Saturday, June 24, 2006

Spellcheck Recognized "Superheroes" And Not "Supervillians." Take That, Evildoers!

The What I'm Whatevering List
because I know you care...

Last Movie I’ve Seen: Superman. Not Returns – the 1978 one. It must be tough, having to do these origin movies, because while the story is allegedly about how Superman became Superman, you know everyone is just waiting for the moment where the transformation actually happens – even the best superhero movies have a certain amount of, “That’s cool and all, but…how ‘bout those superheroics?” (Well, okay, maybe not the best because The Incredibles rocked the whole way through.) Everything before that moment is just build-up that most of your audience already knows.

But it’s possible pull off, and this one does it just fine. Okay, the opening sequence, before Krypton blows up, is actually less-than-fine (especially as the kick-off, guys!), but everything after that is fun to watch. Not perfect – the movie’s datedness aside (because you can’t really hold that against it), I still wish they got to grownup Superman earlier. The newspaper stuff (with the Clark/Superman balancing act) is my favorite part, and they don’t really get to get into it, all that much. Also, Lex Luthor is goofy to the point of hardly-evil, which is…strange. Speaking of which, it's sort of a common thing, with origin movies, that the Big Bad hardly comes into play until the final act, what with all the establishing that has to be done, first – if your movie is about how the superhero came to be, he’s not really allowed to have an official run-in with a supervillian until the (non-literal) last minute. And so that showdown feels a little…rushed, I guess. It was the same with the whole Scarecrow vs. Batman deal in (the awesome) Batman Begins – in the end, the movie’s just not really about that.

And (uh, spoiler alert?) I’m not really behind the whole reversing-the-rotation-of-the-earth time-travel thing. Yeah, it immediately leads to the “Well, now why doesn’t he just do that every time?” question, but some of that automatically comes with the “near unstoppable, all-powerful man” territory, so I’m willing to accept it. More than that, though, I just think it was an odd choice to have Superman in need of a do-over in his first movie, you know?

But anyway, it’s definitely a good movie, even if you do get the idea that it was an even better one, thirty years ago. Oh, and it’s kind of awesome that we’re at the point now where, in thirty years, our special effects will probably still be able to hold their own. Yeah, I’m excited.

What I'm Watching- TV on TV Edition: Sigh. The Real World/Road Rules Challenge. Oh, The Challenge – you’re the only MTV show that I watch season in, season out, and I’m still not sure why. The challenges are almost always stupid, and the contestants are more often than not unbearable, and I think they should ban Tonya from ever competing in one of these again, just for the sake of her own mental stability. All of which, actually, explains the why, I guess. I do like the Rookie/Veteran teams of two deal they’ve got going on, though. Boo, Coral! Go Derrick!

What I'm Watching- TV on DVD Edition: Buffy! I figured that I finally had enough time to tackle The Box, which probably means that I’ll be done with the whole series in about eight months – I just don’t marathon well. Anyway, I’ve never seen the series in order, and I’d been holding off on watching anything but the Halloween episodes (annual tradition, see) until I got the chance to do so, so this is the first Buffy I’ve watched in a very long time, and I’m having a real good time getting back into it. Still season one, right now, which is only, like, an idea of what the show would eventually become, and has it’s (very) laughable moments. Still, unlike some first season DVDs, you never get the idea that you’re just trudging through it so you can get to the good stuff (Giles rocks always), and besides, you have to give the writers credit for even trying stuff like giant bug teachers and hyena-Xander before they knew that anyone would even watch their little show - even if it doesn't completely work, every time. Oh, and I was always a big fan of the invisible girl episode - I didn't realize it occured this early in the series.


What I'm Playing: New Super Mario Bros. I think I’ve written extensively, in some other time and place, about why 2D Mario is better than most things, so I’ll spare you, here. Just: Get a DS! Get this, Mario’s first new old-school game in, like, more than ten years! You won’t be sorry!

Last Book I Read: The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. Mysteries, yay! This is one of those books whose title you hear all around, even if you never read the book in your life, and for some reason, I always assumed it was about a cat, or a cat statue. Which is stupid, because a falcon? Is a bird. And I knew that. But anyway, often, when I’m reading, I torture myself trying to make sure I have a clear picture of the characters in my head, and then I realize that they’ve been sort of faceless or foggy for a long time, and it drives me crazy (and I end up attaching their descriptions to either actors or people I know, like, does everyone do that?) But Hammett writes insanely detailed things using the least words possible, which makes for, like, a crystal-clear, HD image in your imagination, with minimal effort on your part. Go read this! It’s super-cool! And not too long, either, if that holds you back.

What I'm Coveting: My Neighbor’s Mac. Well, okay, my brother’s. I’d quite like one of those new Macbooks before I start school in the fall. Who’s got a spare?

Background Noise: The Beatles' "Help!" Because if I were in charge of a Superman TV show, this would be the theme song. Incidentally, if I were in charge of a Superman TV show, nerds of the world would have me drawn and quartered for screwing things up by the time the opening credits were through.

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