In my dreams...

I did this a while back but painfully need to update this thing so people think I'm still breathing. This is one of those pieces of art that is pure expression and has no real purpose than me purging many different feeling about things. Thanks for peaking at it.

Oh, and I'll hopefully be posting some Peniclneck pages too. Right now I working about as slow as humanly possible on issue three. I'll try to get something up soon. hopefully I can get the rest of issue three done during winter break

Mizzou #1

Mizzou Is New No. 1 in AP Poll

NEW YORK (AP) — Missouri is No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 for the second time in school history. The Tigers have to be hoping this stay is longer than the first.
Missouri became the fourth team this season — joining Southern California, LSU and Ohio State — to hold the top ranking, a day after beating Kansas 36-28 to earn a spot in the Big 12 championship game. Not since 1997 have so many teams been No. 1 in a season.
The Tigers' only other time at No. 1 lasted a week in 1960.
West Virginia moved up to No. 2 on Sunday, its highest ranking ever, and became the eighth team this season to be ranked second. The Mountaineers' 66-21 victory over Connecticut earned them the Big East title and knocked the Huskies out of the rankings.
No. 3 Ohio State, Georgia and LSU complete the top five.
Missouri, West Virginia, Ohio State, Georgia and Kansas were the top five teams in the Bowl Championship Series standings released Sunday. The Tigers were No. 1 in the Harris poll and West Virginia was No. 1 in the coaches' poll.
This most unpredictable season took another tumultuous turn when Nos. 1 and 2 lost in the same weekend for the second time in two months. Top-ranked LSU lost its second triple overtime game of the season to Arkansas on Friday and second-ranked Kansas had its unbeaten season spoiled by Missouri.
On Oct. 6, then-No. 1 LSU lost in three OTs to Kentucky and later that day No. 2 California fell to Oregon State. Before that, Nos. 1 and 2 hadn't lost in the same regular season weekend in 10 years.
Three times this season No. 1 has been beaten. That hasn't happened since 1990, when No. 1 went down five times.
LSU became the 12th top-five team to lose to an unranked team when it fell 52-50 to Arkansas and Kansas was the sixth team ranked No. 2 to lose this season. LSU became the first team since Notre Dame in 1990 to lose as No. 1 twice in the regular season.
The new top-ranked Tigers from Missouri face Oklahoma in San Antonio on Saturday, a victory away from playing in the BCS championship game on Jan. 7.
"Obviously, it's a nice honor for our program," Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said. "But we've got so much to play for and so much preparation to put in for a great Oklahoma team that we really can't spend much time thinking about that."
Missouri last rose to the top of the media poll on Nov. 14, 1960. The next week coach Dan Devine's Tigers lost to Kansas 23-7 in the regular-season finale, though the Jayhawks later had to forfeit that game because they used an ineligible player.
Missouri finished that season No. 5.

Tideland (again)

I know i posted this review last year but this is suck an over looked film and something of a diamond in the rough. people need to check this little film out. I don't want people to forget about this film. it's the best film I've seen in the last few years. Here's the review



Tideland is the 10th film by Director Terry Gilliam ( Brazil, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, 12 Monkeys). Gilliam adapted this film from the Novel of the same title, written by Mitch Cullin. The Movie is prefaced with a short monologue by Gilliam telling the viewer that most people will not like this film and many will hate it. It’s a specialty film that was not made for the masses. He also said this entire movie is skewed from reality and is told through the eyes and perspective of a child. At the end of the day Gilliam does care if you enjoyed the film, as long as after you see it it makes you think. With that said the film is nor confusing or as shocking as one might think at first viewing. Tideland does not adhere to a formula or follow an adult’s logical conclusion. Not many movies these days can you watch and really have no idea what direction it’s going to go in.

Now it’s not just a movie with random scenes that don’t really fit into the bigger narrative structure of the story or of a conventional told story, it certainly has all those character elements transitions, and climax a movie needs to be entertaining. This movie defiantly satisfies my hunger for rich and interesting characters. Tideland is the smallest of Gilliam’s other projects, completely independent, free from any studio involvement, so the scale is much small and much more intimate which servers to the advantage of a story like this one.

The main character is Jaliza-Rose, a nine year old child that has to tend to her junkie parents (Jennifer Tilly and Jeff Bridges) she helps ready her fathers Heroine injections and tends to he belligerent mothers whims and mood swings till one day her mother drops dead, Anna Nicole style. Jeliza and her father then pack up and leave to an old farm house that her father, Noah (Played by Bridges, who is a washed up rock star) bought for his now dead mother. The house is old, run down and in the middle of nowhere surrounded by fields of wheat and grain. This is a direct contrast from Jeliza-Rose’s urban upbringing.

Despite these never ending struggles and horrible situations she is forced to deal with, Jeliza-Rose is a very spirited and fun loving little girl. She uses her imagination to escape these horrors of her reality. She makes believe and escapes with help from her four imaginary friends that are old doll heads she wears on her fingers. They all have different personalities that mirror her true feeling, one is pretty, and smart and confident, one is disfigured and ugly, one is very scared and one is just a stupid supermodel type, not really knowing what’s going on. .

This film is sweet, and yet disturbing. Gilliam touches on a lot of Taboos dealing with a young girl that have many people thinking he crossed the line. This film is not gory and there is no real acts of violence in it but some of the images will shock you and many moments of suspense that really make you feel terror for this child. Gilliam has tagged this movie “Alice in wonderland meets Psycho.” it’s a very fitting description.

The movie is carried by the young actress playing the lead named Jodelle Ferland. She is in almost every shot in the movie and has many speaking parts using different voices and accents. She blows away anything that hack Dakota Fanning ever did. Why, because she’s not playing a nine year old, she is being a nine year old. So many young actresses are playing more grow up then a child would act in those situations. Another notable performance is by Brendan Fletcher who played the mentally inept “Dickens” who befriends young Jelliza-Rose. His performance is so moving I had to look to see if he was really mental deficient, he’s that good, (I am Sam and Forest Gump, eat your heart out). The movie is really about the resiliency of a child to cope with terrible things and how a child can endure and survive, sometimes much better than an adult. It’s about a child using her imagination to try to understand things that no child should ever have to deal with.

There are so many other elements like religious hypocrisy that are touched open very briefly without being over explained or thrown in your face. It gets you thinking instead of telling you what to think like in such acclaimed Hollywood films like “Crash” that critics thought was so poignant and relevant but it nowhere in the film did it leave anything subjective or open ended, “this behavior is good and this behavior is bad,” Not in this film

Gilliam is one of my favorite directors working today and is one of the most creative since the likes of Kubrick. Critics hated, I mean hated this movie. I couldn’t believe when it came out late last year that it was received so poorly, it almost scared me away, thank good I learned a while ago that most critics are not worth the price of the word processing software they use to write their reviews.

I can’t fault all of them for not liking this movie and I’m sure there will be at least one person who reads this review that goes and watches it and say’s ‘what a stupid movie” and you know, that’s ok. It’s one of those personal films that I like knowing that not everyone will enjoy it this movie is a delight to watch and I have no problem popping it in a getting engrossed in the story and characters over and over again. If you’re open minded to a unique film or you can say you’re a Gilliam fan you’ll walk away with something from this film.

Buring out...

What causes writers block or an artistic meltdown; I know I’ve gone through phases of both in this past year or two. I know from a writing stand point I have put that to the side for other things at the moment but still… no new ideas are popping into my head that I have to run and put them on paper. The artistic block for me is a bit easier to figure out. The things that killed me were some of my bigger business deals with my comic work falling flat. ICE press, Cocked and loaded studios or my run in with Hollywood producers or whatever…expectations for these projects were very high and it never came to fruition.

I hate to blame other people because I know I have to make those good choices. I know when I starting doing “Pencilneck”, the current project I’m working on, I felt like I had something to prove and somewhere along the line I got into another funk. Either not getting along with the writer or having a difference of opinions about the art or the direction of the project. Before I knew it I was back in this funk of believing that this project was going to go nowhere and all hard work would never been seen.

I know when I first started drawing comics my goal was to see my name and work in print. It was very much a vanity driven goal. I didn’t care if it was great work I just wanted it out there. That wore off sometime ago. In the past few years of all the published work I’ve done, no matter if it’s RPG books, advertising or comics, I’ve seen very little of it. Most of it made it to print but I never had any interest in seeing it. I’ve never even seen the 2nd issue of Pencilneck that came out this summer.

I guess the point I’m making is that I really don’t care to see my name “in lights” anymore or care to go to conventions and try to sell my books to a dozen people or walk around with a “pro” badge and act more important than I really am. I just wanna do a good project that I can believe in and that will showcase what little talent I have.

I’m having a hard time trusting the people I work with or to get excited about projects anymore. Maybe I’m burned out or too jaded to continue my publishing endeavors. It’s not art; I draw everyday and still enjoy creating works of my own personal choosing. I thought it would ware off and I’d come back stronger and more hungry. It hasn’t happened yet. Right now I’m at the point where I’m looking back at my work and think all of it is shit. Not feeling sorry for myself, just looking at it from a realistic stand point knowing that my work maybe didn’t achieve because it wasn’t up to the standards to achieve. I guess I can blame anyone I want but maybe I’ve over achieved already and should be happy I was able to create anything someone would buy or read.

My new goal is to finish my current project and re asses what I want to do with my comic career. Thank god I have more going for me in life than just comics or I would be in a rough place. I do feel more free now, not really caring about comics, my career or who has a book coming out. I used to have envy for my friends that have a book that was hot or getting picked up by a publisher now, I don’t even know who is doing what. I really don’t network, post of message boards or generally care about what’s going on in the comic book world. Part of me thinks this is the calm before the storm and I’m like a little cocooned caterpillar waiting, evolving into something different and far superior than my last incarnation. I really feel like there is so much more I having in me, but just don’t know when it’s ready to come out. Part of the reason behind this blog is to work those creative writing muscles and to purge some of these thoughts. Get them out there and to be free from them. I know not too many people if any read this blog, but like I said, I’m past the point of vanity. I just want to express even if it’s just for expressions sake.

Death Proof bitches!

This movie is fantastic own the DVD and have watched it about 6 times already. If you missed it at the theater you get to see the extended version. I’m glad I saw the theatrical release thou. I ‘m glad they didn’t include the trailers on this DVD. You wanna know why? Because nobody went out and supported this movie as they should have in the theater.

This film, (well Grindhouse) was made for the theater experience and the director(s) took great pains to make it a real movie going experience. Fuck the people who didn't see it in the theater saying “I’ll just wait for this on DVD." Good, wait for it on DVD, but you ain't getting what I got in the theater.

People, especially fans of these directors and of these movies, need to support these creative guys that are trying to invent some excitement about going out with some friends, getting there early for a good seat with your popcorn and enjoying a theater experience. Stop supporting the shit films and come out and spend some dough for these guys. Don't wait for the DVD!!!!!!!!!

If you didn't see this in the theater I hope you never see the trailers. I hope after you buy your DVD you leave it on the stairs and I hope you mother trips on it, tumbling down head over c’ankles. right on top of your family pet killing it instantly. Your Moms injury is quite sever, she rupturing her femoral artery as it sprays blood all over the new living room carpet. The family rushes her to the hospital and the doctors gives her an emendate blood transfusion. You are over joyed at your mother’s full recovery. Week later your mother learns the horrific news that she contracted full blow AIDS from her transfusion and will die a slow painful death. Not wanting to go through the agony the old bag attempts suicide by hanging herself, but her poor, brutal old spine can not take the weight of her body so her head pops off spraying AIDS blood all over the freshly installed carpet that you just replaced, the new family pet you just bought and all your family photos and shitty DVD collection. You can't bare the thought of cleaning this mess up so you torch the house for the insurance money and quickly go to prison for extortion and double homicide (the family pet:) Now you get pink socked every night from bubba and right when he finishes dumping his load all over your back he asks you "Did you see Grindhouse, those trailers killed me, too bad they are not on the DVD."

Yes they make money off the DVD’s but the Hollywood machine cares more, much more about the box office and the first week(end) ticket sales. Please feel free to bitch about this film coming out every year with a new special addition. There was a unique experience last year that most young people have never had in a movie theater, don’t blame these guys for trying to get some more cash for these two masterpieces of modern cinema. They deserve something for trying new gimmicks to get people excited to see films in the theater. Shame on them for making two great films, charging for a normal ticket price and making it fun as fuck.

in the news

BOSTON (Oct. 4) -- Exactly how Ciara Durkin died remains a mystery. The Army National Guard soldier from Massachusetts was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head in Afghanistan Sept. 28, and now her family is demanding answers from the military.


Initially the Pentagon reported that Durkin, part of a finance unit deployed to Afghanistan in November 2006, had been killed in action, but then revised its statement to read she had died of injuries "suffered from a non-combat related incident" at Bagram Airfield. The statement had no specifics and said the circumstances are under investigation.

Durkin had a desk job doing payroll in an office about three miles inside the secure Bagram Air Base. About 90 minutes after she left work Sept. 28, her family says she was found dead near a chapel on the base with a single gunshot wound to the head.

The 30-year-old soldier, who was born in Ireland and came to the U.S. as a little girl, felt safer deployed in Afghanistan over Iraq , her family told CBS News correspondent Kelly Wallace. Yet she was found dead within a highly secure base, with few answers.

"The family has been informed that she was in the compound, and she was shot in the head," Durkin's sister, Fiona Canavan, told the Boston Globe. "She was in a secure area of the compound, which, even though the investigation is not complete, leads the family to believe it was what is called friendly fire," she said.

Adding to the mystery is something the Army Specialist told her family: if something happened to her in Afghanistan, they should look into it. She was concerned about things she was seeing over there, one of her eight brothers and sisters said in an interview.

Canavan told the Quincy, Mass., Patriot Ledger on Wednesday that when her sister was home three weeks ago, she told her about something she had come across that raised some concern with her: "She was in the finance unit and she said, 'I discovered some things I don’t like and I made some enemies because of it.'"

Canavan revealed that Durkin said if anything happened to her, to make sure it was investigated.

"At the time we thought it was said more as a joke," Canavan told the paper.


The family is also wondering whether Durkin's sexual orientation -- she was gay -- played a role in her death.

"We just want full disclosure, that's all we want -- to know what happened to our sister," Diedre Durkin said.

Massachusetts Senators Ted Kennedy and John Kerry and Rep. William Delahunt are pressing for answers.

In a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Kerry said the circumstances need to be uncovered expeditiously and thoroughly.

Durkin's extended family has also asked for help from the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs.

The family doubts suicide, pointing to an upbeat "happy birthday" voicemail Durkin left for her brother just hours before she died.

"I thought it was cute at the time," Pierce Durkin said. "Now it's priceless."

The family's grief, made more torturous by the limited information being released and rumors, is not helped by remembrances of past instances where misinformation followed the deaths or injuries of service members.

The military initially said Army Ranger Pat Tillman was killed in an enemy firefight in Afghanistan in 2004, even after evidence came to light that he had been killed by friendly fire.

There were also reports circulated that captured Army pfc. Jessica Lynch had bravely fired upon insurgents after being wounded, though she testified later that that was not so.

Sgt. Patrick McCaffrey and 1st Lt. Andre Tyson, killed in Iraq in 2004, were first reported to have been killed in an insurgent ambush, when they were actually killed by two Iraqi soldiers they were training.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Napping…Comprede`

Today I was very diligent in doing some homework and when I finished I decided to take one of my famous 15 min power naps, that usually turn into a hour in a half comma that leaves me more tired than before. I awoken realizing I had a weird dream that I wanted to share before I forgotten it, maybe I can decipher some kind of meaning from it.

The main things about the dream that I can remember is one of my daughters in the kitchen, elbow deep into a box of cereal sifting through the goodness, something I despise. I screamed, “Put that cereal back!” The next thing I remember about my dream was I noticed someone had left my sprinklers on in my front yard, flooding it. Then I went inside where I seen a young Mexican boy sliding down the railing of my stare case. He was dressed like a thug and was wearing lots of bling.

Not knowing where this teen age hood rat came from I followed him down stairs. As I turned the corner, my eyes scanned the living room for this boy that was obviously here stealing something. I spotted him and grabbed his arm! He squirmed and attempted to break my grip yelling at me to let go. I began to yell at him right back, “What are you doing in my house?” The boy that couldn’t be over 13 began to cry. I tried to calm down and began to explain to him I just want him to empty his pockets so I know he didn’t steal anything of mine. He reluctantly did, knowing I would not release my kung-fu grip on his arm until he followed my instruction.

He started empting his pockets on a bed that was in the middle of my dreamy living room, which was odd in itself, but seemed normal at the time. From his pocked came normal things, small toys, loose change and a book of matches. I picked up the matches and he began to cry again. My anger has totally left at this point and I felt sorry that I intimidated this young man and made him cry. I began to try to comfort him, telling him I didn’t care if he had matches and I would not tell on him. I said, “Do you understand…Comprede`?”

Immediately I noticed him clutching a knife, he then preceded to plug it into my chest, awaking me from my slumber.

Now reflecting on this dream this is what I can ascertain from the events.

• I hate people eating cereal in the middle of the day and with there hands no less.

• I might be over watering my lawn

Lastly and much more interesting, I must think that every little Mexican boy is out to rob me and when I start talking bad Spanish to him when he obviously speaks English, he will stab me in my awful, cold, black, racist heart!

Hmmm……….

I'm back yo!

It’s been awhile since I blogged here, but I’m giving this blog a fresh look and a new focus on updating my thoughts, success and failures in my everyday life. Now I’m busier than ever. I still draw comics but I also go to school full time now. I’m in the Military (no, I’m no POG!) and married with children. That means I’ll have lots to write about. I have a gallery show coming up this spring that’s gonna keep me busy trying to prepare for.

I entered a piece in a local juried art show here in the ole GC. Did I win? Of course not you silly goose. I have a few things going against me. First off I’m an illustrator, we never fair well in gallery shows next to giant oil painting and sculptures. Secondly, I live in a town that is not exactly the most open minded to my style of art. Lots of old blue haired twats were talking some shit about my work with me standing right next to them, them oblivious to the fact I was the artist that created this vile piece of modern dog shit.

You should have seen their faces when I kicked them in there dried up cunnys screaming, “fuck you old bitches, you don’t know good, though provoking art for shit sake…I heard you say you liked the water colored chickens! WATERCOLRED CHICKENS!!.” Ok, I didn’t say that, but it did cross my mind, (and I did kick them in their cunts). Anywho, the show was kind of a joke but I’m still optimistic in finding the subculture of exciting, fresh new artist that I feel is somewhere in this community. I hope to light a fire under the asses some of the old farmers and tight ass republicans that dot the Garden city landscape. I feel like Kevin Bacon in the great American film “Footloose”. I’m gonna get the young artists in this town drawing sick ultra violent images that will get them expelled from school, if it’s the last thing I do. It’s nice to have goals.

I have met a few young artists in my art classes I’m taking and most of them seem like wounded children that have been told that there is no value to their type of expression they put into their art. That’s how I see it anyway, I could be wrong, maybe those kids were touched by an uncle and they are a bit shy from that experience. who can tell these days. It doesn’t help that the art teachers here are less than encouraging about peoples art unless it fits into the boring fruit drawing cult that seems to have been spawned from this college. You gotta love Kansas! (Or not).

On another note, while I was away at Ft. Benning this summer Issue 2 of Pencilneck came out. I would tell you how good it looks but I have still not seen it myself. You can still order a copy from the comixpress website or from http://www.paperstreetcomics.com/. I’m doing some revamps on issue one that I have just about completed then crackin’ on issue 3 to get that out to the imaginary people who get to read my stuff. Their might be a new publisher for Pencilneck in the near future so keep your eyes on this blog for more details. Art wise that’s all that’s going on at the moment.

300

300 is a movie based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller published by Dark Horse comics in 1998. The movie details the battle of Thermopile, 300 Spartan solders vs the million plus of the Persian army. Some of you might be aware of the actual story of this battle that the facts of has been disputed for countless years. Many of the facts, namely the number of Persian solders and the number of Greek solders from other cities, are widely disputed by history scholars. The one fact that cannot be disputed is that there were only 300 Spartan warriors and they were heavily out number, conservatively 100 to 1, and that they absolutely punished the Persians and brutally slain so many that all would know, till the end of time, that the 300 Spartans were some of the fierce, highly skilled and battle savvy warriors ever to walk this earth.

Put your history book down because this movie is not trying to be historic fact. This a historic battle depicted as a comic book with Hollywood moxy and juiced with testosterone and a shot of pure adrenaline. This version of the story is balls out, unapologetically graphic, gratuitous, and brutal. This CG stylized action flick is full of with quick witted dialog and epic battle scenes that will please the carnal beast hidden in every man, (and some women.)

One of the things that was surprising to me was the acting in it is quite good. It has it's heart felt moments that added depth and emotion to the story without being sappy or heavy handed. The dialog was very true to the original graphic novel as well as many shots in the movie were pulled right from Frank Miller's comic page. This movie honors the spirit of Miller's book much like Sin City did, and is a true testament to the respect that Frank Miller is given to his master works from Hollywood Producers and Directors.

This Movie was directed by Zach Snyder, director of the Dawn of the Dead remake a few years back. Zach showed great skill and pulled out all the stops and new tricks in digital film making. The look of the movie was vivacious, visceral and visually appetizing, much like the graphic novel. The battle scenes were heavy in the CG and noticeably so, but not to the detriment of the movie because it fit with the heightened sense and surreal feeling this movie is shooting for. This movie has heart,a pumping blood soaked heart that makes one long for the days that you could swing an axe into someone's face.

This movie could have been a disaster and very well could have turned into a sappy male bonding, homo erotic "I love you man" type movie but no! It's tough, gritty and raw till the bitter, blood soaked end. Never to shed a pussiefied tear or besmirch the legacy of great warriors with unwarrented
sentimental drivel. This film is more like Lord of the Rings than Braveheart, so make sure you know what your about to watch. A couple of the dudes setting next to me commented on some of the exaggerated characters that look more like creatures than people, not realizing it was done for dramatic effect and cinematic splendor.

I only recognized one person in this entire movie and that was David Wenham, who played Faramir in Lord of the Rings. King Leonidas is played by Gerard Butler (who played opposite Christian Bale and Mathew McConaughey in 2002's Reign of Fire) now proved that not only can he hold the screen in a leading role but he can do it with intensity and charisma. He transformed himself into this character for this role and knows when to play it soft or blow your pansy little socks off by roaring "This... is... Sparta!". I can't say enough about his performance and look forward to seeing more of him in the future. The other notable performances were by the Queen of Sparta played by the ravishing Lena Headey. Her performance really gave the movie some true thespian legitimacy.

The other members of the supporting cast holds up and add many dynamic characters and personalities to the movie. This movie hold up as one of the best of the early films of 2007. It's one of those movies that is just a blast to see on the big screen and just escape into. It's not the best movie of this type of genre and has it's minor flaws but all in all it's a very strong film that I must go see a second time.

Are you watching closely?

The Prestige... is a movie Directed by Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins and Memento) and stars Hugh Jackman (X-men, the Fountain) and Christian Bale (Batman Begins, American Psycho). As story begins the two men are partners as well as rival up starts working for another magician. You quickly see that they approach the craft differently and cause friction in how to execute the tricks properly. Each trick has three parts the pledge, the turn and the most important, the Prestige.

Alfred Borden (Bale) is a young prodigy and is a natural magician but lacks the flare of showmanship, what his rival, Angier (Jackman) excels in greatly. Each man has a different approach and philosophy about magic but both share the obsession of being the best. Jackman knows he’s a better showman but Borden supposedly has a brilliant show stopping trick that has never been done that he’s not yet ready to revel.

The two men first meet while both working for a magician’s assistant, played by Michael Cain. Cain’s character “Cutter” knows the talent of these two men and tried to coach them on the finer aspects of being a magician. After a horrific accident on stage the two men became more than just rivals but mortal enemies. Angier blamed Borden for the disaster and the two men go back and forth trying to not only “one up” the other but to sabotage the other mans life and career.

Nolan weaves a sophisticated story that keeps you on on the edge of your proverbial seat and like a magic trick; He gets you with “slide of hand” and leaves you wondering how you missed it. The entire movie is like a magic trick, you begin with the pledge and then the turn and in the finally… the Prestige!

One of the smartest things in the entire movie is the practical approach to showing how the tricks are performed and the idea that the trick is almost always much more simple than one would think. The real trick is to be totally commented to the craft and to never give up the trick, the method is everything.

Nolan does again, a remarkable job with humanizing the characters evolved and shows how much they are willing to risk for there obsessions. These two men grapple with love gained, lost and thrown away in many ways in this film. The subject of true sacrifice is shown in these two bitter rivals as each man looks to push his own ethics and morality to it’s limits. It’s never about money, women or even fame for these two; it’s not even discussed as a goal. Each man is obsessed with knowing he is better than the other, and will stop at nothing till he has the superior trick that leaves not only the audience scratching their heads but his rival as well. Even if it means he will lose everything to get the satisfaction.

In my opinion, one of the best movies of 2006 and even thou nominated for two Oscars, was over looked by most movie goes and critics. The acting in the Prestige is brilliant without being too bold. The two main characters are supported by some great performances by Scarlet Johansson, Rebecca Hall, Piper Perabo, Andy Sirkis and David Bowie as the scientist Tesla.

The mark of any great movie is how many times it takes you to watch it and catch something new and at the same time be entertained. This movie has these traits in spades. This movie solidifies for me the genius that is Christopher Nolan and his brother Jonathan (who wrote the screenplay). First was Following, Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins, and now the Prestige, Mr. Nolan is batting a 1.000 in my book. A master storyteller and knows exactly how much to show and when to show it. Maybe if Christopher Nolan was born in the late 1800’s he would have been a magician.

This movie is the newest addition to my top 100 movies and my favorite movie of 2006

Comic book movies...what's the big deal?

I have seen countless of blogs, message board threads and web reviews on the endless stream of comic to big screen adaptation over the years. It's no surprise that Ghost Rider will get the comic geek's up in arms once more. First off let me preface this by saying i have seen the movie and although the FX were very cool, the movie...well, sucked for the most part. I'm not a big Ghost Rider fan Either.

Ghost Rider was not a great movie and was very much in the same vein as the Fantastic Four and Daredevil in the cheese ball factor. I'm a big comic book fan and an even bigger movie fan so when a bad comic movie hits the screen I get burned twice as hard. How stupid are the comic companies allowing this crap to hit the theaters. I'm 32 and will never like that crap...wait! maybe that's the point!

Ghost Rider and other comic book adaptations like it from marvel seem to be marketed with a younger audience in mind. Marvel in the past year has put out two or three straight to DVD animated movies featuring some of their characters they will one day feature in a major motion picture ( I.E. Iron man). I personally think this is smart marking and where the comic book industry has failed in the past...get new blood! Maybe they have learned from their mistakes. Hook 'em while they are young! Any hard core comic geek that reading this now that's a big Marvel or DC guy is that way because that's what he liked as a kid and never out grew it.

I don't read any Marvel comics anymore but I did when i was a kid and a teen. For that reason alone I will see almost any comic book flick Marvel chucks at me. Comic companies and Hollywood might already know that no matter how hard they try they can never please most of the hard core adult comic fans of super heroes. You can't make a "R" rated X-men with Wolvie chopping countless people apart, how can you sell the toys? You have to make it more accessible to the kids. I have a nephew that's only four and his wants everything, i mean everything Spiderman. He will always have a soft spot for spidey when he gets older and hopefully keep buying and dumping money into Marvel. Until them his parents ( and me) will buy him everything Spider-man, toys, DVD's, bed sheets, underware, toothbrush, night light... all that shit!

Right now kids don't give a flying shit about comics. We need video games, cartoons, movies and toys to get this generation interested or the comic market will just keep dwindling into nothingness. My nephew who is four, now wants my old Spider-man comics when he comes over! It's ok to make a Marvel "hero" for the kids, that's who they were for anyway.. Please do that, make Iron man and Captain America for kids and give me the Allen Moore, Frank Miller and Warren Ellis properties.

There have been many comic movies made for "more" grown up people. Sin City, Blade, 300 ( hopefully) Ghost World, History of Violence, Batman Begins, Renegade, Road to Perdition V for Vendetta...those movies are made for more older audiance. If you want a carbon copy of your precious comic hero then read the fucking comics. It's a different medium and different audience, it's not made for you, it's made for everyone who doesn't read comics, if you doubt this, then explain why every movie is an origin story.

It's ok to make the movie a bit different than the comic too! It's hard to make something that has well, sometimes 40 years or more of continuity to keep track of. I love it when a good comic movie works on a lot of levels like Batman Begins but I really don't read the comics but I am very aware of the mythology of Batman, I think it was made for people like me. If it was for the hard cores they would have just took the Dark Knight Returns and made it into a movie but lets face it, mainstream America would hate it and the movie would never see a sequel and Hollywood would pull back on other type movies.

The movies that they really fucked up is the Punisher. They made it not for the kids but really didn't have the balls to go as far as the character needed to go to make it really for the adults so it never really found an audience. A movie like that where the character has no powers and just shot stuff is really not that hard to do right, they just dropped the ball. Ghost Rider on the other hand, when I watched it, got the feeling they were not trying to thrill me or scare me but maybe to a 10- 13 year old it would be. the dialog was awful and the action was less then exciting, those are things to be critical about not the fact that Johney Blaze's hair looked different than the comic book.

Sin City was great, and i did enjoy it but it was so like the comic I knew what was going to happen, hell i knew what they were gonna say 90% of the time it was so true to the comic. Great, but unexciting to me. it was just like reading the comic so I really got nothing new out of it. I like movies like Hellboy and V for Vendetta that have a bit of the comic story and a bit of new stuff for cinematic reasons but hey, that's just me.

I guess as long as each project finds it's audience then in the long run I'm happy. I know if they made 'em all to suit my tastes they would make no money. I'm not saying to not be critical of these movies, you should be. Just don't get all pissy because it didn't turn out the way you wanted with all the cool story elements that you like. Go into it with a clean slate and try to enjoy it as something a bit different than the book you pick up every month and if it sucks, then it sucked for movie reasons and not " Hey, Wolverine isn't 6'1"! WTF!" Did they capture the spirit of the comic and the character?

With all the movies, games and direct to DVD comic properties that are out there, know that everything is not gonna be to your taste as long as something is, be happy. More people can open their minds to the idea of reading comics again because of these things. That should be the point of all this right, get more people reading comics. The big picture to me is getting more people into the Marvel/ DC universe. All those comics are pretty bad too me anyway. As long as people go buy those comics they have a chance of wanting something a bit more or different and who knows, maybe they'll pick up one of my books.

It's a long shot I know : )

Hooah!

It's official! April 11 I'm going into temporary retirement from freelance art and I'll be at Fort Benning, GA


INFANTRYMEN'S CREED
I am the Infantry.I am my country's strength in war.her deterrent in peace.I am the heart of the fight...wherever, whenever.I carry America's faith and honoragainst her enemies.I am the Queen of Battle.I am what my country expects me to be...the best trained solider in the world.In the race for victoryI am swift, determined, and courageous,armed with a fierce will to win.Never will I betray my country's trust.always I fight on...through the foe,to the objective,to triumph over all,If necessary, I will fight to my death.By my steadfast courage,I have won 200 years of freedom.I yield not to weakness,to hunger,to cowardice,to fatigue,to superior odds,for I am mentally tough, physically strong,and morally straight.I forsake not...my country,my missionmy comrades,my sacred duty.I am relentless.I am always there,now and forever.
I Am The Infantry!Follow Me.