Comic Con

[click on all pictures for larger version]

The convention center from the escalator:
the kind of picture you take when your parents are architects.

Comic Con was a blast. And I hafta start out with a mention of my favorite costume, that of Buddy Christ, who was kind enough to let me pose with him. Second up had to be the Yoda puppet guy, dressed like a Jedi and operating a puppet Yoda, complete with Frank Oz-ish voice. The costumes were wild, saw a bunch of 501st fellows, a Doc Holliday, bunches of Jokers, too much anime for my taste, but to each his/her own.

Got a card signed by the great Mike Mignola, and then attended a panel he and Mike Carey (got a paper signed by him, since I haven't bought his new book- waiting for the paperback) and some other guys sat on about the difference between writing novels and comics. The friend I was with fell asleep at that one; we don't quite have the same tastes. She chose to attend the Jim Henson showing and the Who Wants to Be a Superhero? panel, which was quite entertaining, except that everyone who asked a question during the Q&A session just wanted to get Stan Lee's autograph. I hit up the Villains panel (terrible, a bunch of YA authors making jokes and a crappy moderator), the Mignola-Carey-other guys panel, the Ben Templesmith panel (there's a blurry picture I took down there; check out much better pictures here) which we left early because friend wasn't interested/fell asleep/we had to get in line for the Doctor Strange movie, which was decent but I don't know a thing about Doctor Strange except that he showed up in an Uncanny X-Men I was reading once.

Doing the paparazzi thing with Stan Lee. Lucky to get this shot, albeit blurry.

And the Indyfan gathering. They talked with Bob Burns, Tony Baxer, and Hasbro reps. Learned that Young Indy will be coming out on DVD starting 10/23! They passed out raffle tickets for a trivia contest, and even though I was thinking Please don't pick mine, they did (I think this is officially the first time I've "won" a raffle), and I was up on stage with 15 others answering trivia questions. I have terrible terrible stage fright, which I know from years of violin recitals, but on the other hand, I'm totally obsessed with Indy, so I somehow managed to get to the final 4 before all of us but one got killed on the question "Who appears in all 3 Indy movies besides Harrison Ford?" If you've seen the films, you can probably name the actor's roles: the giant Thuggee, the German mechanic, some solider in Crusade. But only one guy knew the actor's name; incidentally, it was the one guy out of all of us in an Indiana Jones costume, haha. Answer: Pat Roach. I should have known that. Prize was a Holy Grail replica presented by a knight. Sweeet. I got a shirt. The Indyfan documentary, which they were gathering material for at the Convention, has a myspace, and you can see the trailer here. Cute.

Indyfan panel.

Friendly BPRD agent; Gambit; steampunk ghostbuster;
Violet; scary Rorschach; friendly dude in Jayne hat

An embarrassingly bad picture of Ben Templesmith & David Slade.

The lovely Rosario Dawson promoting her new comic/film.

Ridiculously cute Star Wars Chubbies.

Gettin' on the turbolift; crazy Jedi.

Heath Ledger as the Joker.

Yorick banner that DC should give to me even though I have no idea what I'd do with it.

If you ever get the chance, I definitely recommend checking out Comic Con, if only for one day. The only downsides are traffic and teeny bopper anime otakus (no offense, but isn't Anime Expo enough) running around hitting each other with sticks and, of course, the lines. Nothing you can't deal with. And all for the sake of amazing panels and guests, lotsa exclusives, and nice freebies, plus crazy costumed folks wandering around like it's totally normal.

Btw. I did not get any permission to post the photos of those fine costumed folks, so if by some crazy probability freakout you are one of these people and would rather not be featured on this blog, please let me know.

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi: The Original Radio Drama

It's that time again! Here's the Return of the Jedi radio drama, available this time all at once and in just 3 easy downloads! Though, unfortunately, each time I try to import the last bonus track, the program freezes, so if anybody has that file and would like to donate it, as it were, that would be great. I'll keep trying, however. Terribly sorry about that.

I hope everyone has enjoyed this Star Wars run and all are getting maximum listening pleasure from these outstanding productions. Have fun with this last installment, and may the Force be with you :] If you're craving more Star Wars all the time, I heartily recommend Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy, widely considered to be the sort of default Episodes VII, VIII, and IX that Lucas will never give us (and that we probably don't want from him- *Indy IV. . .*)

• Episodes 1 & 2 & Bonus Tracks
  
• Episodes 3 & 4 & Bonus Tracks
  
• Episodes 5 & 6
  

Fifteen years after the dramatic success of National Public Radio's adaptation of Star Wars, the production team re-formed to create Return of the Jedi: The Original Radio Drama. Though the running time is scaled down to three hours, listeners are still treated to an expanded story line and new scenes. Another fine cast is assembled, with radio series veterans Perry King and Ann Sachs as Han Solo and Leia Organa, and newcomer Joshua Fardon as an excellent Luke Skywalker. While Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) is the only actor from the film, Ed Begley Jr. contributes a gravely voiced Boba Fett, John Lithgow adds a rather somber Yoda, and Edward Asner, hopefully not being typecast, makes a believable Jabba the Hutt--though only an expert would be able to tell if his Huttese pronunciation is correct. The characters of this radio production inhabit a stereo soundscape created by careful blending of sound effects and John Williams's music from the original films. As with the two previous productions--Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, Jedi is a treat for the ears--and the mind's eye. Any Star Wars fan will enjoy this production, even though it does mean imagining rather than seeing Anakin with his mask and helmet off or Luke defeating the Rancor. Besides, the Ewoks are much less annoying when you can't see them. (Running time: 3 hours, 3 cassettes) --C.B. Delaney

*Star Wars geeks should keep an ear out for "Arica" in the Jabba's palace scenes.

[Buy]
[Picture source]

I really appreciated the feedback on the Godfather question, so I'm gonna give it a go with another easy question and see if we get more comments.

Q: In what order do you rank the 6 Star Wars films? And by what criteria? Quality? Enjoyment? Presence of annoying alien races, by percentage? :]

San Diaahgo

I am leaving by Amtrak tonight to go to San Diego via Irvine for the weekend. Why? Am I going to some awesome old school punk festival with crazy drinking and outta control sing-a-longs? Maybe to see the Dead Sea Scrolls? No- I'm going to Comic Con. Big fucking geek.

I've actually never been to one of these before, so I'm pretty excited. I'm not dressing up but I will be wandering around in a GL shirt one day and a Blue Sun shirt (if I finish making it today- I am a huge fan of the $2 Hanes Small V-neck and some freezer paper and paint) the next day. My Con buddy might dress up as the Flash. I'm trying to convince her to enter the costume contest while I stand in the audience and cheer, safely.

Hopefully I'll get free stuff.

So have a great weekend and fun in the sun.

Haha, got totally sidetracked. The reason I'm telling you all this is that because I will be gone, I am posting all the Return of the Jedi episodes today. Now before you say "What's 'today' in the Noise Annoys special timezone?" I can assure you that they will be posted as soon as the files are done uploading onto Rapidshare. Stay tuned!

For everyone who doesn't want to read all that:

Coming today (7/26/07) for real- the Return of the Jedi radio drama!

The NOISEttes

Having been hearing the Noisettes on the radio all summer, I finally decided to be a little hip and check out the rest of the album, so I'm listening to "What's the Time Mr Wolf," and I'm wanting to like it more than I am. I'm ignoring the Yeah Yeah Yeah comparisons because I honestly don't like the YYYs. So far, I think singer Shingai Shoniwa has a much more powerful and flexible voice than Karen O and carries herself better. As for the music, and despite the initial sense of bombast, the longer I listen, the more it seems that the group has tried to stuff a lot of sounds into a track-by-track shrinkwrap of too much of one thing. That said, it's a decent and at times fun album, but while it doesn't exactly become stale, it doesn't tend towards the alluded to color and excitement.

Most of the critics are able to appreciate this release more than I.

The Noisettes rarely let their ambitions get the better of them. Any band capable of fusing such divergent sounds and ideas so completely and compellingly is worth hearing -- and watching [xx].

‘Count Of Monte Christo’ could almost be Norah Jones if that was human blood coursing through her veins, and hidden duet ‘Never Fall In Love Again’ is a disarming bit of whimsy like Jack and Meg at their most quietly incestuous. “Scratch your name into the fabric of this world before you go!” Shingai pleads heroically on standout track ‘Scratch Your Name’, over a chorus that’ll do much the same for your cerebral cortex [xx].

Which is to say check it out, cos to each his own. The standout tracks for me are the first two, but then again, I started to lose interest a few tracks after taht. If you are able to groove to this more than I could, props to you. Either way, enjoy :]

• The Noisettes - What's the Time Mr Wolf
• Buy
  

Rush Hour 3 Trailers

I just learned that Rush Hour 3 is coming out this summer after I saw a giant poster on the side of some building while I was coming back from the doctor yesterday. I wouldn't be so excited had I not been watching the first film on television the other day, so I hafta admit, I'll be seeing it when it comes out (as I had mentioned in the last post). It looks like an easy film to watch, and fairly predictable. What better summer watching? Jackie Chan is being amiable as usual (though he usually plays a cad in his Chinese language films, I've been told) and Chris Tucker, who I thought dropped off the face of the earth, looks chubbier and just as annoying.

• Rush Hour 3 Trailers from Apple

Boys of Summer 2007 [the 'girlie' post]

Hi everyone. Haha, well you know that time does move slower in southern California. Sorry about the delay, with special apologies to Comrade Anonymous, Kilty McHaggis, and of course Rhetorical Rabbit.

I used to do this every year on another blog I had that only girls-I-knew read, but it's so fun I figured I'd continue it over here. The list is in no real order, and it's more like those lists that all the magazines do in that it's whoever is in vogue/doing projects at the moment. The difference here is that it's based on whatever I've been watching over the summer. Have fun! If anyone has any suggestions, please share them. I had a friend who wanted me to add Jackie Chan. I couldn't bring myself to do it, but you know I'll be in the theaters when Rush Hour 3 hits.

* denotes a link to a video that you should totally check out

Who: Al Pacino
What? Al-fucken-Pacino
Why: Attica! Attica!*

Who: Will Smith
What? That guy who thinks kids should read Plato's Republic sometime during the first grade [I'm sorry to say that I can't agree with that]. Smart, cute, &-- now we know-- crazy.
Why: Fresh Prince re-runs and the forthcoming I Am Legend. . . MOMMA NO!!**

Who: Matthew Lewis
What? That kid who plays Neville. The poor thing "wears yellow and crooked false teeth, two-sizes-too-big shoes and has plastic bits placed behind his ears in order to make them stick out more." [wikipedia]
Why: He's going to die in the seventh book, I just know it.

Who: Jack Davenport
What? Norrington
Why: Even though he was totally boring and REDEEMED himself [whose idea was that, pray tell] in Pirates 3, he gets a shout out here cos he won't be back for Pirates 4.

Who: Scott Weiland
What? Stone Temple Pilots, Velvet Revolver, Camp Freddy
Why? Even though I'm not really into his music (it's fine), him (though he is quite handsome, usually in a scary, emaciated way), or his shiny silver* pants and the way he dances [scary-scary!], the video for "She Builds Quick Machines"* off their new album Libertad has him for a dead ringer of Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name, plus molotov cocktails and exploding gas stations. Hot. I just hope this 3 minute video doesn't turn out to be more exciting than the other chase-n-fight-over-what-fell-from-the-sky release of the summer, Stardust. Cos I didn't see any serapes in the trailer for that movie.

Who: Kurt Russell
What? KURT RUSSELL. STUNTMAN MIKE.*
Why: I just love him; he seems like a genuinely nice guy. I even saw Sky High cos he was in it.

Who: Cillian Murphy
What? Oh, Cillian.
Why: He's swoon-worthily gorgeous. (And a fantastic actor.* That, too.)

Who: Nomar Garciaparra
What? This 30-second tv spot says it all.* Old rich Asian women love him. [Click on "Nomar Van," first on the left.]
Why: He might be in a slump that has the LATimes touting the oft-used "No More" pun, but he's the most popular jersey amongst the ladies at the games. Please ignore the red striping in the photo.

Who: Justin Timberlake
What?! I know. But as you guys know, I have had a weakness for this kid ever since FutureSex/LoveSounds came out- quite a good record.
Why: My new favorite track, "Lovestoned/I Think She Knows Interlude"* with its lovely ending, is now paired up with a video PLUS Mr Timberlake has just opened a restaurant on the upper East side that may be the place I can finally go for a good pulled pork sandwich without having to wait for an hour outside of Dinosaur BBQ. We'll see. I do love me some pulled pork. And a Po-boy.

Life Won't Wait Demos

This has been going around, and because I think Life Won't Wait is one of the greatest albums of all time, I figured I'd upload and post the demos. Thanks to the wonderful whomever it was who originally uploaded.

• Rancid & Silencers Dub: Life Won't Wait Demos

Enjoy!

Coming tomorrow. . . a girly post!

And, for those uninitiated in the ways of Kate Bush, check out the sampler the fabulous Ken put together. Link's in the comment section of the last post. He also has a great post over at his place about Kate Bush's song "Cloudbusting."

"In five years the Corleone family will be completely legitimate."

I got bored again, but now that I'm done, I'm about to start bashing my head against the keyboard, so I'll be back tomorrow with some Rancid, more wisdom, and the answers to all your questions.

Maybe I should tell the whole story. I got back from work around 4pm and the best I could do was watch television, but all that was on was The Godfather III and some movie about British farm girls during WWII and all they seemed to be doing was eating and taking baths in an old washtub, and I couldn't watch Godfather III because 1) although I count the first 2 films among my favorite films, I haven't seen the third one, so there was no way I was gonna watch it on AMCommercials, and 2) it only took 30 seconds to realize, as others have, that Sofia Coppola should never go in front of the camera again. So that's when I got bored.

But I have to ask. Of the three, which is your favorite Godfather? The family drama of the first, the pathos of fraternal betrayal and crumbling marriage in the second, or the third one, which all I can say starts with a montage as if you decided to go see it without checking out the first two?

And now, a Public Service Announcement

for those who sent in inquiries-ps- Probably next week or the week after.
pps- Extra geekery points for ya if you can name that man. Come on, tell me in the comments. Don't be scared to admit you know exactly who this fella is. No seriously. Someone Star Wars geek out with me right now.
ppps- This is so cute. I want one.

That new Harry Potter movie: NOT ENOUGH NEVILLE

I got bored sometime in the afternoon and decided to give the blog a summery look, so there's a new banner now and some of the font color is changing. Boy, what an effort. Ha!

I did see the new Harry Potter movie and I swear, half of the kids are getting to be better actors and the other half (EMMA WATSON, KATIE LEUNG) just don't get it. It's embarassing when the peripheral actors (Crabbe & Goyle) are significantly better actors than the kid leads. My friend tried to convince me it wasn't Hermione's fault because she doesn't want to act, but wants to go to school, but let's face it. $4 million+ a movie and she can't put in a little effort? And Daniel Radcliffe is getting way to ripped. It's starting to look grotesque.

My gripes with Cho Chang re-surfaced, and suffice to say (since you don't want to hear me going on about this) "Cho Chang" has to be an Oriental name that a white Scottish woman who doesn't know any Orientals would come up with. That's like naming Hogwarts' token Hispanic student "Lopez Gonzalez" and thinking it sounds totally authentically, ethnically awesome. I don't think I would really be complaining if Cho Chang wasn't one of the most boring and irritating characters in the books, right after. . . uh, Harry. I'm of course selectively indignant.

All you need to know, really, is that Neville (my official favorite) is not in the film enough.

So the movie was decent, very much the 5th installment in an ongoing series, and I was that girl in the middle of the theater going "OH MY GOD, Umbridge's shoes are SO cute."

• Order of the Phoenix Soundtrack: [visit this site for a rapidshare and megaupload link, working as of this morning]
• my friend commented that this soundtrack had more variety, but I had to disagree. This one was quite excellent and a lot of fun, but compared to the third film's score, it fell short. I guess I'm just a John Williams loyalist.
  

So now that I sound like one of them crazy fangirls (which I'm not, I sware) hopefully I can talk to you about a more serious matter, and that is, with all the politicking and whatnot sweeping the nation, make sure you know who you're voting for, and who you believe in.

If you liked that one, check out this website, too. Make sure to press ctrl+A to see the text. This image was up there earlier (?).

It's porridge. And it's happy to see you.

So when I was like ten, Mulan was pretty much the shit, and we (10+/- year old girls) all knew the songs, and saw it a million times and knew all the lines and thought Mushu was very, very funny. And it even had the only 98 Degrees song I knew/know, which meant I was almost on the cutting edge of pop culture in 1998.

My sister and I watched the movie the other day during lunch. It's still a good film, the songs still fresh, and Jerry Goldsmith's score is top-notch. "A Girl Worth Fighting For" and "I'll Make a Man Out of You" are probably the vocal highlights. Not that I suggest running off to watch the movie. About 50% of what I thought was funny when I was ten didn't seem very funny this time around. But with the voices of that guy from SVU, that guy from Sixteen Candles, and Donny Osmond, can you really complain?

Here's the soundtrack. Go on. Download it. I won't tell anyone. (It's also great for the kids.)

• Mulan Soundtrack

No. I didn't see Mulan 2.

*

Also, check out Giant Robots. . . for a great download & volunteer opportunity. As an aside, it made me think of the Metalocalypse episode where lead singer Nathan Explosion has to record Shakespeare's complete works, and he does it in a monstrous growling, scratchy voice only to find out that whoever-it-was who was manning the board didn't press "record". Always remember to press record. (Sometimes at work I'll forget and then hafta discretely reach up and push the button. Hopefully nobody notices cos they never review the hardcopies, just the digital copies. Let's see if they re-hire me when I get back in the fall :p)

& The poor dear at Regnyouth got mugged the other day, so I'm sure any help or even just kind words will be appreciated over there.

A'ight. I'm off to see the new Harry Potter film now. It had better be good. Because lately, there have been no pretty boys to latch onto in that franchise and I'm losing interest! Shallow! Shallow!

Fido

Just wanted to recommend this film real quick. Saw it a few weeks ago at the Nuart and rather enjoyed it. The twist on the zombie genre is that these slow-moving zombies, controlled using technology from the great Zomcon, are now used to fill in manual labor and drone posts, including domestic positions and newspaper routes. The pacing is spot-on and the world that is created has been clearly thought out, from a newsreel that explains how the zombies came to be (The Zombie Wars), to the Returns/Repairs counter at the zombie plant. Very good natured and sweet and fun.

Zomcon
Official film site

The Good [all can be viewed at rottentomatoes.com]

• Fido [is] a wildly entertaining comedy. It has as much humor as horror, and a wonderfully wonky way of making its many cogent social critiques.
• For a one-joke movie, Fido does a fine job exploring every possible permutation of that joke.
• It's just a clever, pointed little fable about the price of complacent conformity, slavish worship of the status quo, and trading freedom for the illusion of safety, wrapped in a sugary-sweet, Jordan-almond-colored coating that looks good enough to eat.
• The cleverness of Fido's concept maintains enough charm to want to disregard that its satire is pretty thin.

The Bad ["]

• Fido is a one-joke movie with some good performances and a few good gross-out moments. But it’s not dark enough or sick enough to be a cult favorite.
• The concept is great and the movie has its moments. Just not enough of them.

A gerbajillionzillion Clash bootlegs

-from Lagrima Psicodelica. Have fun!

Clash bootlegs

Great big July 4th Post

I'm back!*

We'll start with the most HUH moment of this movie. . .

Wang Chi: Here's to the Army and Navy and the battles they have won; here's to America's colors, the colors that never run.
Jack Burton: May the wings of liberty never lose a feather.

Happy Fourth to those who celebrate it! Make sure and have a fun 'n' safe holiday!

*

It seems the hot dog eating championship title has been reclaimed by America, with Californian Joey Chestnut snatching the prize this year from the bazillion-time champ Kobayashi, who unfortunately has arthritis of the jaw.

*

Stan Freberg's United States of America, a satire/comedy re-telling of America's history. Stan Freberg is best known for his parodies, and this comes out throughout the work, as does his advertising background. Volume 1 is couched in the atmosphere of the time in which it was made, with references to HUAC and censorship. Volume 1 is "often thought of as the 'Sgt. Peppers' of comedy albums" and features among other figures a hilariously vain but well-meaning Washington and con artist Ben Franklin. It starts with Columbus' discovery of America and ends with the American Revolution. Volume 2, which was produced over thirty years later, starts right where number 1 left off and shoots through wars, technological developments, and cultural landmarks, ending with the end of WWI. It's great fun, with a remarkably high re-listen value.

> > Stan Freberg's The United States of America, Vols 1 & 2 [megaupload, as it is quite big]
[buy]

One of America and the modern era's finest composers, Aaron Copland, with Copland Conducts Copland, which features Appalachian Spring, Old American Songs, and the always thrilling Rodeo. Enjoy!

> >Copland Conducts Copland

Sorry this is being posted so late in the day. Gosh darn files took forever to upload. I'm gonna go eat now. Have a great holiday and a happy hump day for the rest of the gang.
___________________________________
* Got back yesterday after a fun-filled excursion that included awesome caves, incredibly scary & hellacious mountain roads, lotsa hiking up ridiculous grades, and no bears. If you are ever in Redding and want a real good biscuits & gravy breakfast, or just about any breakfast, do check out Maverick's, located on Shasta Road [???]. Friendly waitresses, good prices, and beaucoup de yummies. I love biscuits and gravy, which you never see on the menus in New York. Additionally, I highly recommend the Lava Beds National Monument and DO NOT recommend staying at a campsite on Whiskeytown Lake unless you want to spend all night listening to how that drunk guy over there GREW UP IN REDDING BUT MOVED TO EUREKA AND THERE WAS A WATERTOWER. I prefer quieter camp sites if I'm getting up in the morning for hiking & fun. The lake itself is a nice canoe site, especially with its sunken road, which totally sounds like a Hardy Boys book- The Mystery of the Sunken Road. Or sumthin.

The Empire Strikes Back: The Original Radio Drama, Episodes 3-10

Sorry about the delay, pretty Padawans. Enjoy, and thanks for your patience and for continuing to stop by.

[buy]

[picture source]

& for more geekery, Check out theforce.net's Casting Call.