Dumb Doctor

So, I woke up Saturday and much to my surprise, my ankle was swollen and sore. I hadn't done anything to it lately that could remember and it was fine the night before. But shit happens, right? Well, Sunday was even worse. More swelling, more redness and even more sore. So I went to the RediCare (one of the few places open on Sunday) and they found nothing wrong with me. Xrays showed no break, and blood work showed nothing so he gave me some anti-biotics. But things didn't sit well with that. Even though yesterday was a little better (as was today) I still wanted to see the family doctor. And it's a good thing I did because it turns out that my tendons are trying to rupture. He said forget the medicine the other guy prescribed and then told me I need to wear this big boot to stabilize the ankle to make sure I don't further damage anything, otherwise he would have to go in and cut me up to fix em next week. Thanks a lot Doctor Ass-For-Brains at RediCare. You are next to worthless.

Batman Inc: My Breaking Point

(I know the font is big, but there was a lot of photos to make room for)

DC has slowly but surely made announcements about the Bat-Universe and what's coming. First they say that Bruce Wayne is returning and there's a mini to help with that (The Return of Bruce Wayne... Real original) along with the tie-ins to the Batman and Robin title, both written by Grant Morrison.
Then came news that David Finch would be writing and drawing a new book title Batman: The Dark Knight. I'm a huge fan of Finch's art (in case you don't remember me saying such back when I wrote that he had signed an exclusive with DC) and him working on Batman seems perfect. I haven't read any of his writing since he was at Image in the 90's but his art almost makes his story-telling second place for me. And his art for this book showed a new Bat-suit, along with the yellow symbol back on his chest. Thoughts were strait to this be Wayne.
Next they announced that Morrison would be leaving Batman And Robin to launch another Batman book called Batman Inc, leaving BaR writing to Peter Tomasi (probably best known for his sting on Green Lantern Corps, which was great). However, without saying that any other books were ending, this would mean five books for Batman. Along with Red Robin, Batwoman, Streets of Gotham, Gotham City Sirens, Batgirl, Azreal, Outsiders, Batman Confidential and Birds of Prey, not to mention a new Batman Beyond ongoing that was just announced, that brings the Bat-Family Book total to 15. 15 Ongoing books, and three or four minis currently going. That's way beyond ridiculous.
And yet, I wasn't ready to say I was done with the Bat-Books entirely. Maybe I just have to be picky about what I buy and what I download. And then came the latest news. DC has now said that both Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson would be Batman. Or rather, Batmen. Bat-Grayson would be the Bat in Detective, BaR and Batman while Bat-Wayne would be in Inc and Dark Knight. And on top of that, here's what they said would be going on:

“Just as readers were getting comfortable with the idea of former sidekick Dick Grayson playing the role of Batman, along comes Bruce Wayne’s triumphant return to the Cape and Cowl,” editor Mike Marts said. “Is Gotham City ready for two Batmen? Is the world? And who’s to say the fun will end there?”

"Bruce Wayne realizes that he can't just be the grim avenger he was before," DC co-publisher Dan DiDio told the Post. "He wants to be more aggressive in his reach, and realizes the change that Batman as a symbol can effect around the world."

This approach mostly plays out in Morrison’s Batman Inc., where Bruce Wayne essentially franchises out the Dark Knight brand globally.

"Without giving too much away here, we wanted to show how Batman can have a global influence," Didio said.

Done. I'm done with the Batpeople books. This is something that has absolutely no appeal to me anymore. Other than Finch's art. That still intrigues me, but not enough to spend any money on it. DC has finally played their hand into the ground. I liked the idea of "killing" Wayne and bringing Grayson up to the plate but this is shite to me. Complete shite.

Maybe they should put the title of "Green" in front of one of his books. Maybe that will bring me back.

Not Just Cereal

I was at Wal Mart this afternoon and I saw the greatest food invention ever: Not Just Cereal! And all it is, is chocolate covered cereal! It's amazing! And I think everybody should go out and buy them and love them as much as I already do!

Clif-Notes: The Last Exorcism

I previewed The Last Exorcism last night and walked away with a lot of confusion. Not from the story or any intricate webbing of a plot but as to how I felt about it. Let's start from the beginning.
Last Exorcism looked like it had potential. For whatever reason, I am a stickler for the creepy, hand-held camera movies and this one looked like it would be another. First, I was a little surprised by the full plot, which I seemed to have missed. The story actually follows Reverend Cotton Marcus, a man of the faith, yet a man with little belief. He's been in the "business" for decades as his father was the reverend and brought him into it. He knows a lot of what he does is for show. That he could really be saying anything and the flock will still be joyous. He also used to be an exorcist. Which was also a sham. He said he gave them peace of mind, at best, and that was all they really needed. Until he read an article about a boy being killed during his exorcism. Appalled that people would stoop to murder to fix what he thought was something fake, he stopped doing them. This is where we come in. Cotton Marcus is taking a camera crew with him on one final "exorcism" to show them how it's all fake and how the "possessed" will somehow be free even though he did nothing.
The first half of the movie was really slow and nothing much happened. It's about this time that weird things begin, and Reverend is a little bewildered, things are fixed, things are worse. It was a cat and mouse game the next 40 minutes and I felt a little let down by the end. Until They flipped again and the real ending came about. And as that ending played out, I just sat there, mouth open, lost in what I just saw. I'm not gonna ruin it for ya, but I'm still a little... creeped out. Creeped out is probably the best way to describe that ending. I was going to say that this movie was one to skip until this ending. But this ending alone makes me want to know what everyone else thought. If you can skip all but the last, maybe fifteen minutes, you should do that and tell me if I'm crazy for thinking it's weird and bizarre.
But that's about all I can say. Slow and boring until the end. I really don't even know if I should tell you to see it or not, so all I can say is use your best judgment.

Clif-Notes: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Before I go into anything about actually seeing the movie, I have to tell you how I felt about it by it's previews and word-of-mouth alone.
There was no doubt in my mind that this movie had the potential to be funny. With Edgar Wright as half the mind behind it, how could it not be? However, by the look of things, there was also the chance that this would be a very "emo" movie. At least in my eyes. Very much a mope-fest about how "she will never really be mine". And with most of the Evil Exes having the stupid hair covering half their face and there being a shortage of eye-liner on the set, this was definitely the feel I was getting from it. And I feel I was absolutely right.
And yet I loved the movie. I laughed the entire time. Edgar Wright was able to take a supremely cry-filled and emo story (in my opinion) and make me not care. The people I liked were all the good-guys and the the people I didn't like were the bad-guys. And I even liked most of the bad-guys too. I was excited the minute a character walked into a scene. Any character, really. That's how much I liked this movie. Needless to say, I was blown away by this movie. Hands-down, the best "surprise hit" of the year for me. I thought it could be good and I left thinking it was great. You have to go see this movie. Sadly, with the numbers it's been pulling in, it doesn't seem like it will last long in the theaters so do your part and go. I really don't see how any of us geeks would not like it.

Clif-Notes: The Expendables

Before I left the other week, I was able to watch the Stallone and friends action romp known as The Expendables. First and foremost I will tell you that it was not a good movie. Not my normal "standards". The story seemed like a typical Stallone story which I had no problem with but there were some things in this movie that didn't make sense even by those standards. If one of your own goes crazy, turns on you and tries to kill you, why would you invite him back? Rambo would have never done that. Rambo would have just ripped your throat out. Or gutted you. Or shoved hand-carved, wooden spikes into your face. Or something equally as cool. But not have tea and crumpets with you later. That bothered me. But over-all, this movie was definitely a "man's man" kinda movie and I really liked it. Things exploded and people dies and guns kept shooting and that was all I expected and that was all I needed.

All Tripped Out

If I'm being honest, I was ready to come home last Saturday. I love my family and was very happy to see and spend time with them but it all felt like too much. The whole family met up for the first time in ever in Seattle, where my older sister and her fiance live. Little sister drove from Portland and brother and his wife flew from Phoenix. We then spent the next three days walking around a lot. Lot of cool stuff to see in Seattle but it's way to congested for me. I'm sure it would grow on ya, but I don't know if I could ever live in a place with that many people. Traffic was ridiculous and I would probably end up yelling at the wrong person and end up shot. But it was still fun.
I didn't know about the next part though, when on Monday, my brother and his wife flew back to Phoenix and the parents, the sisters and myself drove to Portland. I gotta tell ya, I don't like Portland. Landscape wise, the city looks great. Some cool looking houses. Beautiful greenery everywhere. But I wanted to punch every person I saw in their stupid, hipster faces. Everyone there is a grungy hipster! It mad me sick! Every guy who could had dreadlocks and a beard. Nobody wore pants that fit (and I kind of want to punch the next person I see who wears those stupid, too-tight pants). And every kid who couldn't grow a beard, had long, shaggy, gross hair that they would half cover with a stupid bean-cap! And I literally wanted to vomit because of all the smoking that everyone there does. Nothing is more gross than unwashed hippies who smoke.
But I digress. I did have fun in Portland in that I got to go the a huge comic shop where I found some comics I had been looking for for a number of years. I was able to go the VooDoo Doughnuts where I had the giant Memphis Mafia (a banana fritter covered in peanut butter and chocolate chips. Amazing.). And we drove to Astoria where I not only got my picture in front of the school from Kindergarten Cop, but I also got my picture taken in from of the Goonies house. Yeah. Those Goonies.
Over-all I had a lot of fun but things were way to packed for my liking. Traffic and people and small streets and I was just ready to come back home and talk to all you fellow geeks out there (and to buy season four of Dexter which if you are not watching, you should. John Lithgow will scare you shitless in season four)

S**t You Don't Know - 9

As I finish packing for yet another week's trip starting tomorrow, and before I start getting ready for work tonight, I wanted to leave peoples with more information you didn't need to know:
The famous French racing driver Jean Behra wore a plastic right ear after losing one in a racing crash in 1955, and always carried a spare false ear in his pocket just in case.

(PS: I get to have my "mangasm" tonight as I watch The Expendables, but since I am leaving at about 6:00 am, that gives me maybe 2 or 3 hours of sleep and I will more than likely not be able to give you a review. Unless my sister lets me use her computer. But we shall see)

S**t You Don't Know - 8

As I start getting ready for work tonight, I find myself filled with useless knowledge that has not been released for far too long. I give you once again Shit You Don't Know:
A Singapore court sentenced a forty-three-year-old truck driver to twenty-five weeks in prison for stealing smelly footwear. Shoe-fetishist Zainal Mohamed Esa would sniff the footwear until the smell wore off then donate them to the Salvation Army.

Tired Tired Tired

I'm more of a nocturnal person, myself. I usually stay up until 2-ish in the morning, get up around ten or eleven. And with mostly closing at work, I kinda have to be up that late. But I gotta tell ya, These last few weeks have not been fun. I knew sleeping would be screwed up for Con with my crappy hours changing so fast but I just can't seem to get back into a rhythm. And on top of that, I get to leave next Thursday for yet another week, this time to Seattle (and I don't think I need to tell anyone how unhappy I am with missing two weeks in a month period, which is one pay check I can say goodbye to). I'm not trying to complain (thought I know I am) and I know most of you would gladly put yourself in my position simply for Con but it kinda sucks. I feel like I sleep, shower, work and sleep some more. I gotta find a way to wake outta this funk before I lose my mind.
Maybe I need to start doing meth.....

Clif-Notes: The Other Guys

Remember back in the comic shop, about once a month or so, I would spout out a real funny line, and people would laugh and then I would play it out for a week trying to get the same reaction, only to completely run it into the ground, thus making the original validity of the joke obsolete?
Welcome to The Other Guys. A movie that proves being stupid isn't always funny. Sometimes, it just makes things stupider, longer. This movie had maybe 5 jokes and you will hear those 5 jokes for one hour and forty-seven minutes. And in between repeating those jokes, nonsense that doesn't fit into anything. Even for a Will Ferrell movie they didn't fit into anything. At first it seems as though they are making fun of the fact that Mark Wahlberg is always angry and yelling and that Will Ferrell can only play the "man-child". But within the first thirty minutes, they have trapped you into the same characters they are trying to make fun of. Eva Mendes was the funniest person in this movie. Eva Mendes! And one Star Wars joke! That's what you'll get when you see this movie. Sadly, I would recommend you go see Step Up 3D this weekend and I haven't even seen that one.

MTV Still Sucks

I was jumping on MSN just now and they had an article about Lady Gaga having the most VMA nominations in MTV history with 13. Intrigued, I clicked over and found a listing of all the nominations, Much to my... hatred, but not really surprise, MTV had these 3 nominated for best Rock Video:
30 Seconds to Mars - "Kings and Queens"
Paramore - "Ignorance" and
MGMT - "Flash Delirium
..... I made it 34 seconds into MGMT before I stopped it. Way to go MTV. You still don't know what actual rock music is.

Watch This Movie

Tekkonkinkreet
I love foreign movies. No doubt about it. Most of the time that rule only applies to live action movies, mainly because I have found that the animated ones I try always end up being extremely weird and hard(er) to follow. Tekkonkinkreet is one of the exceptions. It's the story of two brothers, Black and White (more metaphor than than lazy parents), who run the streets of Treasure Town with no other family but each other. But when corrupt businessmen try to take the town they consider theirs, the two are in for the fight of their lives. Every now and then, and anime film will hit that just seems to find a rhyme and reason much further than most others. Great story and love and family and really show the degree of what people who do for those that they love.
(Try not to base your entire opinion in this trailer though. Foreign trailers are always weird)