| Goodbye |
[May. 3rd, 2009|08:27 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Brizzle | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  recumbent | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Jess's DS in the background | ] |
Hello all,
I've been meaning to do this for a while but this is just to say that I won't be on LJ from this point on. Not only do I never really post on here with the very odd exception, LJ seems to largely be an open dear diary that seems to have obviated the need for humans to talk to one another but rather to air a lot of things in a "more public than necessary" manner. I'd prefer people in need to share these things face to face, or sharing frustrations and the such like on the phone, email and text. It can also be frustrating that "whining" had become the new "doing something about it". I've always been a good listener but I'm a more keen doer. If I sound frustrated it's because I want to see everyone live up to their truly wonderful potential and I think if time spent complaining were put into time making things better then the world would be an all round better place.
I'll be posting from here on in at: http://wordmongerer.blogspot.com/ where I'll be keeping my blog about my work progress, significant events and reviews and what have you. Basically the not every day happenings.
So adios LJ! See the rest of you in the real world...
j-p |
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| Watchmen... |
[Mar. 15th, 2009|01:06 am] |
...was a bit like waiting for a bag of wet fireworks to go off. Full of promise yet predictably anticlimactic.
First things first, I really like the book - not obsessively, I just REALLY LIKE it. I think the changed ending did make sense in the context of what they chose to include in the film, so I've got no big issues with the film, it was just, very... flat. It's mainly a very literal translation of the book, the changes and deletions largely make sense but the denseness of the book just seems to drag on the screen. Rorschach works very well on screen though and Niteowl really comes across well too.
But the lurch as the film follows the episodic nature of the comics seems really odd in the film leading to huge gaps between character appearances where you tend to go "Oh, I'd forgotten about him". As such I didn't really feel for any of them.
By far for me the worst aspect of the film was the over-reliance on gratuitous and unflinching violence. The book certainly doesn't hold it's punches but it cuts away from the real nastiness because the suggestion is enough. But Zack Snyder seems to have a real obsession with showing every aspect of violence from bones splintering out of broken arms showering the scene with blood to repeated images of Rorschach hitting someone in the head with a cleaver. There was no need for this whatsoever. It was not necessary for the plot, the suggestion would have worked just as well. The film could have dropped a certificate with the exclusion of this and wouldn't have suffered at all. It wasn't in an attempt to be faithful to the book, the sawing of the prisoners arms was neither present or necessary. Stupid additions like this would only appeal to juveniles and takes away from the allegedly intelligent adap that its aiming for.
Generally speaking great books and great comics need to be changed to be good in a different medium. Film is a different medium and the cut and paste of the book to the screen is moderately successful, but dare I say it as a fan of the book I think the film would have benefited from being its own animal. LOTR wouldn't have worked as a literal film of the book, neither Jurassic Park, etc etc. As such I wish I'd saved £6 and read the book again - Watchmen is the adaptation that needn't have bothered.
I was concerned that this would be another "Dark Knight" scenario but it appears that this time the film is falling on it's arse a little with infuential reviews coming back sour http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/film-reviews/film-review-watchmen-1003945726.story?imw=Y
and the box office cutting off drastically http://www.newsarama.com/film/090314-watchmen-box-office.html#comments (though I cannot stress enough that I don't think that money maketh a good film, to me TDK was one of the crappest films I'd ever seen but somehow folks lapped it up) to the point that one of the screenwriters has written an almost desperate open letter trying to get folks to see the movie again and trying to insist that the film is really rather good and how it really is very clever http://www.aintitcool.com/node/40409
I think I'll read the book again... |
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| At last... |
[Oct. 31st, 2008|06:10 pm] |
A new Windows OS is coming out in a year as a result of everyone liking XP and thinking that Vista is crap. Finally some sense has crept in over there. Most PC users don't want everything to work like a Mac and require half the system resources to make everything look pretty. Stability, versatility and productivity please! I may delay buying a new laptop until the new one comes out now. More info here:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=10604&tag=rbxccnbzd1 |
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| Dark Night Review: Short Version - "Pants" |
[Jul. 26th, 2008|01:46 am] |
Review of one of the most surprising let downs follows. There are no spoilers, the film spoils itself enough...
It's fair to say that prior to this film coming out I had concerns over the use of the Joker in this film. Concerns that only got more pronounced when I'd heard they cast Health Ledger in the role. Then I saw Brokeback Mountain and I became convinced that actually the guy had a raw talent and that maybe, just maybe, he could pull it off. Until the trailer came out and I was immediately concerned again. So how was Heath? Neither good nor bad. He was a live wire, and gleefully unpredictable and a shambolic, almost serpentine presence at points. But it wasn't spectacular. Talks of post-humous Oscar nods though are an exceptional exaggeration and unfortunately I believe this to be motivated by grief for Ledger.
Aaron Ekhart's not bad, but I'm not really sure anyone knew why he was really there. I did NOT believe in Harvey Dent. Maggie Gyllenhaal was awful. It is a terrifying thing to say that Katie Holmes was better. You actually have your fingers crossed that someone will kill her right from the start. Morgan Freeman has a couple of nice moments but despite being given more screen time he contributes very little. Same with Gary Oldman. Seriously - what happened? Even Christian Bale seems to have lost a sense of what he's doing, Batman's voice getting ever closer to sounding like Rod Stewart's singing voice that at times I couldn't take it seriously, assuming you can make out what he's saying at all! It's difficult to comprehend that the same cast is in this film and Batman Begins, they really don't stack up side by side at all. Everone feels wasted.
The Dark Knight is over long, it takes forever to really get any momentum going and then at the point you think it's starting it fails to launch. There are set pieces that don't really hang together and if you think about any of them for too long (which you will, as it does tend to drag) you'll find that they don't all make sense. One of the things that made Batman Begins so strong was a sense of realism - even going to great lengths to try to rationlise the ridiculous (a man dressed as a bat....). Tragically, The Dark Knight seems to have forgotten this entirely. Yes the Joker is larger than life but does that explain the obviously CGI enhanced stupid moments such as the Bat Pod cycling up a wall to flip over? There are too many of these moments - turning every cell phone into a sonar transponder in order to trace the Joker. Um? What? Also EVERYONE felt very written. Everyone's dialogue seemed to be furthering the plot rather than sounding like anything approaching reality. Michael Cain turns into Aunt May giving twee and convenient platitudes and nothing else - there's no sense of connection between him and anyone else. Gyllenhaal - even managing to leave twee and convenient letters to be read at twee and convenient moments. Aaron Ekhart seems to basically behave like a character bio rather than feeling terribly real and the whole descent into Two-Face thing STILL doesn't work.
If you loved Batman Begins you won't love this I'm afraid. You may not hate it, but I don't think you'll be impressed. I hope to watch this again at some point when the let down has passed me by and I'll hopefully enjoy it a bit more. There are three recent films I've been to see I had low expectations for - Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and The Dark Knight. The first two surprised me and exceeded my expectations. The latter has left me feeling a bit flat. I'm just very disappointed, Batman Begins set a very high mark. The Dark Knight by comparison is almost worth avoiding. |
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| Left my phone at home... |
[Jun. 30th, 2008|11:19 am] |
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So will be incommunicado for a few hours. E-mail me or message me here if ya need to! |
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| Big, BIG news... |
[May. 15th, 2008|02:19 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  creative | ] |
| [ | music |
| | tippety tappity keys | ] |
Had an e-mail today...
I'VE BEEN ADDED TO THE COLOURIST ROSTER AT TRANSFORMERS UK!
Not sure exactly when that'll lead to work but I had the confirmation today telling me he liked my work and its what he's looking for. Bear in mind that the UK comic is now being collected for release in America too...
I owe Simon Furman for the introduction and there's a big debt owed to certain individuals without whom I would never have believed myself capable of colouring anything in the first place.
Watch this space... |
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| WHOOT! |
[Feb. 27th, 2008|07:44 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | the flat | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | too close to call | ] |
| [ | music |
| | silence | ] |
My first published colourage in a mainstream publisher is out. I'm there in the back of Transformers Devastation #6 by IDW. Feel free to buy a copy out of sheer joy! |
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| Just discovered... |
[Dec. 4th, 2007|08:02 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  tired | ] |
| [ | music |
| | GWR | ] |
Something I coloured will published in IDW's Transformers Escalation #6 due in March '08. Now I patiently await something I've written to appear... |
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| Good News! |
[Nov. 13th, 2007|02:19 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  optimistic | ] |
| [ | music |
| | nowt but keys clicking | ] |
As of December 1st I will be acting up into the Senior position at work. It'll only be for a few months, and for the sake of the additional money it doesn't make a great deal of difference, buuuut...
It means that instead of feeling like I'm treading water wanting to make a lot of things better but being stifled by ineptitude that I actually have a chance to make things better and feel like I'm making a difference. How much of a difference I can make in a few months? No idea, but this is the most positive I've felt about work for nearly 2 years.
So huzzah! Celebrations to follow at some later juncture.
j-p |
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| Booooo! |
[Nov. 10th, 2007|12:05 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | cyprus | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  accomplished | ] |
| [ | music |
| | sound of the sea | ] |
Sadly in a few hours I'll be on a plane back to Blighty. For the first time ever I'm sad to go home from holiday! I've done so much that I ran out of money yesterday so apologies in advance for the absence of gifts, things are a lot more expensive here than I thought they'd be... Met some great people out here and I have to say I've done a million things while here which just aren't me and I've enjoyed my arse off! Even singing in front of strangers...
I've seen some amazing stuff while away and I can't wait to show everybody, but I'll have to as they're all not on my camera...
See y'all soon!
j-p |
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| And so it begins! |
[Oct. 1st, 2007|06:56 pm] |
Well, the first bit of the exciting news is up and it's the starter before the main course. Over on Newsarama right now is an interview with the guys behind TF: Mosaic which is basically TF fan comic stuff which has taken on a life of it's own and been embraced by and some will ultimately be published in the TF comics themselves.
As an early treat to the exciting news on it's way is the fact that on Newsarama right now are 2 pieces of comic art that I've been involved in. One I've coloured, the other I've written, coloured and lettered, with Tom doing the pencils and the inks.
Can't wait to share part 2, but I have to...
http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=131370 |
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| Nothing new... |
[Sep. 25th, 2007|03:20 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | work | ] |
| [ | music |
| | printers whirring | ] |
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| If you ever wondered why my mind was so warped... |
[Sep. 14th, 2007|08:07 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | me room innit | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  curious | ] |
| [ | music |
| | young folks - awesome tune! | ] |
...it's probably because this was one of my favourite shows back in the day. Keep your ears peeled around 1.20 for Rodger dropping the "F" word. You may have to rewind it a couple of times but it's there! |
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