RIP- Michael Turner

Just wanted to drop a post about the passing of Comic Book artist Michael Turner. He had been fighting cancer for the last 7 years, and succumbed Friday Night at the way too young age of 37. He is actually one month younger than I am, which makes this so much harder to fathom.

His was a talent that was peerless. He will be remembered as one of the best comic book artists of our age....and any other for that matter. His start was with Top Cow comics, where he created a myriad of popular characters. Where he came to my attention, is when he started doing covers for the big 2, DC and Marvel.

Take a look at a few of his amazing covers. The first one is for X-men 500 which hasn't been published yet. He worked almost until his passing. I for one will miss his work tremendously.

Jason

Ever Wonder Why People Like Star Trek?

This last weekend, I was feeling a little stressed for one reason or another, and I turned to one of two things that snaps me out of bad mojo, Star Trek. (Early M*A*S*H being the other)

It got me to thinking......why do I love it....and why do some shake their heads at this "kid stuff."

I love it....because I honestly, on some level, feel the crew of the Enterprise as family. The magic of Star Trek is not the effects, or even the stories.....none would matter if it wasn't for the incredible cast. The original series was based on the foundation of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. Their performances made the bad episodes bareable....and the good episodes soar. The Next Generation in my opinion hinged solely on the peerless Patrick Stewart as Captain Picard.

Now I understand the rap Star Trek has. You see the folks who are SUPER fans....getting married in Starfleet Uniforms, or Klingon outfits. I think those guys are dorks. I have been to a Star Trek convention....and enjoyed myself quite a bit.

I had the pleasure of watching Star Trek 2- 7 over the weekend, and listening to the commentaries on each one. (These DVD's are dirt cheap......$10 or less most places) It is fascintating (maybe only to me) how these movies get made. The commentaries are out of the ordinary frank. They talk about the infighting with the studio....what they feel in retrospect didn't work.....and best of all, William Shatner defending his not so good directorial debut in Star Trek V, which suffered from poor special effects and lack of monetary support from the studio.

Star Trek has had a tough time in the last few years. The last Next Gen film, Nemesis tanked at the Box Office. Star Trek Voyager, and Enterprise were disappointments. And for the first time since '87, there is no Trek series on TV.

I do consider Star Trek Deep Space 9, to have been a suburb series....joining Next Gen and the Original Series as my favs.

Can't wait 'til next May, when Star Trek is relaunched, with Lost mastermind J.J. Abrams at the helm. I'm hoping it will signal a rebirth of one of my favorite franchises.....but that may be greedy of me with the wealth of Trek that is available.

Jason

George Carlin- 1937- 2008

We have lost another legend.

I was too young for his introduction to American Audiences with the Hippy Dippy Weatherman....and when he unleashed the 7 words you can't say on TV. (Words this blog will live by as well)

My introduction to George was on HBO. He had mellowed a little by this time, using cuss words more as a shock value than as pure substance. What I loved about him was his ability to take the English Language and turn it completely on its ear.

For those without HBO, George was introduced to a new audience in the big hit "Bill & Ted's excellent Adventure." He played Rufus, the caretaker for our heroes.

His wit, and observations will be sorely missed.



Jason

Hulk....what's old is new again.....

Just got back from watching the Incredible Hulk.....a reimagining, reboot, sorta sequel to the Ang Lee sleeping pill. I enjoying it quite alot.....but what surprised me was it was a direct homage to the TV show with Bill Bixby.

Lou Ferrigno shows up....and the late Bill Bixby finds a way to get into the film as well. The opening shots, the table and gamma ray crosshairs, the music.....all from the original series.

Hulk is a fun trip......it's no where near what Iron Man was....but in the comics I much prefer Iron Man to Hulk anyway. So if the Hulk is your thing....enjoy. And, if you find the film lacking in the drama quality.....wait for the DVD with a reported 70 minutes plus of footage to add to the spectacle.

Have a good weekend!

Jason

World Series of Poker in Progress

It's June....that means the NBA Finals are here.....hot weather (usually darnit!), and poker fanatics of all shapes and sizes head for Vegas, and the World Series of poker.

The World Series is just that, a mega series of poker championships. It started on Friday May 30th with the World Championship of Pot-Limit Hold 'em. Nenad Medic (never heard of him either) won, with Poker commentator Mike Sexton getting 4th, and the unibomber Phil Laak getting 9th.

The madness continues all month until the grand daddy event, the $10,000 No Limit Texas Hold 'em World Championship, starting July 3rd. It is a 12 day event......boiling down from an estimated 7000 entries, to 9......when the final table will be played months later, on Sunday November 9th. Yes.....the final table will be played on a 2 hour delay on that Sunday.....MONTHS after the tourney. That will be interesting, and it could be darn exciting.

For all the results, and info you want.....including live updates, check out www.worldseriesofpoker.com/

Have a great week all!

Jason

Indiana Jones and Me

Greetings.

With the release of the new Indy movie, I wanted to share my personal history with him, and what makes the Character so special in my humble opinion.

In 1981...Raiders of the Lost Ark was released. The origins of the movie come from a Hawaiian holiday taken by friends George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Spielberg, still smarting from his expensive disaster, 1941, wanted a fun, guaranteed hit to do next. Lucas had always wanted to do a riff on the Saturday Morning movie serials.....and Indiana Jones was born. Most know, that Tom Selleck was hired to be Indy, but Universal wouldn't let him out of his Magnum P.I. contract......so after Spielberg saw Harrison Ford in the Empire Strikes Back......he knew that was his guy. Lucas wasn't sure......he had had Ford in all his previous films (American Graffitti, Star Wars, Strikes Back) so he didn't want to keep going to the well.....but cooler heads prevailed. Since Lucas had been angry with 20th Century Fox for firing Alan Ladd Jr. (The man who championed Star Wars), he let Paramount take care of the film.......and the rest as they say is history.

I for some reason....didn't see Raiders in the theater. I have no idea where my 10 year old head was, but I didn't go. I eventually saw it in a Drive-In......but I have no recollection of paying much attention. It was on HBO that I got to know Indiana Jones. Raiders in my mind is the PERFECT film. It has it all, and then some. There is something very sexy about the search for the Ark of the Covenant, and they translated it perfectly. The DaVinci Code owes much to Indy and his crew. My folks were one of the first to get a Satellite Receiver in the neighborhood, and back in those days, you could get every pay channel for free. (Sweet!!) So on the myriad of movie channels, I watched Raiders incessantly. Actually, I was watching Indy when the feed from HBO went dead. They figured out a blocking device for their signal....and free cable was no more.



Opening Day, May of 1984, I was in the old State Theater in Spokane Washington of Raiders 2. This was in the days before any pre-press for a movie, so I went into it cold....and loved it. But, as I understood more of movies, and what I liked....I discovered that Temple of Doom is not such a good movie. It does have thrills aplenty, and alot to like.....but Short Round, Willie, and the Dark Elements make this the stepchild of the series. In addition, the lack of searching for a historical relic make his search a little less magical. They made up for that 5 years later.



May 1989.....I am graduating from High School. This actually premiered the Friday before my Saturday graduation. I was seriously in hog heaven. My High School days is when I started to become a film maniac. Anything I could get my hands on about movies I would inhale. IF only the internet was around then! I was telling my friend, I guaranteed the Star Trek V preview would be playing before this film, since both were from Paramount....and lo and behold I was right! (The preview was much better than the movie) Last Crusade is a magical film. I have never understood why some are critical of this entry, because I thought, and think it is great! I love the father/son stuff with Connery and Ford. And the search for something as historic as the Holy Grail make this a winner. The last 30 minutes of the film are some of my personal favorite movie moments in history. This also was a good film for me and my father, since it was hard on the both of us for me to leave for college that fall.



Zoom ahead 19 years, and we finally have Indy 4. He's older.........I'm more than double my age since the last one. It is good to see Dr. Jones at the helm of a new movie....which is seriously flawed...but fun nonetheless. The difference between the Star Wars Prequels, and this is I at least had a good time in the theater.

There is talk of Indy 5, and I would welcome it......but hopefully they'll learn their lesson, and have Indy search for something of historical value.

Have a good rest of the week!

Jason

Rest in Peace- Sydney Pollack

What a bummer. Sydney Pollack, one of the great talents in the film industry passed on yesterday at 73 due to cancer.

Pollack was one of the best directors in the last quarter century. He may not have been a prolific director, but his work was usually solid gold.

My favorite of his is the absolute classic Tootsie. A one of a kind film with Dustin Hoffman as an out of work actor, who dresses as a woman to get work. Sydney deftly arranges the laughs, and tension throughout the film. He even plays Hoffman's agent in the film.....begging his client to see some professional help.

You may have seen him last year in Michael Clayton. He was the head of the Law Firm were Clooney's character worked. Pollack was also Executive Producer.

Pollack won Oscar gold with Out of Africa. He won for directing the producing the film.

He always added a serious touch of class to any project he was a part of, and he will be missed.


J