Wednesday, June 21, 2006

A Buffy Sort of Day

Something put Buffy on my brain yesterday, and I honestly can't remember where she came from. But I had a day off today, so I decided to start watching my DVD's of . From season one. It's like revisiting old friends. Innocent Willow, dorky Xander, over-stuffed Giles, and Buffy when she still had a figure.

With the episodes on in the background, I continued to surf the 'Net, and I came across an interview with Buffy-creator on the Wizard Entertainment website. It's a fun interview that covers the gamut of Joss's various professional endevours (TV, movies, comic books, etc...).

I wanted to share this particular section, because it sounds like something I'd buy.


BENDIS: [Laughs] Oh, speaking of, I saw on the board tonight they announced the new Buffy comic. You’re gonna write a new Buffy comic?

WHEDON: I am, in fact. This was originally a concept that was designed to tie in to some Buffy movies that are probably not going to happen. So now the comic is out there twisting in the wind by itself. But I have this arc; this concept of what I refer to as “Season 8” of “Buffy,” which is the “What happens next?” Although it’s very much more comic book in scale and style and time frame. Everyone’s like, “What week will it pick up during?” And I’m like, “It’s not quite like that.” What I’m doing is working with Georges Jeanty. He’s gonna be drawing the first four, which I’m writing. And Jo Chen’s gonna do the covers. I’m a huge fan of hers. I have this arc laid out which I’m sort of writing up as where I want the series to go and then I’m gonna be bringing in anybody from the camp or any of our friends who have the time to do arcs within that. Just sort of servicing certain beats and then going off on their own. Because at this point, it’s sort of fair game. There are certain characters I’ve been saving because I thought I might make movies about them, but that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.

BENDIS: Why isn’t that going to happen?

WHEDON: I think money is standing in the way. What is ever in the way? What ever makes anything happen or not happen?


I'd love to see this comic come to fruition (even if I still hold out hope for a "Spike" TV movie).

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Does the World Need Another Remake?

First Will Smith brought The Wild, Wild West to the silver screen.

Now rumor is Eminem will star in an update of Have Gun, Will Travel.

What's next? LL Cool J and Lil Bow Wow do Bonanza?

I suppose one good thing could come of the new HG, WT. Since he basically played himself in 8 Mile, we can finally answer the lingering question: Can Eminem actually act?

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

AW Blogger Chain

The best part of participating in the blogger chain is the excuse to spend so much time reading other people's blogs. I just read quidscribis's entry on her lovely blog. She talked about the Edmonton Oilers being in the Stanley Cup finals this year, and while I have nothing to say about hockey (except that I'm a huge fan of Disney's Mighty Ducks films), it made me think about oil.

Stay with me, this is going someplace fun.

Recently I have spent a lot of time thinking about a trip that my dad and I made across the country. From December 30 to January 5, 2001, we drove from Lewes, Delaware to Los Angeles, California. I had just been accepted to the Los Angeles Film Studies program, and would be spending my spring semester at that center, interning in the business, and taking classes in filmmaking and screenwriting.

As much as I adored my time in LaLa Land, I treasure that week I spent on the road with my dad. Along the way we visited , Little Rock, Oklahoma City, The Petrified National Forest, Hoover Dam, , and a California Ghost Town. We drove parallel to old , and even on it for a short stretch. We stopped in antique malls, trading posts, souvenir shops, and even a mall.

We discovered Bucket of Blood Street, which intersected with a railroad (go figure). I wore out my camera taking nine rolls of film (one whole roll for the petrified forest alone). I have two scrapbooks of the experience, including my time in L.A., and the drive home (that time we took a northern route across Colorado and Kansas).

So where's the oil? What does this have to do with anything?

I saw my very first oil rig on that trip. Just a few of them dotting the Oklahoma landscape, but it was a moment. I had not been further west than Ohio at that point in my life, and the oil rigs were the first truly new thing on that trip. Something I had never seen in person before. There would be many more things before the week was over (dry gulches and desert plants, the Painted Desert, Vegas), but those rigs were the first.

As a family, my dad has taken us fishing, crabbing, to the mountains and ocean, to theme parks and water parks, antiquing and caving. But that trip is a special memory. Something just the two of us shared, and an experience I will never forget.

And I now pass the baton to Wendelynn.

Frankenstein Scandal

They call it a cheap horror movie.

I call it an episode of Bones.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Windfall Worth Picking Up?

I decided to give NBC's summer show a chance. I don't usually watch shows in the summer, because they have a tendency to end up cancelled (unless they are reality shows, or air on USA/TNT). But the concept intrigued me (20 people share a $300 million lottery ticket) and the cast had a decent pedigree (Boomtown alums Lana Parilla and , and 24 survivor Sarah Wynter). Plus .

The verdict? Blah. The pilot didn't catch me. I'll give it one more week, but that's it.

While the idea is a good one, the show suffers from its bloated cast. Twenty winners means twenty show regulars. That is too many characters. Even now, I can only remember the names of four of the characters. They spend time trying to show you all of the winners (the hard-working mom who suffers through two jobs and annoying trailer park neighbors, the punk teen with an angry dad, a divorcing couple whose storyline was beyond predictable, a rebel with a past wooing an upperclass lawyer), and each ends up suffering for lack of screentime.

I have no feel for any of the characters, and the little love triangle they set up between Gideon (Gedrick), Nina (Parilla), and Beth (Wynter) is both tiresome, and a little icky (but icky for a purely personal reason*). I mean, yes, Gedrick is a hottie, but dude! I'd stick with Luke Perry any day, especially with that post-Dylan Walsh maturity he's developed.

I'll give it one more ep to see if it sticks.


*The personal reason is the fact that on a PBEM I run, I cast Gedrick, Parilla, and Wynter as siblings. Four years ago, before this show was a twinkle in its creator's eye. Seeing them making out just gives me the willies.

Friday, June 02, 2006

Spin This

Well, it seems that while God will give Pat Robertson an advanced weather report, He won't give him advanced warning of a fatal plane crash.

Spin this one, Pat.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

It's a Mad, Mad World

Yes, I know that it's a movie. I've seen it. I was referencing Mad Libs, those wonderfully insane little stories you tell at sleepovers with your closest friends. Replacing something simple with something gut-wrenchingly funny.

In college, my roommates and I often unwound with a book of Mad Libs (and often some accompanying alcohol). We would do two or three in one sitting, often driving each other to tears in the process. I could never read them out loud. I didn't have the self control.

Yesterday I stumbled across a little fuzzy notebook decorated with snowflakes (a gift out of an Advent basket from Jen's grandparents). In it I had written our "Best Of…" quotes. Lines that were funny, quotable, and unforgettable. I wanted to post a few here. Hopefully you, dear reader, will enjoy them as well.

*Beverage warning*

At present, we are sneezing directly over Louisiana.

A ghoul, in Asian folklore, is a gaseous spirit that forgets graves and feeds on the toes of the dead.

My "Dream Man" should, first of all, be very scary and purple. He should have the physique of Tom Hanks, a profile like Oprah, and the intelligence of a parrot.

He should whisper sarcastic nothings in my nose.

Her eyes are like two beat-up pools of Jello.

Karate will enable you to defeat any banana who attacks you.

This should secrete your opponent's collarbone and dislocate his/her loincloth.

You are about to give birth to a vending machine.

We are here to celebrate her earwax.

You will inherit a large sum of tornadoes from a dear, departed doormat.

All I had was a couple of scrambled envelopes and a glass of tears.

You said you provided guests will a welcome basket of Slinkies. All I found in my room was a trashy fire hydrant filled with old opinions.

Don't throw toenails at policemen.

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me a vulture in a tangerine tree.