of edge enhancement offering considerable haloing at times..."They're complimentary of the audio, at least. But their review of the HK Blu says this concerning the picture quality: "Perhaps as a homage to older cops-and-robbers movies or maybe because of film predominantly available in Asia, Infernal Affairs has the look of dated filmstock, with visible grain. The Blu-ray resolves this noise beautifully. It is so convincing, you feel as though you are watching projected film rather than a digital medium. The overall picture is almost up to par with the most detailed Blu-ray, but since the source material may not be as pristine as the immaculate, big-budget production, the end product is not as glitzy. Color saturation, black level and contrast are all excellent. The sum of these qualities equals the whole, as the overall look has ample depth and richness. Much of the film is shot in dark areas or at night, for a noir feel, and I noticed no pixelation during these scenes."Sounds like quite a difference, doesn't it? Thanks for nothing, Miramax! EDIT: Here's another one, courtesy of DVD Active: "So then, ignoring my luke-warm perception of Infernal Affairs’ apparent qualities, the real story here is how severely Lionsgate and Miramax have botched this release. Ignoring the lack of non-ad-based extra features, which is generally forgivable, the image quality is just north of atrocious. Fans should probably avoid this release altogether, and either stick with their DVDs, or save up for a multi-region player, and get their hands on either the UK or HK releases... I mean, just look at the cover art: it’s a random frame of an entirely unimportant character from almost the direct center of the film."Tags: the war against shitty dvd covers
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I had a dream last night that an alien texted me and told me that he was going to come to earth and destroy it. I alerted people about it (I think) and we kind of got ready (I think). I don't remember much in the way of details for this part, but when his spaceship became visible, I was around other people and we were all expecting to see him. When his spaceship entered the atmosphere, everyone could see it. It was fuckin huge and, like… blocky. Lots of right angles. It looked like something you would make with legos. Like a mountain built from legos and turned on it's side. And it was kind of a violet color with a rocket booster exhaust thing on the back that was orange and blue. So, he lands it far away, but it was so big you could see it from where we were and then, a couple minutes later, he was walking down the street I was on. I don't know what street it was and I kind of get the feeling I was at some sort of public storage are because I faintly remember orange pull down garage door type things. Anyway, he was on the other side of it and was walking down the street, looking like he was pissed. I don’t know how, but I knew it was the alien, even though he looked like a human. He looked like the guy in Superbad that spits on Jonah Hill’s Richard Pryor t-shirt. Like a an asshole that listens to metal music, has long-ish hair and shaves the sides of his head underneath the long hair. And he was all sweaty, presumably from walking such a long distance so far. And so I walk over to him before he passes and I introduce myself and he shakes my hand and right when he’s about to speak to me, my alarm went off. I thought about calling in sick today so I could go back to sleep and hopefully finish the dream, but my company doesn't pay for sick time, so I decided against it. Tags: dreams
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I recently renewed my paid account here on LJ. I had let it expire for a couple of days, but ended up renewing it after finding out that not having a paid account means all of my Scrapbook images were going to be erased because non-paid accounts don't get much space. And I've currently got... I don't know, a ton of images uploaded there. It's still the place I use most for hosting my own stuff, mostly because it has been for such a long time. And for some reason, over the last week or so, I've been thinking more and more about how I want to get back to writing more. It's slacked off so much lately, and I feel like I'm getting internet lazy. I rarely bother with Facebook. I haven't written anything for TheSoundbeat in a long time (although a couple days ago, I submitted some tracks for the next Six Mix, but it hasn't been posted yet). I've only just started contributing again to 24FramesPerSecond after not posting anything there for a couple months. The only place I've maintained any kind of real "presence" is on the LetsGoKings.com message board and there only in one particular corner of the forum where we talk about movies and music and stuff. I always think about stuff to write while I'm driving or reading other websites (which I still do pretty religiously), but when the time comes that I am actually in front of a computer with some free time on my hands, I feel unmotivated. I've considered starting a blog elsewhere (I've actually had a blogspot URL for a couple years, but have never used it), but then changed my mind. I've got a perfectly good blogspace here at LJ that I'm paying for, so why not use it? It's also already got some backlog and at one point even had some small amount of notoriety (I have actually been asked a couple of times on other message boards if I was "really the adgy). I guess it depends on what I would want to do with it going forward. When I first started writing here (over a fucking decade ago, oh my fucking god), it was all personal rambling. At some point it sort of morphed into a music/movies news/opinion blog and I swear, people actually read it. At some point. I was active in a number of communities, too. That was all before stuff like Facebook and Tumblr took off, though. Not as many people are left on LJ. Do I care? I don't know. Like I said, I guess it depends on what I want to do if I start writing here again. I haven't decided for sure what I'm going to do, but I spent a good amount of time this afternoon cleaning up my friends list, so that reading it might not be such a huge task anymore and I might, you know, actually do it sometimes. I mostly just took a lot of communities and RSS feeds off. I left most of the actual journals on. I still keep up with other sites via RSS, but I use Google reader for that. Occasionally, I even make use of the shared items feature on it, which is almost like a second blog. Here is the link for my shared items, if you feel like checking it out. All it is is me hitting the "share" button when I come across an article I like. Doing that automatically adds it to my Shared page. If anyone is actually interested in that, you should let me know because I rarely bother with it currently. I'll even make an LJ RSS feed of it, if you'd like. Anyway, side track. So we'll see how it goes. I've given myself a discipline test that requires I post one news item every week day to 24FPS, assuming work isn't an issue, and it's worked for two days. Baby steps. I may attempt to do something similar with this. We'll see. All that being said, I am going to try and get back into the swing of things by checking my friends list every day. I am sorry to say that I have absolutely no idea what is happening in any of your lives currently, but I hope to slowly change that. In the meantime, feel free to take me off of your friends list if you no longer have any desire to keep up with this. I may drop some people from my friends list, as well. It's nothing personal. We'll see how it goes. Tags: personal
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1){kind=small}
adgy's journal
for $5.99 at the moment.
has it up for pre-order (for less than $15) with a release date of June 5th, but the solicitation has it down for May 30th. Not sure why it's in the April solicitations...
of the day is the complete series of Arrested Development for less than $30.
half off right now.
Previous