Guardians of the Galaxy Earth Shall Overcome

I also borrowed the book Guardians of the Galaxy Earth Shall Overcome from Plymouth library. This was a collection of old school comics. A thousand years in the future, some lizard like race has enslaved the human race. Four defenders fight back in a way that involves a lot of time travel and heroes from other parts of the DC universe.

The stories were simpler than more modern comic stories. There was not the same angst about whether they were doing the right thing.

Batman: The Black Mirror

I borrowed Batman: The Black Mirror from the Plymouth library. This was an amazing and scary graphic novel. The original batman is no longer in Gotham city, but Robin has taken over the bat costume. The son of commissioner Gordon finally shows he is insane. A killer whale is found in a bank with a dead woman inside it. Everyone is on edge and wandering what they are doing in Gotham. The only happy people are insane or evil. The daughter of a minor criminal has gone straight or has she.

The graphics reminded me of the sin city movie.

kiss me deadly on new years eve

It was coming up to New Years eve. I did think of trying to go to the pub for a hour or so, but it seemed more pleasant to watch films at home. The pubs are normally full and many places have cover charges. Of course last year I went to to techno festival until 4:00 in the morning, so all the wildness may not  be fully out of my system.

I decided to watch kiss me deadly on New Years Eve. This was an amazing black and white film. A private detective picks up a girl on the road. Shortly after she is murdered and the detective trys to find out who had done it, partly because he thinks there might be some money in it.

The film ends with a small nuclear explosion on a beach!

In praise of the professionals

I was sad to hear about the death of Lewis Collins last month. When I was growing up I really loved the TV series: "The Professionals". Two cool guys, plenty of guns, and a harsh Scotsman boss. I loved  the car chases as well. It was always pretty dumb stuff. One episode seemed to be just Bodie and Doyle being chased around with people firing automatic weapons at them.

I remember one episode, where Doyle was searching for someone by sitting on a regular double decker bus, while it went around its regular route.

Anyway these were my role models when I was growing up.

Repo man versus Repo men

I was excited to see that Film4 was showing the film "repo man" last night. When I turned on the TV it turned the actual film was Repo Men.

I really loved the film "Repo man". I saw it on a rented video perhaps in the 90s. I was not cool enough to have seen it when it came out in the 80s. You have to love a film with a sound track which includes "when the shit hits the fan."





I did enjoy watching the first half of the film "Repo men". There was a lot of blood and even though some of the film had a bit too much family values for my taste. I wonder what happened at the end.
(I should say that the film repo men is not a remake of repo man -- just so that we are clear.)

I feel safe at last.

While travelling I saw something I have not seen for a long time. Yes a bin in a UK train station. A long time ago, there were concerns that terrorists would plan bombs in the bins of railway stations. For over a decade, there was no place to put a coffee cup or burger wrapper at a UK train station.

This picture is from Exeter St Davids station.

We must be safer now that bins are reappearing on UK stations. Perhaps I should map out where I find bins in UK stations. I will be a new type of "train spotter."

Strontium Dog #1: Bad Timing

Ring the bells! Put out the bunting for I have read another book! While traveling back from Burnley to Plymouth, I started and finished off reading: Strontium Dog #1: Bad Timing by  Rebecca Levene.
This was a  good science fiction tale involving robots, time bombs and mutants. There were some great plot twists.

Now that I look on the web I see that Strontium dog was a character in the 2000AD comic. This story just used the characters, rather than retell a comic.

Anyway I need volume 2.

Homunculus

I have just finished reading Homunculus by James P Blaclock , The author was an important writer in the development of steam punk writing. I wanted to like the book, but it took a struggle to finish the book. The plot involved alien space ships golems and various boxes. There was a strange cast of characters.

I read the book in stages over about 6 months, so that was no ideal for a book with a complicated plot.

No nasty X-mas jumper for me

Yeah it is the end of Christmas today and I have survived the holiday. Currently the fashion is for X-mas jumpers. I was worried that I would be given one as a present, but thankfully no.

Dada art and b*shit

A couple of weeks ago I was reading the Guardian newspaper which was complaining about Damien Hurst, or some other superstar modern UK artist. The writer recommended reading the writings of the critic calledJulian Stallabrass. So I downloaded the book Art Incorporated: The Story of Contemporary Art

The book was an interesting look at the economics and politics of art. He looked at shows around the word and the influence of company sponsorship of art. I now have a better understanding of why art departments at Universities like theory and art installations, rather than actual paintings.

I was amused to see the ever rising number of art graduates.

See this essay for a short summary of his views.

I want a swagger stick

I have just been listening to an audio book version of a Dr Who novel: The ambassadors of death.
At the end of the story, a disgraced general picks up a his swagger stick and is arrested by the military police.

I thought I have no idea what a swagger stick is for. By the magic of the Internet I know now and my life can go on. I assume it is no longer used to beat squaddies. I would rather have a sword or machete.

Captain America : The death of Captain America

There is a small collection of graphics novel in Plymouth public library. I have just read
Captain America: The Death Of Captain America. This was the first graphics novel set in the DC universe which I have read, so I didn't know all the characters. I knew a bit about shield from the recent crap TV series.

I liked the grimy feel to the book and the sense of moral greyness. To be honest I should read it again to make sure I fully understood what was going on.

sleep (or lack of)

I have been sleeping very badly since I moved to Plymouth. The new job has been very stressful and often woke up at 4:00 in the morning worrying about the things I should have done. I know that I should not have done  this, but my body refuses to listen to reason.

Last night I went to bed at 21:00, but I woke late feeling tired. (I did feel awake at 4:00, so I watched the first part of the professionals on TV).

Superman: Red Son

One thing I noticed when I came back to the UK was that there were no longer many cartoons shown on TV on Saturday morning. With the magic of "love film" I can stream as many cartoons as I want.

One film I really liked was: Superman: Red Son. The idea was that superman was actually found in Soviet Russia. He was the right hand man of Stalin until he died. After Stalin died he took over Russia. Batman was a terrorist working for freedom.

I liked this a lot more than the standard superman stories. There is more information about the original comic book.

The world's end

Two days OK I watched the world's end via Itunes. I enjoyed the film, but the central idea of a 40 year old, harking back to his past was a similar idea to "Shaun of the dead" and "hot fuzz". The film was a lot darker then the two earlier films in the trilogy. I would have let the guy drink his pint at the end of the film.

Mark Thomas

Two weeks ago I went to see the comedian Mark Thomas at the Calstock Arts  I had heard him on the BBC radio shows. He is very political, but it wasn't clear that the show would be funny. However, he was funny and he did have good stage craft. The set was still political. He is spending the year doing 100 acts of minor dissent.

I liked the idea of book heckling, where he would put slips of paper into books in book stores.

The venue was an old chapel by the river. Although it was so dark, I had to take the existence of the river on faith.

In praise of Jason Molina

The days are long past where I would buy two or three CDs per week. Now I just stream music from radio 6 or listen to play on radio4extra. Having said that I just got from amazon, an album by The Magnolia Electric Co, after hearing a track on the Marc Riley show.

I just like the quiet despair of the singing. I was sad to hear that the main guy: Jason Molina was dead -- killed by the bottle.  He wanted to be in a heavy metal band, but frankly you can't tell from
the song below.

Iron man III

Even now that I live in the UK again, I have not managed to go the cinema. I am behind on all the superhero news. What happened in New York with the Avengers? By the magic of Itunes, I did manage to rent Iron Man III, even though I havge not seen Iron Man II.

I thought it was a great film. Probably one of the best superhero movies I have ever seen. I just liked the way his suit was almost his friend. Also he was obsessed with making new suits.

Blood work

I joined Plymouth libraty close to the University campus. There is a small section with graphics novels.I just finished off reading Blood work by Kim Harrison. Thee story was about a vampire and witch team. Yeah what ever next.

Storm troopers in the Independent quarter of Pymouth

There is shopping area in Plymouth which is called the independent quarter. I went there today, partly to find the market. There were a lot of small shops. While I walked back I walked past a comic book store. There were 4 guys standing around in various storm trooper like costumes outside the shop.

I looked away and I tried to ignore them.

As it happens I have spent the day reading the graphic novel lucifer, which I borrowed from the local library at Plymouth.

Well I will still end up visiting the comic store, for I feel the need for more graphics novels.