Introduction To The Hammer

Just a quick reminder that Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog part 2 is up for your viewing pleasure. You can still catch part 1, but remember it all comes down on the 20th. Part 3 is up on Saturday the 19th.
Watch it, learn the songs, there will be a quiz later.

Doctor Horrible Is Awesome!!!

Doctor Horrible part 1 is online, and it is AWESOME!!!

To catch it click here. I mean, you can finish reading this, but then clicking here is absolutely imperative. I won't even feel bad if you click here before you finish reading this. Doctor Horrible will only be up for a limited time while these words will be here forever.
In truth there's no reason you shouldn't click here right now.

What excuse could you possibly have?
That meeting can wait, they're not going anywhere.
If it's important, they'll call back.
Really, what are the chances the baby's gonna develop the reasoning to stick a wet finger into an open socket in the next twelve minutes?
Let grandma lie there, she knows better than to reach for the cookie jar. let her muse awhile on what that cookie would've done to her diabetes.
You can hold it for a lousy 12 minutes. I said you can hold it!

So you see, there is no reason to not click here. Don't go to another sight first, you'll just get distracted with what world leader is screwing what people now. Possibly get sucked into the whole how much is a picture of this celebrities baby gonna cost controversy.

While I'm at it, if I can go off on a tangent.
What the heck is up with celebrity baby pictures? My friends have kids and it's all I can do to keep my inbox empty enough to receive other mail. Aww, look how cute he/she/it is still covered with placenta and umbilical cord. Here's the latest video of our baby sleeping, at about the 10 minute mark he/she/it makes a little fist, Awwww. Here's us bringing the baby home, if you squint really hard you can kinda see some bald head peeking out from the 32 blankets we have him/her/it wrapped in.
Then you get that picture every year for Christmas in the same outfit only several sizes bigger.
Only celebrities would think of selling their baby pictures. Honestly, all you need is one shot of Winston Churchill and you're pretty much covered in the baby picture category. What do we really care anyway? Face it, by the time these over privileged kids are old enough to have their own reality show we will hate them. We will be so over saturated with their American royalty status it will be all we can do to avoid news about them. Two words for you Paris Hilton.
Honestly, the only celebrity baby picture I would want to see would be on the cover of Weekly World News.
That's the end of my tangent.

Back to Doctor Horrible...

Here's all the reasons you should click here right now.
Doctor Horrible is Awesome, but I covered that already.
It will only be online for a limited time. It will be shut down on the 20th.
Neil Patrick Harris is amazing.
Nathan Fillion plays a jerk.
Felicia Day is cute and wonderful.
Simon Helberg is Moist.
The songs will stick in your head and make you smile.
Joss Whedon, need I say more?
The world's a mess and I just need to rule it.
It's curtains for you Doctor Horrible. Lacy, gently wafting curtains.
It's only a little over 12 minutes long for part 1.

So what are you still doing here, when you can click here?
I wont mind.
You'll be glad you did.

Darkly Drawing Dexter

There are a lot of shows I watch regularly, but few that I need to watch as they air. (thank you DVR)
The Showtime original series Dexter is one of those shows. Based on the novels by Jeff Lindsay, (I'm working on the first) Dexter is one of those shows that hooks you in and won't let you leave unless it's in several plastic garbage bags drifting on a warm Miami undercurrent.

For the uninitiated, and those with basic cable. Dexter is the story of blood spatter analyst for the Miami Dade PD, Dexter Morgan. He's an incredibly likable guy. He's devoted to his job, his friends on the force including his adoptive sister Debra the foulest talking cop in the precinct. He has a beautiful, if not damaged girlfriend and her two kids he deeply cares for.

He's also a murderous sociopath.

Fortunately for Dexter, and the rest of the city. He was adopted by Officer Harry Morgan after witnessing his mother being killed. Harry recognized Dexters impulses for what they were, and instilled in Dexter a code to live by. A moral compass to substitute for missing morality. Dexter uses this code to enact justice on killers and rapists who have somehow escaped traditional punishment.

Dexter is a brilliantly written program. Nothing is easy in Dexters life and there were moments in the second season where I swore there was no way out for our anti-hero. Good thing the writers on this show are a lot smarter than I am since it's surprises like last seasons that keep me coming back.

Of course the best writing in the world couldn't save poor acting. Fortunately Dexter has some top notch talent talking the talk.

Michael C Hall (Six Feet Under) is so disarming as Dexter that it makes his moments of insanity blaze off the screen.

Jennifer Carpenter (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) plays his sister Debra, and trust me, she is every girl you ever wanted to date rolled into one, except she has the lousiest taste in men and she would kick your butt then laugh about it with your best friend later over burbon shots.







Julie Benz (Angel, Buffy) is Rita. Dexters single mom anchor to normalcy. Except nothing is normal with Rita. She is severly damaged from a disastrous marriage and slowly starting to heal from it.




Lauren Velez as the nihilistic Lt. Laquerta, C.S. Lee as wisecracking Vince Masuka and David Zayas as Angel Batista the closest thing to a true friend Dexter has rounds out the excellent cast of regulars.

Both seasons of Dexter are available on DVD and I strongly recommend watching them. A third season is on it's way this fall and I couldn't be more excited for a returning show. This excitement is exacerbated by the amazing image above sent to me by the far hotter of the Scalin siblings, the babelicious Miss Mica. Check her out at MicaWave.
The image is indeed done by Shepard Fairey of Obey fame and will be promoting Dexter at this years San Diego Comic Con at the end of this month.

Charlies Angel

Not to go all Perez Hilton on you, but it's been reported that Mac Guy Justin Long and amazingly adorable, free spirited, Letterman flashing actress Drew Barrymore have called it quits. Way I see it I'm back in the running. My wife understands. So Drew, we know you like the dorky guys. What do you say?

Angel Eyes, Am I Deceived Or Did You Sigh?

I don't know if it counts as geeky or not, but I feel a need to let you know about Luc Bessons late 2005 romantic noir fantasy Angel-A. I completely forgot I had thrown this on my Netflix queue, and in truth was expecting the 3rd disc in the anime series Black Lagoon when I tore open the bright red envelope.

This was definitely a case of getting a book for it's cover since I had seen the DVD box at a Blockbuster and the image had me so intrigued that I had to see it not even really knowing what it was about.

Released here in 2007, Angel-A is the story of a down on his luck, in debt Arab American (green card) low rent criminal named Andre played by Jamel Debbouze. After some unsuccessful attempts at extending his debt deadlines, and unable to even get himself arrested, Andre decides to end his life by jumping off a bridge into the river Seine.
He meets Angela played by the beautiful Rie Rasmussen who apparently has the same idea and jumps first. Andre, of course jumps in to save her, but who's really doing the saving?

In researching this film I couldn't believe the effect Luc Bessons work has on people. there doesn't seem to be a middle ground, he's either hated or loved. Someone had even said that The Professional was his litmus test for personal relations. "If you like that movie, I can't even talk to you." It's all a bit extreme, I have a friend who doesn't like Fifth Element, but I'm not gonna leave a burning bag of dog poop at his door. Now if he hated Dawn of the Dead.......well that's just stupid (wink).

I have to wonder, am I not hipster enough to hate Luc Bessons work? Does French cinema need to be 3 hours long and incomprehensible to be good? Is Luc Besson too easily translated to an American audience (The Professional, Nikita, Fifth Element, Subway) to be considered a true French artist. Opinions of his work are very polarized.

Polarized is a good way to describe Angel-A as well. Everything in this film is contrasted. Andre is short and Angela is tall. He is dark, she is light. The film itself is in black and white with amazing cinematography by Thierry Arbogast. Paris itself becomes a character in the film and the movie takes us to some amazing locales.
This isn't a heavy movie. Definitely not as heavy as "It's a Wonderful Life" that it's clearly influenced by. You don't have to watch it with a box of tissues by your side in case a fly gets in your eye. There is nothing too deep in the dialogue or the characterization. Some may see it as too simple but once the players start exhibiting shades of gray it would throw the whole light/dark balance off. Some pop psychology platitudes rear their ugly heads, but again, I think it works here.

Maybe I just identify too much with Andre, and maybe, just maybe here is where Angel-A ties into my geek lifestyle. Andre sees himself as a loser, unable to fit in and inept at all he does. Who hasn't felt like that? Upon meeting Angela he tell her when he looks in the mirror he sees shit. In one of the movies more touching moments she forces him to look at himself in the mirror and asks him what he sees. I don't know. He replies. See, your making progress already, you don't see shit. Is her comeback.

Angel-A is one of those rare romantic fantasies you can watch with a significant other and not feel you've been roped into a "chick film". Andres treatment of Angela can be crass at times but instead of condemning him for it, I'm taking cultural differences in account. Besides, if I had a beautiful leggy blonde following me around wanting to do nothing but help me, you can bet your butt I would find a way to screw that up ASAP!
Right ladies?

So if you're looking for a movie that's easy on the eyes, mind and heart (with a killer soundtrack) you may want to check out Angel-A.

By the way, if you do see this movie and wonder if you missed something because Andre always has his right hand in his pocket. Wonder no more. Jamel Debbouze lost his right hand at the age of 15. His signature move is to keep the stump hidden.

Telephone Call For Mr. Horrible....

I've been saving this one since Noah pointed me in it's direction. How I missed it? I can only assume there was some sort of planetary alignment, or I was infected by an intergalactic parasite that rendered me temporarily incapable of of discovering or recognizing awesomeness. (That would explain the new Heidi Montag song I found...far, far from awesomeness. In fact, anti-awesome if there could be such a thing)

So, as Joss Whedon explains in his Master Plan. Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog was conceived during the writers strike as an alternative way to do business. I.e., bringing entertainment to the public for fun and profit while circumnavigating the hollywood business model. I.e., money grubbing studio execs who'd rather fill our lives with unscripted pablum till the section of our brains that recognize art start reacting to accidental crotch hits (funny, but not art) and gaggles of losers vying for the amorous attention of yet another loser who everyone knows will be back for another season sans this seasons winner/real loser.

Joss tells it with far less bitterness and much more of the funny, so I suggest reading it..there are Forest Kings....Ohhhhhh.

Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog will premier with act one "Wheee" on July 15th. Act two follows "OMG" on July 17th, and the final act "Denoument!" is up on July 19th. Word of caution. The whole thing comes down midnight July 20th. After which it will be available as a modestly priced download, and eventually as a dvd with tons of extras.
I know I'll be watching, and I'll try to get a reminder out early each day another episode appears along with a short review.

If you're a Buffy fan, you may remember an episode called "Once More With Feeling" where Joss tapped into his inner Sondheim and gave us a genre musical episode. If you haven't seen it I strongly suggest seeking it out.
Dr. Horrible is Mr. Whedons second stab at a musical. This time about a shy evil Doctor and the hero who thwarts his plans.

Whedonverse regular Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Serenity, Buffy) plays Captain Hammer (the hero, natch) and Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie, How I Met Your Mother - ser) stretches his acting chops to portray the titular Doctor Horrible. (just don't know if I see NPH as a Dr.)

Judging by the talent involved this should be, to quote another NPH character, awesome! and legendary!

If you want a little taste of the characters check out the online Captain Hammer comic at Dark Horse Presents. While you're there check out the back issues featuring additional work by Joss Whedon as well as new Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba and work by my old friends Bob Fingerman and John Arcudi and many more. Get used to the web comics folks, something tells me your going to hear a lot more about them before too long.

Now for your viewing pleasure, a trailer.


Teaser from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.

Objection!!! There's A Weenie In My VideoGame

I'm a big fan of the Phoenix Wright videogames for the Nintendo Gameboy and Nintendo DS. For those unfamiliar with the series. Phoenix Wright is a young defense attorney with a spirit medium as a partner. Each case features odd characters, odder situations and logic that will often have you ready to bang your head against the wall. Twisted logic aside the games are amazingly fun. There are currently 3 games available. Ace Attorney, Justice For All and Trials and Tribulations all available for the DS.
Though the Phoenix Wright storyline ends with Trials and Tribulations, Nintendo has continued the Ace Attorney franchise featuring a new litigator Apollo Justice. I haven't played this one yet, but if it's anything like the Phoenix games, I'm sure I'll enjoy it.
Anyway, while playing Trials and Tribulations I came across these two game screens featuring everyones favorite bumbling detective Dick Gumshoe.
I got such a laugh out of them I thought I would share.
Enjoy.......