Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Random Rambling

Jen sent me a link today about a species of frog in Peru that are monogamous, which is a first among amphibians. I posted it on my Facebook page with the caption "Monogamous frog among us. Say that 5 times fast". That got me thinking about when my friend Bill Wrigley and I made up the greatest tongue twister ever. I don't really remember the circumstances surrounding how we thought it up, but it's definitely held up:


See My Enemy, Emily.
The cinnamony sea anemone.

We also came up with a fantastic outline for a fused Marvel and DC universe. That was in the late 90's when Marvel was bankrupt and there was a wild rumor of DC buying them (or vice versa). We really got into the whole idea and came up with some good stuff. Definitely better than that lazy ass Amalgam Universe crap they eventually did. I'm pretty sure we went übernerd and wrote it all down somewhere. In the meantime, head over to The Vault of Buncheness to see actual ridiculous comic submissions that good friend Steve Bunche amassed during his years in the bullpen at Marvel.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Better Late Than Never

February is almost over and this is my first post. I haven't exactly been as diligent about my blogging as I thought I'd be. It's in keeping with a lot of aspects of my life, I'm also months and months behind on movies. I think the last film I saw in a theater was The Hangover. My work schedule and my lady's manage to encompass all the prime movie viewing time slots, so we wind up just watching a lot of stuff on Netflix.

Tonight's movie was District 9, and I was not disappointed at all. The story makes no attempt to hide it's obvious political overtones, which did not distract at all from the story. The fact that it was made by a South African filmmaker was also a selling point. It managed to get all the typical sci-fi bits in there, but came across as very realistic. Usually the aliens in sci-fi arriving on earth wind up falling into very tried and true roles. There's wolves in sheeps clothing, the most classic example being the aliens from the classic Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man" (it's a cookbook!!!). Then there's the alien that arrives to warn us of impending doom, like in The Day the Earth Stood still. Then there's the straight up invaders, like in Independence Day.

District 9 succeeds by taking a different route. Aliens arrive malnourished and confused, and a humanitarian mission to save them eventually turns into a segregated settlement camp on earth. The fact that it took place in Africa drives it all home. The story gets interesting when it becomes a literal version of "walk a mile in my mocassins". If the aliens are not dominating us, we will subjugate them. I found that totally believable. Multinationals with less than altruistic plans, also totally believable. Lots of issues you never see in a typical aliens on earth movie, like racism, segregation, subjugation, addiction, opportunistic warlords and governments that are no better than they are.

This was a message movie, usually that's an automatic turn off but not this time. Humans are the bad guys in this one, and at times it made me feel really crappy. Really dug this movie. Must point out the director's obvious penchant for the '86 remake of The Fly, but that's all good. And oh yes, fantastic gore and alien weaponry, always good.