Watchmen: The Movie. My sorta review.

I call it a sorta review because, lets face it, I am not a professional, and I have no time to put this into anything resembling a coherent thought. It is still fresh in my mind, having just walked in the door about a half hour ago.

There is very little I can say that would be a "spoiler", except about the ending, which they changed from the book. And I frame it that way because one of my biggest problems is the fact that the movie is almost too "paint by numbers" for the first 45 minutes to an hour. It is not until Dan and Laurie bust Rorshack out of jail that I felt, and my brother too, the movie began to gel into anything resembling cohesion. Showing Blake's murder at the very beginning, instead of the reveal later, kinda took some of the impact out of it. The beginning of the film seemed to be almost a strange string of events. Oh look, watch us do this scene from the comic book! Here! Now we are doing this other scene fro the book! See how faithful we are at recreating it for you?? But eventually it settled in and gelled...round about the time they decided to spring Rorshack from prison.

One of my biggest concerns going in was the acting. I honestly hadn't heard of half of the actors and really had no idea what they could do. I knew jackie Earl Haley would do a good job, and her certainly didn't disappoint. Billy Crudup? Again, he's done some good roles in the past. But the rest where unknown factors to me. Patrick Wilson as Dan Dreiberg/Night Owl was spot on! He brought a grand element of sympathy to the film, and his mild mannered shyness was touching. 11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

ok. i just fell asleep at the keyboard...it is late and definitely a sign I need to go to bed! I'll write more later.

Final score is a solid B.

Who's watching the Watchmen?

Me! I won't be going until tomorrow, but I am pretty excited! My brother is coming from out of town and we are going to the 7 pm show in IMAX! should be cool! I have some reservations but I am hoping to put them on hold and enjoy it for what it is...a movie. Afterwards, my brother and I are hoping to record a podcast about our thoughts! Yes a podcast! I am hoping to launch my own podcast soon! It will cover a wide gamut of geeky topics like movies, comics, music, video games, and the interstecies of them all!

More soon!

The Spirit Movie Review

I was psyched to see this for a while...until I read some of the early reviews. Not good. But, still, it was a chance to get my comic geek on with my father and brother. I am happy to report that it wasn't nearly as bad as most critics made it out to be, but it was far from perfect, and not nearly as good as we wanted it to be. It was a bit of a mess, even though it never once stopped looking great! It was more Frank Miller than Will Eisner, which is a shame since Eisner's version was a great mix of humor and noir. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Frank Miller. I've been a fan since the old Daredevil days. As a result, I was really looking forward to this movie. My biggest problem was with the dialogue. Quite a bit of it was better suited for the printed comic book page than a movie screen. This wasn't as much an issue in Sin City because Robert Rodriguez knew enough to tweak it to better fit the screen. The Spirit really needed someone like him to come in and oversee that aspect. Another problem was the acting, which had more ham than a Deli. People who should have known better, like Samuel L. Jackson and Scarlett Johansen, couldn't resist the siren call of pork-laced thespianism under Miller's novice direction. I have heard a lot of criticism of the plot, which has been said to be hard to follow. It may have needed a bit of polish, but I had no problem keeping up. It was a typical Miller-style story, in my opinion.

The visual panache of this fine mess makes it rise above a failing grade to a nice solid C+.

I love new technology!

I am trying out a new app on my iPhone that will allow me to post directly from my handset! So this is really just a test entry to see how well it works! If it does I'll be able to post more often!

It has been a few months so i thought I would post an update on what's been going on with the Dougside. We are of courser, as you know, in the 20th anniversary year of the strip, though that is rapidly coming to a close, so I have to get a move on, if I am going to do any amount of celebrating. I am slowly working on my new 5-6 page Robert Fripp story. I am writing dialogue and captions and reworking some of the layouts, since, as I go, the pacing needs a bit of tweaking. I actually started darwing the first page on th board, but I really didn't think it was up to standard, so i am scrapping it and going to start over. In the meantime, I have decided that i want to draw up a few small ReMNaNTS strips to get me going, kinda like batting practice. Maybe I'll scan in a few and share when they are done!

Work on the Flaming Schwarzkopf Experience album is bogged down, but is grinding along slowly. I have started a few new tracks, but didn't really like them, so back to the soundboard with them! I have about 7 tracks right now, of which maybe 4 or 5 of them might see light of day on the album when it does get released. I want to have about 10 or so tracks on the CD. My goal is to go through the process of trying to get them on iTunes and CD Baby.

The other major event that took place since my last post was that my old iMac which I got after I graduated from Graphic Design school in 2000 finally died this last April. This was my main working computer for my artwork. I am not too keen on doing my work here on my wife's laptop with its small screen and trackpad, so I am slowly saving up money to buy a new desktop. Mainly I am selling off a lot of my old concert t-shirts. I don't wear them much anymore. To be honest, I have outgrown a few... :) I have about $100 saved so far and am hoping to crank out the eBay machine more this fall. I'd like to have a new one before the end of the year...a man can dream can't he??

When I am not working my butt off for my job, or my wife, I hang out on a great, fun little blog called Stuck In The 80's, stop by sometime and watch as I tell how I thought that the Breakfast Club had a weak, hypocritical ending. Then watch how i get slagged and defend my self...in a respectful way of course. :)

ciao for now peeps, hopefully I won't be so long next time!

Gearing Up For The Next Offensive. or, Once More Into the Breach, Dear Friends...

I have been so extremely busy with work and everything else life throws at me the last few months that i have totally slacked on all things Dougside, and I apologize to my long suffering fans...all one of you! Last month marked the 20th Anniversary of Tales From the Dougside and i want to mark it with some special things, including new merchandise and reprints of my previously published books. But I have a lot of projects I need to get to. I have another cartoon I need to finish for my pal R. Fripp, along with a 5 page story I am collaborating on with my brother. I am still kicking around ideas for my new book, Anti-Social Lawnmower, plus I still have to finish the 50th Anniversary video I promised to do for my Curling Club. I will be busy, but I am about to buckle down and commit to getting these things done.

So, yes, I am gearing up for the next offensive. I have to get some rest and prepare my supplies and then charge the metaphorical beachfront with a tenacity and a fervor heretofor unseen since the days of Greek Mythology.

Pray.

Another thought. Next month marks the 20th anniversary of my comic strip Tales From The Dougside. Not sure yet, but I am thinking I should do something special. What do you think?

Nothing exciting just yet. I wanted to try posting from my iPhone. Guess what...it works. Though honestly I doubt much I will post much using this method since it takes a while to tap out a message of any significance. Short notes are fine, though.

My Treemo channel widget! Updates automatically when I upload new content! Check it out!

Merry Christmas!
And a Happy New Year!

2008 is shaping up to be a great year for Tales From The Dougside! February marks the 20th Anniversary of publication, and I have a few special things planned! So keep your browsers dialed in here to the blog or pointed over to www.dougside.50megs.com! I am going to be making some dramatic changes and I hope that you will come along for the ride! I am still amazed at what can happen when I apply myself!

Hope all is well with you, and thanks for your continued support!

Duty now for the future,


--Doug