Archive for January, 2009

Cool beans!

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

We finally got round to watching Speed Racer a couple of nights ago. I have to admit, when I originally saw the trailers – they didn’t interest me at all. I quite liked what the Wachowski’s did with V for Vendetta, thought it looked like they’d lost the plot with this release.

As far as the story goes, it’s not the most developed of plots, and the characters are all pretty 2-dimensional. In fact there are plenty of negative reviews on-line for this film (rottentomatoes = 36%, IMDB = 6.5) and I probably wouldn’t have bothered if not for reading the reviews posted on boltcity and radiomaru. It’s not surprising that the 2 positive reviews I read for this film were written by illustrators, this film is indeed a visual feast! And the whole film reads like a comic book borrowing story telling devices from manga (all it’s missing is a blook gushing nose), and fusing film with animation resulting in a distinct, yet usual blend. A must, even if solely for the visuals.

I’m gonna go watch the Special Features…

Hourly Comic Day!

Thursday, January 29th, 2009
Hourly comic day is almost upon us. And this year it lands on a Sunday! I’d heard about 24 hour comic day via Scott McClouds books (can’t remember which one…) which sounds a bit too much like hard work. I think I’ll wait until I’ve built up my comic-ing stamina before attempting that challenge. The Hourly comic however is new to me, and sounds more feasable. Follow the link and join in! Or you can read about other people’s Sundays through their comics in the forum:   

http://www.hourlycomic.com/hourlycomicday.html