L'Incal Noire

I just finished reading Jodorowsky and Moebius' famous album, The Incal, this last weekend.  While it is considered to be one of the great works of science fiction in its genre, it is more amazing to try and dissect the intracacies.  Having picked up this little tome at The Secret Headquarters, I'm sure there are many in that same shop who have an opinion or two about it.  Well, here's mine at least.

to summarize the plot of The Incal would take way more room than I feel ready to commit to ether, so instead I'll just summarize by saying a galaxy is in jeopardy for the sole purpose of a group of alien beings seeking a mysterious object known as the Incal.  The question of identity, honor, maturity, and birth are examined, but one would expect nothing less philosophical from the writer and artist combination present.  Start to finish, the Incal is a picaresque journey of astrological proportions.  What begins with descent, ends in ascent, figuratively.  It's a delightfully elliptical and inspiring precursor to Metal Hurlant and all the novellas that would come after it.

A few notes, at times it seemed that Jodorowsky was writing this piece on the fly.  If it weren't for the fact that it was too entertaining for me to even care, it would be annoying to picture both he and Jean Giraud cackling at the insanity of each page.  While this is true, I do believe that the work itself cemented Moebius as one of the great visual storytellers of our era.  If you've never seen his work before and are a fan of the medium, it's as mandatory as any Miyazaki film would be to an animation buff.

Although the ending felt slightly disappointing, it ended up making sense in the long run.  The entire theme can be summed up as a great struggle between light and dark, as most adventures can be, but it's as fitting as it is bittersweet.  Packed with imaginative visuals and even more densely crammed with dialog, I'd recommend it to anyone who's a fan of graphic storytelling medium.  If you're but a casual reader, however, I'd save this one for the back of the shelf.

Fwd: Cooooooachella!

By the by, here's the unconfirmed Coachella line-up for 2007, which includes Rage Against the Machine!!

!!!
Air
Erol Alkan
Lily Allen
Anathallo
The Arcade Fire
Arctic Monkeys
The Avett Brothers
Benny Benassi
Andrew Bird
Bjork
The Black Keys
Blonde Redhead
Bojones
Brazilian Girls
Brother Ali
Busdriver
Manu Chao
Circa Survive
Jarvis Cocker
Coco Rosie
Comedians Of Comedy
Cornelius
The Coup
The Cribs
Crowded House
CSS
The Decemberists
Digitalism
DJ Heather
DJ Shadow
Roky Erickson And The Explosives
Evil Nine
Explosions In The Sky
Fair To Midland
Faithless
The Feeling
Felix Da Housecat
Lupe Fiasco
The Fields
Fountains Of Wayne
The Frames
The Fratellis
Ghostface Killah
Girl Talk
Gogol Bordello
Jose Gonzales
The Good, The Bad And The Queen
Gotan Project
Grizzly Bear
Happy Mondays
Richie Hawtin
Hot Chip
Infected Mushroom
Interpol
The Kooks
Jack's Mannequin
Junior Boys
Justice
Kaiser Chiefs
Kings Of Leon
Klaxons
Kokono No. 1
LCD Soundsystem
Amos Lee
Stephen Marley feat Jr. Gong
Mika
MSTRKRFT
Willie Nelson
New Pornographers
Nickel Creek
Nightwatchman
The Noisettes
Of Montreal
Ozomatli
Peaches
Peeping Tom
Peter, Bjorn & John
Pharaohe Monche
Placebo
Pop Levi
Rage Against The Machine
The Rapture
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Mike Relm
Damien Rice
Rodrigo Y Gabriela
The Roots
Satellite Party
Silversun Pickups
Sonic Youth
Soulwax
Spank Rock
Sparklehorse
Regina Spektor
Tapes 'n Tapes
Tiesto
Tilly And The Wall
Tokyo Police Club
Travis
Paul Van Dyk
Julieta Venegas
VNV Nation
Rufus Wainwright
We Are Scientists
Gillian Welch
Amy Winehouse
Yeva

I'll make sure to update with links as soon as the official word is out. 

Wii-licious

Yes, oh yes.  We've secured the latest and greatest in the Nintendo line-up, the much sought-after and legendary Nintendo Wii.  At one time referred to as the Revolution, the Wii is the biggest risk and, so far, the greatest recent success in their line of home consoles.  When the set-top box itself was revealed, I personally wasn't too intrigued, at least until they revealed their control scheme...

Traditionally, consoles come with a single controller to use with both hands.  Building on the innovation of the DS, Nintendo decided to branch out to those undiscovered demographics and included a one-handed remote control that could be paired with numerous accessories.  The most useful of which is the nunchuk control stick.  The unique part of this one-handed remote scheme is its motion-sensing technology.  With the remote, you can aim, slash, and drive your way through games without any previous experience.  I thought this was a great way to reach out to the uninitiated, and I was never more right than when I saw the mad dash to pick up the console.

We were lucky enough to pick one up this last weekend and so far, it's been a blast.  The bundle we secured came with two games and the console itself.  As I've familiarized myself with Twilight Princess, I've fallen in love with the Zelda franchise again, but the surprising game so far has been Wii Sports .  While I'm not very good at the baseball portion of the game, bowling, boxing, golf, and tennis are all sorts of fun.  You'd think we were crazy, swinging that remote around all over the place.  You'd think so, at least until you've played it.

So until I get tired of it, bored of it, or ready for some innovations, the Wii is an initial success.  We'll come back in six months when we've had a little more time to break this sucker in.

Nostalgia City

That's the Stuff
Originally uploaded by kardinalsin.

It's a year for looking back, it seems. 10 years removed from high school will do that to you, I guess. It probably wouldn't hold much water, but since there's a reunion coming up, you start hearing from people you haven't heard from in a long, long time, and it brings back lots of memories. One of my favorites was always our trips to Jose McCoy's.

For the uninitiated, this place was our Peach Pit. Across the street from our high school, it was a local taco/hamburger place that served it up hot and cheap. I remember we could get a large carton of fries to share with each other and I'd also usually get a bean and cheese burrito. We could spend a couple hours there and just hang out. You know, high school stuff. So, when the shopping center where Jose McCoy's was bought out, it was with much sadness that we saw it shut down.

Luckily, it re-opened a couple of years ago in a new location, but with the same ownership and the same simple menu. Having not been there in a while, I took a trip on Friday to see if it was still the same experience. While the food wasn't as great as I remembered, it still brought back those memories.

Here's to that nostalgia though. As the reunion gets closer, I'm sure there will be more to report.

Globes! - Recap

Here's the rundown from last night, and just so you know I'm not lying, here's the original post as well:

MOTION PICTURE CATEGORIES
DRAMATIC PICTURE
Prediction - The Departed. The Hollywood Foreign Press loves Scorsese.
Winner - Babel. The HFPA loves diversity even better.

MUSICAL OR COMEDY PICTURE
Prediction - Dreamgirls. A pure musical, the ensemble performances are said to be some of the strongest so far this year.
Winner - Dreamgirls. Big night for this picture, it seems.


FOREIGN LANGUAGE PICTURE
Prediction - Letters from Iwo Jima. Having shown up on a few critics' "Best Of" lists, I'm gonna say it's heavily favored to take away the award.
Winner - Letters from Iwo Jima. The critics can't be wrong.


BEST DIRECTOR
Prediction - Martin Scorsese. I'd like to see him win just because the sheer force of working with such big names has to make him more of an icon than he already is.
Winner - Martin Scorsese. It's still a mystery as to how the director and picture can be two different animals in this case, but Scorsese is the man.


BEST DRAMATIC ACTOR
Prediction - Forest Whitaker. He may be the dark horse of the group, but he always delivers consistently.
Winner - Forest Whitaker. Once again, he delivers.


BEST DRAMATIC ACTRESS
Prediction - Penelope Cruz. I love her Spanish language work.
Winner - Helen Mirren. Apparently, she was amazing. This film is still on my "to see" list.


BEST ACTOR, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Prediction - Johnny Depp. For the same reason that the academy loves Scorsese, they love the Depp.
Winner - Sacha Baren Cohen. I should have known the international flavor would help.


BEST ACTRESS, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Prediction - Annette Bening. Wouldn't it be nice for her to win while her husband accepts a lifetime achievement award?
Winner - Meryl Streep. I would have liked to have seen Bening win, does Meryl Streep need any more awards?


SUPPORTING DRAMATIC ACTOR
Prediction - Jack Nicholson. Although I was going to pick Affleck, because I love the underdog, Jack Nicholson is the smart bet.
Winner - Eddie Murphy. Like I said, "Dreamgirls" had a big night.


SUPPORTING DRAMATIC ACTRESS
Prediction - Jennifer Hudson. I don't think I've ever heard so much buzz about a cinematic performance in a long time.
Winner - Jennifer Hudson. And the buzz pays off.


ANIMATED FILM
Prediction - "Cars." Pixar wins, every time.
Winner - "Cars." Nice to see John Lasseter in a tie. That guy loves his job.

SCREENPLAY
Prediction - Guillermo Arriaga. From what I've heard, "Babel" is another classic Inarritu film weaving and intersecting around several complex characters. Writing such a film deserves an award all by itself.
Winner - Peter Morgan. "The Queen" rakes in the award for stellar writing. It's the international flavor, I tell you, either way.


ORIGINAL SCORE
Prediction - Hans Zimmer. Unfortunately, I don't recognize any other names.
Winner - Alexandre Desplat. I haven't heard much about "The Painted Veil" but it's got Oscar written all over it.


SONG
Prediction - "Listen." Beyonce's gotta win, because she's popular.
Winner - "The Song of the Heart." Beyonce's nightmare year continues.


TELEVISION CATEGORIES
DRAMATIC TV SERIES
Prediction - "Heroes." Because it's such a tough category, I'm going for the new show. I say Grey's is the favorite because it's the least genre-ish and the most mainstream, but I'd like to see Heroes take it all.
Winner - "Grey's Anatomy." Should have gone with the favorite, eh?


BEST ACTOR, TV DRAMA
Prediction - Hugh Laurie. Who could play Sherlock Holmes better than Hugh Laurie? Nobody, that's who.
Winner - Hugh Laurie. Nobody does it better.


BEST ACTRESS, TV DRAMA
Prediction - Kyra Sedgewick. While Eve and Ellen, who can get their cry on at the drop of a hat, are quite popular, Kyra plays a strong, complex character week in and week out on "The Closer." Although Edie Falco's character on "The Sopranos" is award fodder, Kyra walks away with this one.
Winner - Kyra Sedgewick. She's simply great in this role. A big win for her and the show.

TV SERIES, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Prediction - "The Office." Easily the funniest show of the bunch.
Winner - "Ugly Betty." The new entry takes home the prize after only half a season. Pretty incredible.


BEST ACTOR, TV MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Prediction - Alec Baldwin. I love Scrubs and I love Steve Carell's work in general, but Mr. Baldwin does a great job at playing the all-powerful, all-seeing network executive.
Winner - Alec Baldwin. Simply the best part of one of the top new shows this season.


BEST ACTRESS, TV MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Prediction - America Ferrera. She's not really that "Ugly."
Winner - America Ferrera. Seriously, did you think she wouldn't win?

BEST MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Prediction - "Elizabeth I." I'm throwing this out there as a shot in the dark.
Winner - "Elizabeth I." Bullseye.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MINI-SERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Prediction - Gillian Anderson. SCULLY!
Winner - Helen Mirren. Two in one night for both a movie and a mini-series. How awesome.


BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINI-SERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Prediction - Bill Nighy. Even if Mr. Ejiofor was great in Serenity, Bill Nighy really delves deep into his performances.
Winner - Bill Nighy. Can you believe I picked this based on his performance in Pirates 2? Neither can I.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Prediction - Sarah Paulson . The Lisp wins!
Winner - Emily Blunt. Who!?

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Prediction - Masi Oka. Hiro is awesome. More awesome than the Pivs.
Winner - Jeremy Irons. The international flavor pulls through again.

CECIL B. DEMILLE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Warren Beatty

Prediction - Like this one even needs a prediction...
Winner - Yea... that would be lame.

So, not too bad this year. 48%, but I'm no expert.

Twenty-Four!!!

Jack Bauer is back!

And while I really don't wish this were true, it was kind of neat to see our neighborhood featured for a split second during the first part of the two-night season premiere.  You can tell things aren't at all the same, and with this show, that is always a good thing.

One question, though.  If they were to make a movie out of 24, would they call it "2" or maybe even "1:45?"  Hrm...

C.E.Diss.

Normally, my compatriots and I would be enjoying a fair weekend in Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show.  Even thought last year was kind of a bomb, due to our being at the show for a scant two hours, we were dead set on returning in full glory this year to take in the new fancy-pants electronics the convention had to offer.

Not so fast.

Last year's entrance was somewhat dubious, as they sought to crack down on actual Consumers being at said show, the organizers required some form of business identification upon entry.  Having none, we were still able to make it in.  I'd like to say it was on 90% charm, but the reality is, it was the last day so who cares who comes in.  At any rate, I figured this year would be a bit more difficult again, but that was the least of our worries.

In an effort to cut down on all the riff-raff, CES decided to schedule the conference during the week instead of on the weekend.  Of course, the weekend was always ideal for us, as most business people get paid to enter the convention hall, we do not.  So in essence, they were trying to cut down on the audience participation and instead pack the halls with suits.  What fun for the show, but what a drag for the every day tech-head.

Respectfully, I can imagine how frustrating it must be for the people manning the booths to try and sell their wares in bulk to non-retail attendees, but I feel that the show instead has lost touch.  One of the reasons people love the LA Auto Show is because they actually can see and touch the products they've been hearing about for so long.  Yes, it's costly to try and keep up with the large number of attendees, but where do your profits come from if there aren't enough people to spend money?

Even so, I imagine this really isn't a problem for the convention at all.  I'd really hate to see CES go the way of the Electronics Entertainment Expo though, which shuttered its doors after exhibitors claimed the cost of attending was too high.  I still think the excitement would ramp up and costs could have been eliminated had the show gone to a ticketed event.

On the other hand, maybe it would end up like Comic-Con and the parking, entering, and navigating could be a nightmare.

Abracadabra

Quentin Tarantino burst on the scene over 10 years ago with his debut film, Pulp Fiction, during a time when cinema was in the burgeoning stages of an independent film boom.  One would say that it was this film that begat the many copycats with pop culture spewing hitmen and wiseguys, but what I remember most is the originality of the setting, usage of camera, and especially storytelling.  The disjointed narrative has become quite popular thereafter, with only a few films even coming close to matching his prowess.  That same feeling of witnessing the birth of a remarkable filmmaker touched down again five years ago after sitting through Christopher Nolan's Memento.  From the opening frame to the end, I was rapt.  The freshness of the storytelling really kept it a clean reminder of good cinema, but it was his dedication to character development that drew me in completely. With Insomnia and Batman Begins following said movie, my anticipation of his next was quite high.  When I found out he'd be re-teaming with Michael Caine and Christian Bale for The Prestige, I was already sold before a trailer had even been shown.

One must understand, that I do have an affinity for magic as it were.  Not movie magic or the magic one often reads in novels, but for tried and true magicians.  Seeing as the Prestige covers this subject matter, it's natural that I'm a sucker for the film to begin with.  Having not had the opportunity to see it when it first came out, G and I hopped on down to the good ol' Woodbridge Super Saver cinema in Irvine for our $1.50 movie tickets.  When you pay that much for your movie, there's no complaining about a dirty, old theater, there's just the knowledge you just paid $3 for two people to get into the movies.  Awesome.

Anyhow, this movie was great.  Set during the dawn of the electrical age, the Prestige follows the exploits of two rival magicians on a deadly collision course.  With Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman in the lead roles, there's no doubt the acting was stellar, strengthened by strong supporting turns by David Bowie, Michael Caine, and a somewhat underused Scarlett Johansson.  The performances bring a lot of life to the film, especially since the plot itself is so complex.  It's safe to say there is no shortage of twists or turns without spoiling anything, but let's also say that we spent a good 15 minutes afterwards trying to summarize everything neatly.

In any case, I was impressed yet again by Mr. Nolan's adaptation of the original novel (which I have yet to read) which seemingly departs in a more sinister direction.  While many people would raise a questionable eyebrow at the screenplay choices made, I have to applaud the decisions.  To truly appreciate it, I suppose I'd have to read through the source material first, and after having seen the movie, I may move that book to the top of my reading queue.  What struck me the most about the film, eventually, was the subtle ways in which Mr. Nolan reveals his hand.  Much like a magic trick, the three-act structure of most movies leads to a climax just like that of a prestige.  Only the best movies though, can leave the audience fooled and feeling better for having been had.  The Prestige is such a movie.

Final Score:  4 out of 5 stars.

Tokidoki Cheshire

Tokidoki Cheshire
Originally uploaded by kardinalsin.

I think I've posted about this show before, but I thought it might be enjoyable to see the whole set of Cheshire Cat customs from the show at 1988. Enjoy!

El Gato Anaranjado

toby
Originally uploaded by kardinalsin.

If anyone remembers the adventuresof Toby the Cat then you should be happy to know that he is super happy and healthy with his new owner. He's grown a lot, but he's still the same friendly and frisky cat that we met that morning in July. I'm very happy to report that he was given a clean bill of health by the vet and has made himself quite at home in his new surroundings.

I've promised Grace that I won't be picking up any more stray cats hanging around my car again in the coming year, but it's hard to keep that promise. We're 2 for 3 so far, given that one cat was not rescue-able and the other two were more people-friendly. I do recommend though, that if you find a lost animal in need of help, you should probably call animal control. The only drawback to this is the fact that there's no guarantee the animal will be safe and sound within a week.

For now, I'm happy that Toby has found a home along with his half-brother Hobie the Christmas Cat. We'll have to pay him visits as often as we can, allergies permitting.

El Año Nuevo

The happiest new year to everyone out there!  We made it big in '06 and we're going to go even bigger in '07.  Just remember to have fun and keep your nose clean.