Adults only review: Bad Sex

Usually I try to keep my page very all-ages, but I thought it best to warn that this review does cover an adult subject. I do not intend to have anything within this post be graphic or include profanity, but the subject is...well...sex. And that is definitely an adult topic. In fact, the comic itself has a warning "Not for kids--what's wrong with you!!"

Bad Sex is a SPACE award-winning minicomic I picked up at the SPACE convention earlier this year. It is written by Lauren McCallister and tells some stories about bad sexual encounters. It is allegedly nonfiction. I say allegedly not because I believe Lauren is lying about these stories, but because they are so sad that I hope they are embellished at least a bit. Y'know, for dramatic purposes. And that they really weren't that bad in real life, though I also have the thought that why would anyone make that stuff up?

 

But more importantly, these are entertaining stories that are mostly funny, at least to me, with the exception of the one that makes me cringe. I'll not go into any details here. However, I can tell why this was an award-winning comic. It is very well put together and the storytelling is super. I also applaud Lauren for being willing to tell these stories. It's not a subject I would ever touch! Yet she pulls it off with grace and style. So, if you are an adult, you should get over to her website and get ahold of this comic!

Movie Review: Love and Mercy

I know this isn't a new movie, but I just got a chance to watch it, so I'm posting my review.

Love and Mercy is a biographical film about Brian Wilson, one of the founders of the Beach Boys, writer of the majority of their songs, and someone who is usually considered one of the greatest musical creators of rock and roll, if not all time.  I'll admit I'm a bit biased, as the Beach Boys are my all-time favorite band. And I don't just love the songs penned by Brian. For example, my favorite Beach Boys album is Holland, which includes contributions by all the guys that were members of the band at the time.

But this isn't a review of the band, it's the review of a movie, so on with it!

Love and Mercy includes some scenes that introduce the Beach Boys and set up the circumstances that caused Brian to be a composer of album material while the rest of the band toured. There isn't a lot of time spent on this, but that's okay, it on;y needs to be known for those who wouldn't know already. The bulk of the film is about Brian in two eras: 1)The creation of Pet Sounds and beginning of Smile and 2) Meeting his current wife, Melinda, and his escape from his Psychiatrist Dr. Landy.

The movie is a heart-wrenching look at the life of a guy who's a musical genius and more than a little mentally unstable.  Brian was always on edge due to his tough upbringing and difficult relationship with his father. His drug use and addiction took him over the edge. We can only dream of what Brian could have created if he had done a better job defeating his demons at an earlier time in his life. But at least Brian did eventually recover, and get good care to allow him to lead a normal life. Well, as normal as a rock legend can get, I guess.

The actors John Cusack and Paul Dano portray Brian at the different parts of his life, They don't look like Brian, but ignore that and enjoy the show, because they do a great job acting like Brian. The movie gets high marks from me for choosing very poignant scenes from Brian's life, keeping the story moving, and not messing with reality too often to be distracting.

The Real Brian and Melinda

Anyone who like music should see this film. And you kids who think music began in the year 2000 need to see this film to know the history of music. And then you should all go buy some Beach Boys records! I recommend Pet Sounds, Holland, Sunflower, and Summer Days (and Summer Nights!).

Painting

I've been doing some painting recently, so in lieu of another review today, I thought I'd share my paintings. All are acrylic on canvas board. 

My goal was to do some very cartoony paintings, as opposed to trying for realism. I think it worked well and I intend to do more.

Review: Transformers vs. G.I. Joe

Herein I continue with my reviews and commentary on things I've read or watched recently.

In this case, the first collection of the Transformers vs. G. I.Joe comics by Tom Scioli and John Barber.

Allow me to reminisce about my earliest G.I.Joe and Transformers memories. I have the first 30 or so issues of Marvel Comic's original G.I.Joe run from the 80's. I watched a lot of the first few seasons of the cartoon.  The toys were pretty neat, but I was too old for toys by then. My G.I.Joe toys were the "adventure team" run from the 70's which were big dolls with changeable clothes and weapons and stuff like "eagle eye"s and "kung fu grip". But the newly re-imagined team was quite fun, and the early Herb Trimpe art in particular I found very fascinating. Around this time the Transformers premiered. I watched the first few seasons of the cartoon, but didn't get the toys or read the comics. I think the downfall of both franchises, to me, was the constant addition of new characters and shuffling of older characters into the background.  The toys were the big money makers, and the shows and comics became too much advertising for the sale of the toys. Character development wasn't a priority, and that, coupled with my age, led me to dropping interest and moving on to other things. But the ideas were still very cool.

So what could get me to buy a Transformer/G.I.Joe crossover comic in the present? Honestly, It's Tom Scioli.  I met Tom many years ago at the SPACE convention, and loved his work on his own  creation, 8-Opus, a very 70's Kirby-inspired sci-fi series.  I've read many of Tom's comics since, but this is the most mainstream series he has worked on.  His old-school art style really fits the subject here. I'd say he draw the characters, both Joe and robots, to look like..toys! Yes! He doesn't try to imagine these toys as realistic machines or military guys. In fact, such a thing would be silly if you look at the outfits worn by the likes of Shipwreck or Wild Bill or Constucticons.  Instead, Tom embraces the ridiculous nature of the toys to make a universe that looks like it makes sense within itself without trying to make it "believable".

The story, which Tom write with John Barber, is exciting and makes very good use of the characters and their strange specialties and quirks.  There's very little in character difference beyond their weapons and specialties, except for a few main characters such as Snake Eyes and Duke.  The emphasis is on what each member brings to the team in their specialty.  On the Transformer side, we get the shocking realization that this series begins with the Autobots having lost the war, Optimus Prime is gone and Megatron rules Cybertron.  When you start with that, you get some real drama as the surviving Autobots try to stay alive while hoping to some day knock Megatron out of power.

And everything is a lot of fun!  I look forward to reading more toy vs. toy action!

Review: Juice Squeezers: The Great Bug Elevator

First let me make note that I have not been keeping up on my blogging here. I can make many excuses as to why not, including being too busy and not feeling well.  Also, I've been way behind on my reading list (or reading stack of books). But the truth is, I haven't felt like writing lately.  Writing is very difficult for me, at least in comparison to drawing or talking, and I haven't had the mental energy to get my self behind the keyboard and get going. But I am going to try and write as much as I can in the next few weeks, just to get myself back in the habit. I thought I'd start by looking at some of the stuff I've been reading lately.

Juice Squeezers is a wonderfully creative take about bug squishing kids. I remember being introduced to these kids in Dark Horse Presents, and when I saw the trade paperback at a con, I decided it was worth picking up.  And it certainly was!  Writer/artist Davis Lapham tells a very engaging story of a town in California with a big of a giant insect problem.  To combat this problem, the town secretly sends Jr. High kids underground to kill the bugs.

There's lot of intrigue on two fronts.  First, there's the mystery of the bugs. What are they, why are they here, and what are they doing?  There's even some nice moral questions as to whether or not killing large populations of possibly harmful insects is a good idea.  Also, how many people should know about the threat of the bugs? Next, is the personal trials the kids are put through.  There's strife between team members, fights with bullies at school (the kids might be good at squishing bugs, but they aren't great at fighting humans), questions about family, getting along with the new kid, and budding romance.  The mystery is compelling, but the personal issues are the heart of this book. David does an excellent job giving each kid (and the lesser-seen adults) a distinct personality with highlights and flaws.  Despite their strange job, the kids all act like real people.  They just belong to a rather exclusive club.

The paperback is small, or digest-sized (9 in, x 6 in.), which is nice and keeps it affordable and cute! I think every Jr. High library needs a copy of this on its shelves and I hope David produces some more Juicy bug-squishing tale


s!

Review: Out With Dad 4.15 “Heading Out” (in 360)

I know I just posted about Out With Dad, but I thought this episode was well worth writing about due to the interesting nature of the way it was filmed.

"Heading Out" is the fifteenth episode of season 4 of Out With Dad, my favorite webseries. This episode was filmed in 360 degree cinema.  As creator/director Jason Leaver explains in a "Making of" video this technique involves using a stationary camera during filming, and then allowing the viewer to pan around the scene when viewing. Jason recommends using a smartphone for this, but since I don't have one I used Google Chrome, which is my favorite browser anyway.  Yes, you heard that right. I like Chrome a lot. Highly recommended.  Anyway, this method of filming makes the episode a lot like a live stage performance.  The scene is, unless I'm way off, filmed in one take, and though you can "look around", you cannot zoom in or out, just like you were sitting in a seat at a theatre. The director is really giving up lot of control by using a stationary 360 camera. He can't cut out, zoom in, combine shots, and whatever else those guys do that I don't know. So this is a very different experience in viewing.

As for the episode itself, it is all about Rose and her Dad getting ready to meet their former loves.  Rose going to see Claire who is back in town, and Nathan seeing Valery. Their interaction is cute as they pick out clothes for each other without looking, and fret a lot while supporting each other. They also make tea, including Rose using the phrase "hot the pot" which I don't think I've ever heard before. Finally, Nathan also mentions the possibility of Rose talking to Vanessa after all this time.  Rose is NOT receptive to the idea.  Jason noted this as an important episode, but it looks like a little downtime before the "big event" to come next time.  It's solid, but not one I'm likely to re-watch a lot.

But...does the 360 thing add to the episode?  I'm going to say...no. It's pretty neat to "look around", but there's this big problem I had: there's not much to look at. I looked at the ceiling, the door, the floor.  Then I looked at the characters. And it was like watching them on stage (as I mentioned above). But I think this technique would be more interesting if used on a video where there were things all over the place to look at!  Where you could watch several times and see something different each time. This episode wasn't very visual at all, really. It's  about character, not action.

Still, at least I got to watch my first 360 episode of something. Thanks to Jason for daring to try something different!

Review: The Ontario Science Centre Outing (OWD 4.14)

I'm almost caught up with my reviews of Out With Dad, season 4.  Happily, Jason and Co. keep making them faster than I can write about them.

The Ontario Science Centre Outing, OWD episode 4.14, is an extremely fun episode. It is the tale of Rose and Vanessa II's first date. Or is it a date? The episode centers around Rose telling friends Alicia and Owen about her day at the Ontario Science Centre

with potential new love interest Vanessa II. (If you're reading this but for some strange reason haven't read other reviews or watched the show, Rose's first, high school love interest was also named Vanessa, hence the need for a modifier.) Rose tells her friends about how much fun it was doing all the sciencey things with Vanessa II, without the pressure of it being a "date". She enjoyed just hanging out with Vanessa II as a friend and was relieved that the interaction didn't get romantic.

Except.

Before saying good night, Vanessa unexpectedly kissed Rose. Or, maybe it wasn't so unexpected. Looking back, Rose realizes there were plenty of hints all along that Vanessa II was taking it very seriously as a date. Rose was just too naive, distracted, or perhaps unwilling to see it. So...what should she do now?

I absolutely loved this episode.  It is very reminiscent of the second season episode "The Museum Outing", in which Rose and Claire have their first social interaction, with hints of future romance.  I wonder if some people will think it too much a repeat of that episode, but there are important differences. Mostly there's Rose's reaction to the "dates". But also. there's the difference of age and experience.  Rose sees the Science Outing as a nostalgic trip down memory lane. But she's not in a hurry to get into a relationship, and maybe this is why her thoughts stay so innocent.

One thing's for sure, it will be interesting to see where all this leads!