In this weeks ATFMB podcast, I talk about scifi television, including the renewal of Fox hit Fringe for a 3rd season, Chuck’s ratings win that might mean a 4th season and how i09 has a list of 25 books Hollywood should be making movies out of, how HBO has greenlit a new series based on [...]]]> #11

In this weeks ATFMB podcast, I talk about scifi television, including the renewal of Fox hit Fringe for a 3rd season, Chuck’s ratings win that might mean a 4th season and how i09 has a list of 25 books Hollywood should be making movies out of, how HBO has greenlit a new series based on the Song of Fire and Ice fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, how Bruce Wayne, like every other comic book character who has ever died before him, is ‘coming back’ to the DC Universe and how Comics Should Be Good – which is the title of a new blog that I absolutely love.  In music, I share with you my thoughts on Susan Tedeschi, blues goddess and not so secret crush.

~P

Susan Tedeschi on iTunes

Comics Should be Good

DCU Bruce Wayne Returns

Susan Tedeschi

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10 things that suck about crutches!

In the Milestone Tenth episode of the All Things From My Brain podcast, I talk about NASA losing it’s funding for the Constellation program, about the iPad, the Kindle, Amazon and Apple, of the impending tv episode price war Apple wants to start, about the two rare comics that [...]]]> Episode 10: All Things From My Brain

In the Milestone Tenth episode of the All Things From My Brain podcast, I talk about NASA losing it’s funding for the Constellation program, about the iPad, the Kindle, Amazon and Apple, of the impending tv episode price war Apple wants to start, about the two rare comics that recently sold for $1mil each and I feature music by one of my favorite bands, The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band, in the hopes that all of you will go out and support them and buy their stuff.

Leave comments. They make the world go round…

[podcast]http://atfmb.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/AllThingsFromMyBrain010.mp3[/podcast]

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Some of you who haven’t known me very long, are completely unaware of my ability to hurt myself.

We’ve sort of touched on the fact that I am a FANTASTIC QC type person for software.  Heck, I’ve broken things that people said were unbrokable.   But I am also quite adept at finding myself at an ER [...]]]> Well.

Some of you who haven’t known me very long, are completely unaware of my ability to hurt myself.

We’ve sort of touched on the fact that I am a FANTASTIC QC type person for software.  Heck, I’ve broken things that people said were unbrokable.   But I am also quite adept at finding myself at an ER or walk-in clinic due to some stupid thing I’ve done.

Example #1: In elementary school, I sat in the window of our brownstone, watching my mom and my aunt on the front stoop.  The piece of wood holding the heavy storm window up came lose and the window slammed down on my right hand, breaking it.  I ended up in a cast and became several weeks behind everyone else who was learning to write at the time because I couldn’t hold a pencil.

Example #2: In High School, boys PE, I was playing volleyball in the gym.  I went up to spike the ball and when I came down, I just kept going down…  I managed to break my ankle – my left ankle.  I was on crutches and in a cast thingie, had to go through physical therapy out at Fresno State’s Sports Medicine Facility.

Example #3: I sprained my (left again!) ankle playing miniature golf.  If you want to know more about that, buy me dinner first…

AND, of course, last Friday, as I was leaving work full of hope and promise for the weekend, I slipped on the steps leading down to the parking lot and somehow severely sprained my ankle in the process.

Sigh.

I have told my friend Quinn before that we are both cursed, that somehow, somewhere, independent of each other, we both hit a Gypsy Princess with our respective cars and incurred the wrath of the Gypsies who cursed us for all time to have horribly bad luck.

….it’s the only thing that makes any sense.

Anyway, this most recent injury is why there was no podcast this past weekend.  I was motivated to produce one, but unable to get around well enough in the new house, what with the combination of stairs, swollen, sprained ankle and crutches, in order to get upstairs and record one.  Never fear, I will get one done as soon as I can manage – Episode 10, a milestone and, hopefully, one of many many more to come…

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My new house has no BestBuy conveniently sitiated (pronounced sitch-ee-ated) nearby (I buy most [...]]]> I’ve been a fan of the DC animated films for quite some time now, so when I heard about their latest, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, I couldn’t wait for it to come out – which was yesterday! (Tuesday, Feb 23rd)

My new house has no BestBuy conveniently sitiated (pronounced sitch-ee-ated) nearby (I buy most of my DVD’s at BestBuy. We have a hate/hate relationship, but I still shop there because you love the one you hate or you hate the one you love or some such…).  There IS a BestBuy nearish work, so I headed over at lunch and picked up the 2-disc, digital copy set.  I’ve bought these before and it’s worked well – I get a DVD copy for the big tv and an iTunes digital copy for the computer.

This time around, it didn’t work so well.  When I followed the instructions to dl my digital copy, I found myself at a Warner Brothers website informing me that the digital copy was Windows only.

BOOOOOO!  BOOOOOOO WARNER BROTHERS!  BAD WARNER BROTHERS!!  BAD!  *rolled up newspaper to the nose*

…anyway, about the movie.

Loved it.

Let me see if I can tell you about it without spoiling it.

ENGAGE COMIC BOOK NERD BRAIN FOR BACKSTORY!

The DC Universe has a lot of characters in it.  Way back when, they started rebooting popular characters from the Golden Age – like Flash, Green Lantern, etc.  Eventually, this caught up to them and they needed a house cleaning because they had so many different versions of what was essentially the same hero spanning 50 years of publishing.  Enter Crisis on Infinite Earths.  Drilling down that story – they used 12 issues of what they called a ‘maxi-series’, to clean up their universe.  They explained that there were multiple earths, each with its own history, its own stories and superheroes (The Multiverse).  They introduced the concept of an ‘Earth Prime’ from which all other earths sprang, so to speak.

"Somewhere in here is what I like to call 'Earth Prime'."

Crisis on Two Earths plays on this by introducing an earth where the Justice League is lead by none other than Lex Luther, and where that Justice League has been beaten by a super powered criminal empire known as the Crime Syndicate.  the Syndicate is made up of mirror universe versions of the heroes we know; Flash, Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Green Lantern and the Martian Manhunter – Johnny Quick, Ultraman, Superwoman, Owlman, Power Ring and they don’t really name him so I guess he’s just the Martian Manhunter on both sides which is kinda lame cuz, I mean, heck – you came up with all these new names for the mirror universe versions of the other people so you couldn’t spend maybe a half an hour coming up with the ‘Saturn Kid’ or some such nonsense?  Really?

The Justice League

The Crime Syndicate

Like any good movie featuring any sort of faithful version of Batman, he’s an asshole.  So is Owlman.  Also, just like any sort of Justice League movie, Green Lantern is a throw away character and hardly has anything to do, which is sad.  I suppose they justify this (PUN!) by saying they did that whole ‘First Flight’ movie.  Whatever – I say, GIVE HAL JORDAN MORE SCREEN TIME, DAMMIT!

Main plot is simple: Luthor crosses over, asks for help, Justice League sans Batman (cuz he’s an ASSHOLE PEOPLE) goes to help.  Mischief ensues, bad guys cross back over forcing Batman to get involved (which just pisses him off because he really wanted to just hang out in his new satellite, turn the lights off and brood.  Quietly.  Maybe torture himself with some photos of his parents or some Yanni.) and leads to MY FAVORITE PART OF THE MOVIE:

"GET AWAY FROM HER YOU BITCH!"

…wait, I’m getting my movies mixed up.  What was I thinking about?  Oh!  Yeah!  I got it:

"You're on my property. Stand down."

Yeah.  That’s more like it.  What’s that, Bats?  Something more to say?

Sounds like ‘Bring it’ to me!

Anyway, more mischief, Batman has to crossover now, silly sub plot with Martian Manhunter, we get to see a red version of Green Arrow, etc and so on and I won’t spoil the ending for you.

Overall, I really enjoyed it.  Gina Torres as Superwoman and James Woods as Owlman absolutely steal the show.  I loved their voices.  Not so fond of Mark Harmon & William Baldwin as Superman and Batman respectively.  Previous actors have simply made their marks on these iconic characters and you really have to step up if you want to play in their sandboxes which, sadly, neither of these actors achieved.

Bonus Review: Showcase: The Spectre

Having said all of that, the absolute delight of the DVD has to be the special Showcase: The Spectre short film. Oh. My. God. Loved it.  Absolutely friggin loved it.  If they’re trying to get interest to make a show or a full length movie, baby I am on board and ready to go!  Sign me up!

If you don’t know the character, The Spectre is the ghost of Jim Corrigan, a police detective who was murdered.  When he died, his spirit was refused entry into the afterlife.  As a spirit, he was assigned the duty to find justice for those in need of it and to eliminate evil.  He does this as The Spectre.

Similar to the Ghost Rider except without the motorcycle and the fireball head and all the demon stuff.

For the short film, they went with a retro 70’s look and feel and it just fit the material so well.  Corrigan is on the trail of the people who killed his galpal’s dad, and The Spectre is looking to dole out some justice.  70’s style.

*cue cheesy music*

Again, I don’t want to spoil it for you but I will say that it felt like a taste of something that could be, a quick little peak (sort of like a pilot episode) into this character and what he’s all about.  Voiced by the fantastic Gary Cole (the Nighthawk!), I felt he really brought the character to life.  What a wonderful addition this was to the disc!

Jim Corrigan

"I am Vengeance. I am The Spectre!"

"In the land beyond the living, all things are possible."

So – check it out if you have the funds available, I bought the 2 disc, regular DVD (I don’t have BluRay) version for $20 at BestBuy.  Well worth your time if you enjoy comics and, specifically, the Justice League.  If you are a Marvel fan over all I will say this – the DC animated features have just been better.  I’ve watched the Ultimate Avengers pieces and the Hulk Vs and I think the DC stuff has just told the stories better and done the animation better.  Give it a shot – you may like it.

~P

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“…who’re you again?”

“I feed you. I clean up your poop. I make sure you have fresh water in your dish.”

“is this going somewhere?  I have plans…”

“Yes this is going somewhere.  I do all that stuff for you – what do you do for me?”

“I do this.” *flips over, stretching [...]]]> “You know, we have an odd relationship.”

“…who’re you again?”

“I feed you. I clean up your poop. I make sure you have fresh water in your dish.”

“is this going somewhere?  I have plans…”

“Yes this is going somewhere.  I do all that stuff for you – what do you do for me?”

“I do this.” *flips over, stretching out to his full length, smiling up and purring*

“OMG SO CUTE!  OOO NEEDS ‘IS TUMMY RUBBED! OOOO NEEDS ‘IS TUMMY RUBBED!”

“…you are totally my bitch.”

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I was thrilled and honored to be asked to join in [...]]]> Just a quick post – John Anealio asked me to take part in a fantastic idea called ‘Interstellar Jukebox’ wherein he asks a bunch of great writers, bloggers, musicians, and podcasters to search through their music and weigh in on some Sci-Fi related music topic.

I was thrilled and honored to be asked to join in on the first question, “What is your favorite ’space’ song?’.

The post has gone live today so I wanted to share and point you over to it on SciFi Songs.  Here’s an excerpt of my part on ‘Hillbillies from Outerspace’ by the Vaughan brothers:

“When you think of Stevie Ray Vaughan, an image probably comes to mind of a guy wearing a wide brimmed, black hat decorated with wide, silver discs. He’s wearing a long white shirt with a dark vest and steel toed cowboy boots that are probably…”

If you want to read the rest, visit John’s site, SciFi Songs.

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