Just a quick post to point out that I am, in fact, still drawing breath. I've got a lot going on right now and once I get through this weekend I will resume posting!
-Matt
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Subliminal or Obvious?
Funniest story I've seen in a while. The UK Office of Government Commerce needed a new logo. They hired a branding agency, and they got this:
Not bad, right?
Well, then they looked at it, turned on its side:
If it's not funny to you, look at it a bit longer.
According to Comment Central (the blog I saw this story on), they are sticking with the logo. They explained:
Not bad, right?
Well, then they looked at it, turned on its side:
If it's not funny to you, look at it a bit longer.
According to Comment Central (the blog I saw this story on), they are sticking with the logo. They explained:
We concluded that the effect was generic to the particular combination of the letters 'OGC' - and is not inappropriate to an organisation that's looking to have a firm grip on government spend.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Fantasy to "Reality": Hits and Misses
When one of your favorite fictional characters from childhood makes the move to a live action feature film, it's a bittersweet moment. Of course, it's exciting to get a chance to see one of these characters realized in the flesh. However, it rarely works out. Many of the movie manifestations of these heroes and villains are highly disappointing. Here's a quick run down of some of the hits and misses.
The Hits
Spider Man
Todd McFarlane had an enormously successful run as the artist of Spider Man in the late 1980s and early 1990s. His version of the character was a more lithe and agile Spidey that had a more "spidery" feel. This look was captured perfectly by the three Spider Man films.
Batman ("Batman Begins" version)
Batman is a dark, tragic figure. A "hero" fueled by the untimely loss of his parents and a desire for revenge. Batman has no powers, and part of the rationale of his costume is to strike fear into the hearts of criminals. Successful artists of the Batman comics over the years used plenty of shadow. Despite the fact that the movie version of Batman lost the blue and gray in favor of an all black batsuit, the Batman Begins version of Batman is spot on.
Iron Man
What is there to even say about this one? From what we've seen in the trailers, the new Robert Downy-inhabited Iron Man suit is a dead ringer for the armor that we've seen in the comics for years. I'm really looking forward to this one.
Honorable Mentions: Superman (both Reeves and Routh), Dr. Octopus (Spider Man 2), Venom (Spider Man 3)
The Misses
The Incredible Hulk
The Incredible Hulk is supposed to be an enormous, larger than life, destructive physical manifestation of rage. However, the unconvincing CGI creation for the 2003 film (sarcastically called "Gumby" by irritated fans) looked less rage filled, and more like the Hulk was grappling with a particularly tricky long division problem.
Snake Eyes
I've written about Snake Eyes in an earlier post, but to summarize: he's the ultimate bad ass. A mute ninja AND commando who also has a wolf as a pet. WHAT? I know. Awesome. Unfortunately, in the new photo released from the set of the upcoming GI Joe movie, Snake Eyes appears to be encased in some sort of vinyl fetishist's evening wear.
Wolverine
The Wolverine of the comic world is a hot-tempered, animalistic maniac. He wears a yellow and blue costume and has very odd hair. For the X-Men films, they wisely scrapped the brightly colored costume...but inexplicably kept the ridiculous hair. Visually, it doesn't work.
Dishonorable Mentions: The Punisher, Batman (of the Joel Schumacher variety - the costumes had nipples, people!), Daredevil, The Thing (from the Fantastic Four movie).
The Hits
Spider Man
Todd McFarlane had an enormously successful run as the artist of Spider Man in the late 1980s and early 1990s. His version of the character was a more lithe and agile Spidey that had a more "spidery" feel. This look was captured perfectly by the three Spider Man films.
Batman ("Batman Begins" version)
Batman is a dark, tragic figure. A "hero" fueled by the untimely loss of his parents and a desire for revenge. Batman has no powers, and part of the rationale of his costume is to strike fear into the hearts of criminals. Successful artists of the Batman comics over the years used plenty of shadow. Despite the fact that the movie version of Batman lost the blue and gray in favor of an all black batsuit, the Batman Begins version of Batman is spot on.
Iron Man
What is there to even say about this one? From what we've seen in the trailers, the new Robert Downy-inhabited Iron Man suit is a dead ringer for the armor that we've seen in the comics for years. I'm really looking forward to this one.
Honorable Mentions: Superman (both Reeves and Routh), Dr. Octopus (Spider Man 2), Venom (Spider Man 3)
The Misses
The Incredible Hulk
The Incredible Hulk is supposed to be an enormous, larger than life, destructive physical manifestation of rage. However, the unconvincing CGI creation for the 2003 film (sarcastically called "Gumby" by irritated fans) looked less rage filled, and more like the Hulk was grappling with a particularly tricky long division problem.
Snake Eyes
I've written about Snake Eyes in an earlier post, but to summarize: he's the ultimate bad ass. A mute ninja AND commando who also has a wolf as a pet. WHAT? I know. Awesome. Unfortunately, in the new photo released from the set of the upcoming GI Joe movie, Snake Eyes appears to be encased in some sort of vinyl fetishist's evening wear.
Wolverine
The Wolverine of the comic world is a hot-tempered, animalistic maniac. He wears a yellow and blue costume and has very odd hair. For the X-Men films, they wisely scrapped the brightly colored costume...but inexplicably kept the ridiculous hair. Visually, it doesn't work.
Dishonorable Mentions: The Punisher, Batman (of the Joel Schumacher variety - the costumes had nipples, people!), Daredevil, The Thing (from the Fantastic Four movie).
Friday, April 18, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
10 Terrible Hulk Toys
The web site Topless Robot has just put together a list of the "10 Most Incredibly Lame Hulk Toys". It's really hard to disagree about the "incredibly lame" characterization, but I have to admit, I would've loved ALL of these toys as a child.
Looking through the list, I'm surprised by two things. First, not only did I not own any of these Hulk toys, but I don't even remember a single item on this list. I may have been just slightly too young for many of these. A few of the images indicate that at least some of these toys were produced in 1979, when I was four years old. Secondly, there actually IS one item in that blog post that I owned, but it's not one of the Hulk toys. Rather, it's the Spider Man ski mask that is pictured along side the horrible Hulk mask. Not only did I have it as a kid...but I think I still have it today. I think I have pictures of one of my daughters wearing it.
I highly recommend reading that entry, not only to look at the ridiculous, no-imagination toys that they were peddling to kids 30 years ago, but also because the commentary is hilarious. Consider this statement on the Hulk roller skates:
"To top it off, the extremely questionable Hulk faces on the skates don’t look particularly angry but more as if he farted at a dinner party."
Thanks to Dan for the link.
Looking through the list, I'm surprised by two things. First, not only did I not own any of these Hulk toys, but I don't even remember a single item on this list. I may have been just slightly too young for many of these. A few of the images indicate that at least some of these toys were produced in 1979, when I was four years old. Secondly, there actually IS one item in that blog post that I owned, but it's not one of the Hulk toys. Rather, it's the Spider Man ski mask that is pictured along side the horrible Hulk mask. Not only did I have it as a kid...but I think I still have it today. I think I have pictures of one of my daughters wearing it.
I highly recommend reading that entry, not only to look at the ridiculous, no-imagination toys that they were peddling to kids 30 years ago, but also because the commentary is hilarious. Consider this statement on the Hulk roller skates:
"To top it off, the extremely questionable Hulk faces on the skates don’t look particularly angry but more as if he farted at a dinner party."Thanks to Dan for the link.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Great Quote
Great quote from one of my favorite singer/songwriters, Sean Altman, about the release of his new CD, which is a comedic look at Jewish culture.
Have you gotten any flack for the CD? I wouldn't say flack. I think when people see the title "Jewmongous," [they know] it's not an Israeli folk troupe.
Have you gotten any flack for the CD? I wouldn't say flack. I think when people see the title "Jewmongous," [they know] it's not an Israeli folk troupe.
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