AFI Top 100 Challenge

I’m back dedicated readers, all 3 of you with renewed vim and vinegar. Today’s post is a challenge from my friend Hannah. She’s taking the AFI Challenge to watch the top 100 movies of all time. I decided to list those that I’ve watched are in my own top 10 list, and dedicate myself to watch the rest by the end of April. Think I can do it? Let’s go.





Here’s my Top 10:
01 The Godfather 2
02 Singing in the Rain
03 Lawrence of Arabia
04 Sunset Blvd.
05 Chinatown
07 To Kill a Mockinbird
08 Maltese Falcon
09 It Happened One Night
10 Taxi Driver

Here are the candidates that I have surprisingly not watched:
4 RAGING BULL (1980)
11 CITY LIGHTS (1931)
12 SEARCHERS, THE (1956)
17 GRADUATE, THE (1967)
18 GENERAL, THE (1927)
19 ON THE WATERFRONT (1954)
23 GRAPES OF WRATH, THE (1940)
26 MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939)
27 HIGH NOON (1952)
28 ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)
36 BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI, THE (1957)
37 BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, THE (1946)
38 TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, THE (1948)
42 BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967)
43 MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969)
44 PHILADELPHIA STORY, THE (1940)
45 SHANE (1953)
47 STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, A (1951)
49 INTOLERANCE (1916)
51 WEST SIDE STORY (1961)
53 DEER HUNTER, THE (1978)
58 GOLD RUSH, THE (1925)
59 NASHVILLE (1975)
64 NETWORK (1976)
67 WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (1966)
70 CLOCKWORK ORANGE, A (1971)
73 BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)
75 IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (1967)
77 ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN (1976)
78 MODERN TIMES (1936)
79 WILD BUNCH, THE (1969)
80 APARTMENT, THE (1960)
82 SUNRISE (1927)
84 EASY RIDER (1969)
87 12 ANGRY MEN (1957)
90 SWING TIME (1936)
91 SOPHIE’S CHOICE (1982)
95 LAST PICTURE SHOW, THE (1971)

I’ll list my post-challenge top 10 to see if any changed.

What I'm reading: DEEP BLUE #1

One perk of attending conventions is you can find things your local shop doesn't have. At Wizard Con LA I found Mythic Publication's premiere title "DEEP BLUE"

This tale of the last surviving human in a robot dominated world is a collaboration of Bragi Shut and Lewis Fenton's well thought out plots, Shut's sharp writing style and Roc Upchurch's complementary art style. It's rare to see as first venture this well balanced; if not for the credits I would think it was the work of a single writer/artist.

Roc and Bragi

The subject of the story Benjamen Dobbs was a wage slave who literally slept through the robot revolution. Details on why he is the lone survivor are left for later. What see is are the details of his existence as the machines test subject in excruciating detail. The machine in charge literally and figuratively of dissecting Dobbs has an unusual desire to find answers to questions that have plagued humans throughout their existence; what is the soul, where dose it reside and how dose it relate to sentience. A Cartesian automaton would be bad enough but this machine believes he is a robotics wounder kin eemployed at Dobbs' work site. This incongruity has lead Dobbs to believe the his inquisitor is playing head games the likes of which is the discovery of a human finger nail, not his own.

I could draw parallels to Terminator or I, Robot but that glosses over the subtle underlying story.

Dobbs' captivity leads to larger questions. Why has the inquisitor not corrected the error of Dobbs' identity? There are trillions of data bytes on human anatomy that cover the subject in great detail; what use is a living biological specimen? Dobbs has escaped on several occasions only to be caught and returned to his cell. Shouldn't he be under constant guard? These are into plot holes but but part of puzzle that is yet to be reviled.

How can I be sure ?

The inquisitor has Dobbs under constant surveillance. The implication is that he is part of a larger experiment that is only being hinted at. Also the fingernail seems to have been deliberately planted. The inquisitor seems to want Dobbs to search for the owner of the mystery body part.

Lastly we have "Vinny" a large subplot to the story.A law enforcement robot who 'escorts' Dobbs to and from his sessions. Having been given a name and engaged in conversations with Dobbs suggests he'll have a larger role in the future. A friendly mech is understandable if Dobbs is to have any chance at survival.

Mythic Publications is in negotiations for distribution of 'Deep BLUE" and should have it in you local store soon. I recommend you keep an I out for It.

Web site coming soon www.mythic-comics.com

Herbie fears a Ho

So Herbie attends Wizard Con Saturday with his kids and I volunteer to show him around.
For the proud few who've listened to the pod cast you know Herbie is not regular convention goer. I usually can get him to stay for about an hour then he gets bored and is ready t leave especially if he has his boys.

The differences between us can be quite striking at times. I enjoy browsing vendor and artist tables feeling out those people who are the most interesting. I can also spend hours just browsing dealers without feeling the pressure to buy but knowing when to snatch something up because it could be my only opportunity. I've tried to impart these skills to my son 'J' a hardened veteran of conventions having attended Comic Con in San Diego 12 times in his eleven years. Each year my wife and I gauge his progress and afford him a degree of freedom accordingly.

Herbie and his sons have few if any convention skills which I blame LEX for. Oh yeah LEX! Haven't mentioned her before. It stands for L (el) X as in ex-wife. LEX is a mundane. She aspires to be middle class and socially acceptable; needless to say we never got along. She couldn't understand fandom in any form as it was not career advancing and was therefore a waste of time.

I often found myself, extra badges in hand, waiting in vain for Herbie to arrive during the LEX years. This was also true for gallery openings, movie premiers, parties and what have you. The worst part of it all is that LEX is reaching beyond the divorce papers to keep him in check.

I wanted Herbie to meet with the people I lined up interviews with. I can say for a fact that adults talking about talking is not a young child's idea of fun. My son per our set rules requested to go play with his purchases for that day and invited Herbie's sons to join in. Herbie had to nix the plan because LEX would give him nothing but grief if anything were to happen. I didn't try to assure him nothing would happen because I can't make that claim. I've just had more time to train my son to were I have a level of confidence he'll do the right thing. Do I worry about 'J', all the time! There just comes a point where you have to let them explore on their own.

Just over an hour after arriving Herbie had to call it quits. His youngest was tired from walking the floor and bored; his oldest was too to a lesser degree. After saying good-byes and taking request to look for missed titles I decided to spend the day searching for books I wanted since the panels I wanted to see were not child friendly and over by then. 'J' and I went our separate ways, he to play with his toys and I to search. A half hour later feeling bored and a little lonely 'J' sought me out and stayed with me as I searched dozens of long boxes. He kept himself entertained by pulling books from the boxes to read. I felt very happy and content that 'J' could patiently wait for me as I flipped though thousands of randomly ordered books.

I don't know if Herbie will ever be a regular con goer. Many's the time he has kicked himself upon hearin what he missed, but nothing has ever really motivated him to put in the time and effort needed. Herbie is making plans for San Diego this year. I guess we'll know how things worked out by July 28. That's the day after for those keeping track.
-CJ

Marvel Comics doesn't care about Spider-man Fans

Friday 2:30 pm at LA Wizard Con they held a panel were fans could ask questions of the team behind 'Spider-Mans Brand New Day!'

What I took away from it: the new team inherited a god awful storyline, their going back to what made Spider-Man 'Great', sales are up so get over it. This is the attitude that drove me from Marvel Comics from 1998 to 2005.

My greatest pet peeve about writing is the cop-out. When authors don't trust their carters enough to let them grow and move on they either change them so much their unrecognizable or they regress them back to avoid conflict.

Marvel's line on Spidey is that he needs to be that 20 something 'Every Man' that people can relate to. He needed to be unfettered by a wife so hew could relive those wacky years when he was perpetually standing-up dates (yawn). Why couldn't he get a divorce? Didn't test well in marketing. Then why not Kill off Mary Jane? Would effect the charter too adversely if her death was his fault. Sounds more like Joe Quesada didn't want to be the one people pointed to about the whole unmasking fiasco so a quick fix was thrown together and let the new guys deal with the mess. I just hope that's not a ramp with a shark behind it I see ahead.

The new team talks about how excited they are about bringing back old villains and the hi-jinks that will ensue. The one thing they were adamant about was aunt May will ALWAYS be park of the Spider-Man mythos. Spider-Man needs aunt May to worry over and remind him of how he failed to save her husband. I still don't see why they need aunt May for this role. It couldn't have easily been transferred to Mary Jane.

The thing I think Marvel is missing in this mess of a reboot is that now Pee Parker in his late twenties lives with his widowed aunt having no steady girlfriend or intimate relationships because he's to busy running around in tights tying up men in bizarre costumes.

He needs a wife and he needs one NOW!!!!!!!

-CJ

Woo Hoo I'm back Baby!!!

I hope everyone is well. There has been a nasty strain of the Flu working its way around LA. I've avoided it so far but everyone else I know, especially Herbie, has been stricken. I on the other hand I have just recovered from a burned out motherboard on my laptop.

So much has happened I must get to:

• We lost Gary Gygax and Dave Stevens in just over a week. These two great men helped shape pop culture in the 70s and 80s and I was there to watch it unfold.
• A number of films have come and gone doing lack lust box office sales which may be more a reflection of the economy than their quality. Jumper was better than I expected so there is a good chance we'll see a sequel. 10k b.c. got a disappointing first place on its opening weekend.
• Hype for Iron Man is going off the charts and may just deserve it. 
• The Hulk on the other hand, which comes out the month after Iron Man, has had only one trailer. Bad sign.
  
• The 8th Harry Potter fill is slated for release in 2011 while Horton Hears A Who starts today.
• With Geneon quitting anime production and book sellers putting limitations on the number of titles they carry is the Japanese pop culture invasion at and end.
• And last but not by no means least today is the first day of Wizard Con LA. I'll be interviewing fans and professionals to get other opinions about these and other topics.

I'll be posting again soon.

-CJ