I went and saw a movie I really enjoyed today-
How To Train Your Dragon. It's historic realism is horrendous (Vikings with horned helmets fighting dragons) but I still liked it a lot. It was done in that Pixar computer generated style, and looked pretty good. There was no cynicism in the story, no fake-ass hipness or pop culture references, or snarkiness (not that I mind that stuff, it's just that that's all you seem to get in kids movies these days). I guess it helps that I like dragons, and that the main dragon looks like my Tortie cat Kreature. Well, in the face anyway. I'm glad I went and saw it, unlike about 65% of movies I go see these days. At least the movie theater shows movies for only 5 dollars each as an early bird special. You have to go to the first showing of the day, but it saves a lot of money. The
Wolfman remake was underwhelming (not bad, but could have been sooo much better. It seemed like as much of a remake of
Curse of the Werewolf as the original
Wolfman).
Alice In Wonderland wasn't that thrilling either. I think I was just expecting too much with it. And I didn't really like Johnny Depp in it. I've liked him in most every other thing I've seen him in, but the was over used or something in this. Anne Hathaway was pretty annoying as well.
Last weekend we went to Comicpalooza, which was awesome. There were several cool celebrities there, but because I refuse to shell out a shit ton of money to people who are semi/ barely famous, and what little fame they have is because I already shelled out money for their movies and books and magazines with articles in them, etc. (in other words, they should probably be thankful for their success and not charge fans 25 or 30 bucks for an autograph), I didn't get to meet any of them except Bruce Campbell, who was pretty cool. I saw a bunch of stuff I wanted (including lots of deals, like the
Vault of Horror hardback book for 25 bucks (usually 50), lots of 'half off' specials and dollar and fifty cent boxes) like a table of awesome Cthulhu shirts and cds and stuff, some huge art prints by the guy who did a bunch of the original D & D and Dragonlance artwork, a whole box of daggers marked down to 10 bucks each, etc. I did get Bernie Wrightson autograph. He was signing stuff for free (and I'd say he's a lot more important historically and artistically than the guy who played Nien Nunb on
Return of the Jedi or some chic who was in 3 episodes of
Heroes). Krystal got the guy that played Chewbacca's autograph, as well as Ben Templesmith's.
One really cool thing happened on Sunday- on Saturday a group of extreme Star Wars fans showcased a light saber duel on stage. I didn't watch it (there was too much going on, really), but they did it again on Sunday (the last day). I stopped by to watch for a minute, and noticed there was a guy who was not dressed up doing it with them. I was thinking "Who the hell is this guy- he didn't even dress up!" when I recognized him- it was Ray Park! He had been signing autographs, and was watching their lightsaber duel, and I guess he just couldn't help it- he had to join in (if you don't know who he is, he played Darth Maul in
The Phantom Menace (as well as Toad in
X-Men and the Headless Horseman in
Sleepy Hollow, among lots of other stuntman type roles) and choreographed a lot of the fight scenes). He was really nice, he kept asking them if he could "just show you something". Just imagine, to a Star Wars geek- they got to duel the guy that played Darth Maul! Here's some pictures Krystal took:
We have several cats that are coming around and hanging around outside of the house lately. They are so sweet and friendly- there's a black one with a puffy tail, a grey and white one, and a tuxedo cat. I think they must belong to someone, because they mostly just come around at night, and don't seem very hungry (except the grey and white one- it's always hungry), and want to come in. I hope they belong to someone, they're too nice to be strays. Two of them aren't fixed tho, which sucks. I can't afford to get them fixed- I can't even afford to get an oil change on my car! I wish I could let them in, but my 4 cats would be enraged.
The Rondo awards (the most respected horror/ fantasy award) came out yesterday. Best film was
District 9 (which I liked pretty well).
I haven't seen an issue of
Wizard magazine in a long time. Have they quit publishing? I know they canned
Anime Insider about a year ago (which completely sucked). I wonder if
Wizard joined
Starlog,
Dragon,
Metal Maniacs,
Cinefantastique, the aforementioned
Anime Insider and a ton of other magazines I used to love to read and went under? I hope not.
That's about all I have to say for now. Hope everyone is doing well.
