Link of the Day [2.08.11]

broderic on February 9, 2011

With the ending of football, it’s getting close to baseball season. Pretty soon catchers and pitchers report for Spring Training and then the whole squad. Then 3 weeks of meaningless games and then the big show. Opening day!

In the meantime, imagine that your a fan who has nothing better to do. You’re flipping channels between MLB Network and what else’s on. You happen upon Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and get to the Wrigley Field scene. You too would spend time trying to figure out the actual game that the movie used, right? Or is that too baseball-geeky?

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=12877

KLIKRUNK GLINK CHAKUNK!

broderic on October 8, 2010

Let’s keep it light hearted for a little bit.

Fashklork! Foomp! Glank! Kapooshishish!

These are all sound effects by the hilarious Don Martin of Mad Magazine fame.

I just think they’re some great words, and they sound completely awesome as non-sequiturs in your twitter timeline or facebook page. Throw some on their and watch people stare quizzically at their screen until their inner geek kicks in and recognizes Don Martin. Have fun and stay safe with these.

Now, where did I put my Sergio Aragones mini sketches?

Link of the Day [2.26.10]

broderic on February 26, 2010

Did you know that Akira Kurosawa would’ve been 100 years old this year if he had lived? I didn’t.

The best way to celebrate is to watch one of his films. There are many to see. You could spend a month. So why don’t you?

TCM is honoring this illustrious director by showcasing his films all March. Every Tuesday evening a veratible smorgasbord of awesome is being shown. I know you have it on DVD or BluRay, but watching on TCM is great. You’ll get a running commentary before each film. You’ll do your own running commentary.

http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article/?cid=290029

Nightstand

broderic on August 11, 2009

One of the two books I’m currently reading is The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz. And because I am not done it yet, I’m lolly-gagging around the internet looking for more information about it. You see, Díaz, sprinkles some spanish into his writing, and it takes me some time to decipher via context what he’s talking about. When I don’t completely pick up the gist of the spanish passage, I skip over them and continue on. But I found a site that annotates some passages of the book for you. So if you ever read it, check this site out.

I picked this book up, because I saw the blurb the author supplied on the back cover of Pluto, a manga by Naoki Urasawa. It’s an adaption and modernization of an Osamu Tezuka Astroboy story. When I read the quote, I thought that this Díaz fellow, a Pulitzer winner, likes manga? How geeky! Then reading Oscar Wao, you see how much of a geek this dude is: Marvel, DC comics, Robotech (Rick Hunter dude, not Rich!), Appleseed and anime. It’s included as well as other geeky tropes such as D&D, Tolkien and the bad luck with the female of the species. But it is a wonderful read, and I do get about 85% of the allusions to the geekdom.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

broderic on July 20, 2009

Leaving the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, I was livid in what they had done to the story. They pealed away the best parts (IMNHO) of the book that of Tom Riddle and the how and the why he became Voldemort. They also took out the fireworks, the battle at Hogwarts. What was left was a 2.5 hour prequel to the final book and to the two final movies. It just didn’t have to be that way.

This adaptation loses the context to what is going on in the wizarding world. The stakes were raised since the last movie as the resurrection of Voldemort meant increasing conflict with the muggle world, but except, for the opening, you don’t get the tension between our muggle and the wizarding world. It is glossed over and meant to have been extrapolated by those that have read the books. The danger to our world is part of the reason that Harry and his allies must defeat Voldemort. The bad want to inflict harm on us muggles. The good wants to live in harmony. The high stakes are not laid out in the movie.

For me, the high stakes are what was central to the books. Not only is it about Harry Potter, but it is about the wizarding world co-existing in our universe. It is about Hermione and Ron, Harry’s pals who end up falling for each other. It’s about the Weasleys and Ginny. It’s about the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore’s Army, and augurs. It’s about the long line of Hogwart’s head masters. It’s about Tom Riddle and Voldemort, and Snape and the Deatheaters. It’s more than just Harry Potter.

But the movies don’t give us that. For me, the books progressed from being about Harry to being about his world. He wasn’t always the most interesting character. It was the others around him that made him interesting, and his nemesis, Tom Riddle was the most interesting of all. The story expanded around Harry in the books, but the story seems to coalesce around him in the movies. Just as the story gets interesting, the movie jettisons those elements that make it more interesting in order to tell Harry’s tale. It’s like a meal without salt: there’s something off about the taste.

When I got home, I had to read the last chapters of the HBP to remind me of how good the book was. I got the battle at Hogwarts details wrong. Yet, I decided to put the book on my night stand, to read it again and to remember that a story about Harry Potter is more than just about him but of his world.

3 of 5 stars.