Sam can't have any cupcakes!

Despite being a fan of the gloriously trashy, over-sexed vampire soap-opera, TrueBlood, I wasn't interested in the comic based on it. But then I came across this cover of Sam, the shape-shifter:



Dog-Sam is Stains the cupcake-deprived Hypno-Dog!

July Re-cap: Super-short mini reviews

Books

• Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley- A book I started in college but quit 3/4 of the way through because I found it too similar to McKinley's other Beauty and the Beast adaptation, Beauty, only longer and boring. Now it's been enough time between reading both of them, and this go around I found this enrapturing, quite slow and meandering, but a wonderful, rich novel.
• The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman- Listened to an excellent full-cast audio at work. I never read the third book in the trilogy so I decided I should revisit the first two. First read this one when I was 12 and it was mind-blowing. It more than holds up.
• Castle in the Air by Diana Wynn Jones- The Arabian Nights-flavored sequel to Howl's Moving Castle is a delight, very funny and full of whimsy. More reason why Jones is becoming one of my favorite authors.
• White Cat by Holly Black- I normally don't care for Holly Black's YA novels, as her female heroines are normally too mopey and unidentifiable, and they tend to have this pissed-off tone about them. Maybe it's a fluke, or maybe because the protagonist for this one is a boy, but I did like this, and I like the Curse Workers world she's created much more than her hard-assed Faerie world.
• The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson- Brilliant and often heart-wrenching story about a slave in a scientists commune in Revolution-Era Boston.
• Shit My Dad Says by Justin Halpern- Considering that it's based on Twitter feed, there's not much you can expect from this book, but it's actually a great memoir centering on Halpern's relationship with his ultra-crass father. It also becomes unexpectedly touching, as while his dad may be blunt, he does love the hell out of his family.

Movies

• Inception- Where's my spin-off with Arthur and Eames being ass-holes to each other??!!
• Hamlet- BBC/Royal Shakespeare Company production starring David Tennant, with Patrick Stewart as Claudius and the King's Ghost. As awesome as it sounds.
• The Fantastic Mr. Fox- Re-watched, still delightful. I love Wes Anderson's non sequiturs, though I'm sure most of the best random moments were ad-libbed.
• God of Cookery- <3 Stephen Chow. Best part: Roundhouse kicking that school girl in the face.
• That Hamilton Woman- The British Gone With the Wind with Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier. Apparently Churchill considered it his favorite movie.
• Black Dynamite- "Your knowledge of scientific biological transmogrification is only outmatched by your zest for kung-fu treachery!"
• Dinner for Schmucks- Whatever you're expecting from it, you're gonna get it. Am I the only person in the world who things that the French film this is a remake of is over-rated and pretty mean-spirited?
• Starman-  The closest thing John Carpenter has ever done to a romance film? Of course, it's a romance involving Jeff Bridges as an alien.
• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs- Was really not expecting to like this, but my first-impression of non-Pixar CG animated films tends to be wrong.
• Les Miserable (1998, Bille August, dir.)- Not very good, but I've been obsessed with Liam Neeson and Claire Danes lately.

Comics

• Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour by Bryan Lee O'Malley- Awesome ending to one of my all-time favorite series. Surprisingly, it has a bit of an easier pace than it's manic predecessors, but it's still all the way boss. Can't wait for the movie.
• Fractured Fables, edited by Jim Valentino- not the best fairy tale-themed comic anthology out there, but the hits are pretty fantastic and the art's fantastic. Includes contributions from Jill Thompson (cute murderous sausages!), Terry Moore (disappointing and a little mean spirited), Bryan Talbot (a cool twist on Red Riding Hood).
• Secret Iditities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology, edited by Jeff Yang, Parry Shen, Keith Chow, & Jerry Ma- A really neat collection of comics that explores Asian Americans in comics and in historical and contemporary social constructs. My personal favorite is Gene Yang and Scottie Young's take on a Kato-like chauffeur who is the real muscles and brains behind a crime fighting duo.
• The Marvelous Land of Oz by Eric Shanower & Scottie Young- I'm not the biggest Oz fan, but I really dig Scottie Young's artwork. I'm also glad that this can expose more people to how messed up the gender-bending ending is!
• Pulse by Brian Michael Bendis, et al.- Got all three volumes on the cheap. Love, love Jessica Jones.
• Okimono Kimono by Mokona- Pretty random little book by one of the women who make up CLAMP. All about Mokona's love for kimono, with designs and tips on wearing them.

Television

• Avatar: The Last Airbender- Finished the entire series and, hoo boy, I can call myself a fan.
• True Blood- This show is out-trashing itself and I'M LOVING IT! (It's funny though that I'm looking forward to a Sam sub-plot while getting annoyed by Jason's storyline; normally it's the other way around.)
• Black Adder III- As wonderful as can be expected from a classic and much-loved BBC series, but I think most American audiences will be shocked to see Hugh Laurie as the ultra-foppish Prince Regent.
• Firefly- Why do I have a feeling that once I'm done with this show I'm going to be ultra-disappointed that they canceled it after only 14 episodes? I mean, I know that it happened over five years ago, but it doesn't mean that I can't still be glummed-out about it.

Hey, kids! LOL Cats!

First of all, I'm really enjoying the Prince of Power mini-series, having become a real big Amadeus Cho fan recently.

A highlight of issue #3 that dropped last Wednesday answers the question we all come across at time: How do you pacify the raging, lion-headed Egyptian Goddess of Destruction, Sekhmet?



Ah, the soothing, healing power of LOL Cats...

Saints Be Praised. Sam Jackson is Nick Fury!

In a bizarre example of art imitating life imitating art, Samuel L. Jackson, the only man that anyone would ever want to play Nick Fury from Marvel Comics, is indeed playing Nick Fury in the Iron Man movie.

If you weren't already intreiged with the miscasting that somehow works of Robert Downey Jr. (instead of Scotchity-Scotch-Scotch, will it be Cokity-Coke-Coke?), this is enough to make me see it. The badassness will positively ooze off the screen.

Oh, and for the record, Jackson has so far played a Jedi, a Tarantino hitman, a supervillain, Shaft, and now a superhero. Squee!

Comic Review: Gargoyles #5

Ooh, I'm a happy fangirl. I was super stoked when I heard that they were resurrecting Gargoyles as a comic book. The coolest series of my childhood which became a new love during my college years didn't get the send off it deserved, and when the writers were replaced, the series immediately degraded to mundane action cartoon.

However, I was a bit disappointed with the first four issues. Granted, the first few were just a retelling of the first episode of the last season, but the writing never really did anything for me. All the fans of Gargoyles are now probably much older (ie more sophisticated... relatively speaking) so it should be writen with them in mind. I'm not sure how many people in the 8-12 demographic have seen Gargoyles, so don't write it for their level. I found myself no longer excited, but rather only buying it out of obligation to a childhood love.

However, this issue changed all that. It's got its own brand of cheeky geek humor, as well as some nice drama and action. If I reread the action sequences, that's a designation that I liked it. Plus, there's blood and cussin', which isn't cool in itself, but does signal that they're not going to be pussyfooting around serious issues in the future. I'm not fond of the art, but considering it must be tough to draw fantasy, it's fine.

There are some sweet moments between Elisa and Goliath, as well as between Hudson and his blind friend. Oh, and it has the cheesy goodness of seeing a masquerade ball with Elisa dressed as Princess Jasmine, Lexington as Cyborg, and Angela and Broadway as Dorothy and Scarcrow (aw, they even got the Oz mythos right!)

Happy they found their niche.