GRAPHIC NOVELS: THE INCAL BY JODOROWSKY & MOEBIUS (2011)

An Amazon 4* review.
Weird, wacky and sometimes wonderful

And often extremely strange.

But, and this is often overlooked, frequently funny and satirical. Jodorowsky the writer is also known as a maker of surreal blackly comic movies that are also extremely violent. The Incal, however, is Jodorowsky in a playful mood and were it not for the fact that the metaphysical aspects of this science fiction graphic novel seem to be played out with relative seriousness I'd be inclined to call The Incal a satire.

I can usually sit down and get through a graphic novel relatively quickly but, while enjoying it, I seemed only to be able to get through it about 10-20 pages at a time spread over a few weeks. This may be because I found myself not quite in sympathy with the fallible everyman protagonist (his name is appropriate) and the metaphysical or spiritual aspect of the thing. It has its moments, many of them but,while in part it deserves its reputation, I sometimes felt I was looking at the emperor's new clothes. Perhaps an introduction might have been useful.

As for the art, well it's by Moebius who is one of the greatest graphic story illustrators of the last 40 years. It's worth buying for the art alone and there should be more books by Moebius available. It is good but I feel as if I'm sitting on the fence somewhat.

RECENT AMAZON REVIEWS

Encyclopaedia Britannica Ultimate Edition 2012, DVD-ROM.
The best encyclopaedia in the world. 5* review.

But it doesn't have the best search engine. I'll come back to that.

The one outstanding feature of Britannica is, unlike Wikipaedia (of which, don't misunderstand me, I'm a fan and regular user), you can completely depend on its accuracy (at the time it was written). If Britannica says something is true, you can bet your house, your partner, and children on it (though I don't recommend gambling on principle). In the days before home computers became ubiquitous, Britannica used to be only available in massive multi-volume paper editions costing hundreds and hundreds of pounds and the publishers could afford salesmen as my 13 year old self found out when, after writing off for a brochure, I was woken up shortly before lunch by one knocking on my door (the salesman not the brochure which had arrived days before). Now you can have the entire thing, including multi-media, on one DVD-ROM for about the same amount as a young teenagers's weekly pocket money is amazing, at least to my aging eyes. That it also includes 3 age-related version is even more so. Plus you get online updates albeit for a not so insignificant sum. As a good all-round encyclopaedia Britannica is the best.

Technical detail. When loading it onto your hard disk, you have a choice of installations: with or without the media content. If you opt for the latter you'll need the disc in the drive to access the media content, if the former it doubles the amount of space you need. I chose the latter and it took round about 20 minutes to install. Once installed it worked perfectly.

But even Britannica does have its limitations. It can't contain all the knowledge in the world. I checked out some of my favourites -Blues music, Science Fiction, the Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami- and found the entries to be relatively slight and really little more than a starting point. Admittedly, in the grand scheme of things, these aren't major topics and there is much in depth material on history and the sciences.

Now the search engine isn't very flexible. I typed in soccer and got soca. No hyperlink for the acceptable term 'football'. Also when I first started using it, it seemed to only recognise a personal name by entering the surname first. However, in between the last couple of sentences, I've double checked this and now it is recognising both ways of entering the name. Odd. I've also checked soccer again and this time it has come up with a hyperlink for football. So it seems as if Britannica is learning as I use it. Either that or I've been doing something stupid which, sadly, is also possible. I'd be interested to learn if this has happened to anyone else.

I was going to rate Britannica at four stars but in the light of the preceding paragraph, I've upgraded it. It really is the best encyclopaedia in the world.

  

 

Ho-medics CBS-1000 max shiatsu massaging chair.

A great product. 5* review.

The prime criteria for something like this is: does it work? And the simple answer is: yes, very well.

Once you've got it out of the box, it's relatively easy to set up, though the manual (what there is of it) could have had a little more detail. It isn't obvious at first whether it's switched on or not because the indicator is two very thin rings around the flat switch which go red but once you known what you're looking for, it's fine. The controls -a small hand held device- are easy to use.

I started with the trial programme which I confess wasn't too comfortable. I felt like my back was being pulverised but you can either lower the setting or just endure the pain until you get used to it. Prior to this, I've just used wooden rollers or one of those things which heat up while you rub your muscles with it. This is way way better. I love it.

It also comes with a thin handy storage bag.

In short, this is a well-designed product which fulfills its purpose very well indeed. I can see me using it on a frequent basis. 

 

 One of the greats. 4* review.

There's no question that Berni Wrightson is one of the great horror story illustrators of all time and this is a good selection of his early work. Accompanying stories are numerous frontispieces from the two magazines mostly in colour, though the stories, with one exception, are in black and white.

What Amazon's blurb doesn't mention is that not all of the stories are actually drawn by Wrightson. Two of them are him inking Carmine Infantino's pencils to no great effect. Infantino being such a distinct stylist, there's no real apparent trace of Wrightson. Another is him inking Howard Chaykin. Although Chaykin's art is unmistakable, this is more of a collaboration with Wrightson's contribution being clearly visible and making it all the more interesting for it.

Many of the stories have been reprinted before but this is a nice collection to have. 

 

 Worth a try. 

3* review expanded from original Amazon.

Nice to see someone trying something a little different. It's just before D-Day and in an attempt to divert German attention from Normandy, Allied Command have sent two New Zealand commandos (the film is from NZ) to a Channel Island to destroy a gun emplacement but they find something else. Beneath the emplacement is a secret laboratory where one of Hitler's secret supernatural experiments have been taking place. Specifically, they've been trying to raise a demon. Unfortunately for them, they've succeeded.

It's low budget and much of it's set in one room. For most of the running time there are only three characters. Most of the gore is in the shape of already dead and mutilated German soldiers. There are only a couple of notable onscreen kills. Okay, this sounds as if I'm trying to put you off but I'm not. What is so good about this film is the sheer tension the director builds up between the characters that you can't look away from the screen and you really do not have any idea of what happens next. You have two enemies trapped with a devious man-eating demon who becomes the person you love. It is genuinely suspenseful and scary. The World War 2 setting is also an interesting factor which makes this different from the usual run of horror movies.

HEALTH: ADVENTURES IN SOCIALISED MEDICINE

I love that phrase socialised medicine. It had never impinged on my consciousness until all that fuss in the States about Obama's plans for medical reform. I think that socialised medicine in the UK -otherwise known as the National Health Service (NHS) was the greatest creation of the post-war Labour government. Free health care treatment for all funded by taxation. Health care not dependent on ability to pay. We are a society so why shouldn't those who have help those who have not? Why shouldn't we care for the weak and the vulnerable?

All of which is leading towards an anecdote of my recent NHS experiences.

A couple of months ago my dentist took an X-ray of my mouth and found some kind of black hole inside my jaw and she referred me to the Sunderland Royal Hospital for further investigation. Several weeks later (last Thursday to be precise) I turned up for my appointment and was duly X-rayed again (twice) and had a consultation with a doctor. The result of this was the decision that samples would be taken of tissue and bone (a minor operation involving local anaesthetic) which would take place in 4-6 weeks time. This would involved cutting and stitching and some discomfort for me later on. I suspected this to be an understatement but I'm phlegmatic about these things and didn't let it bother me.

Imagine my surprise when the following day I received a phone call from the hospital to say that a slot had appeared and they could fit me in the following Wednesday (today). Susan was somewhat apprehensive as she suspected the real reason was that it could be serious. I pooh-poohed that idea though I did begin to wonder. We were both wrong: as it would only be a short operation, when a time slot for that length appeared I actually was the next person in line.

So I turned up today at one o'clock, was taken to an empty room where my details were checked, my blood pressure and temperature taken and told I was the last of four this afternoon so there would be a wait and I was left alone. I did have the new Terry Pratchett book with me which I got out and started to read. For a time I went into a light doze. I used the toilet twice. Finally after a couple of hours, a nurse came in and told me to strip and put on a gown as the person before me was having her operation.

About twenty minutes later the young surgeon came in, shook hands, and explained that they wouldn't be going ahead today.

He'd only just looked at my x-rays and had decided there wasn't enough information to take the risk (the site was close to a nerve which, if damaged, could paralyse my jaw). Also he suspected that the black hole was something very minor which didn't need attention. However, to determine this or not I would have to have a CT scan in the near future before deciding what to do.

Fine. I wasn't disappointed despite having waited over three hours as I wasn't really looking forward to having my gum cut open and then stitched back shut. I rang Susan who came and took me home.

If I'd had to pay for the privilege of waiting three hours in the hospital I'd really have been pissed off. I heart socialised medicine. Socialised medicine (and the NHS) rule.

COMIC ART: BASIL WOLVERTON

Basil Wolverton is pretty much unknown outside comics and even inside, he's known only by serious comic fans. Little of his work is currently available, most notably his illustrated Bible from Fantagraphics Books. This is rather ironic as Wolverton had an amazing imagination for grotesqueries. His art is so individual and so striking that it could never be mistaken for anyone elses.

The reason I'm mentioning him now is that I've just learned that Fantagraphics are printing two volumes of his work in August next year -a collection of science fiction stories and his Spacehawk series. Needless to day, I've ordered them both. Only 10 months to wait.

And here is a selection of his work. It's only partially representative of his work as he was noted for his humorous cartoons which I've mostly ignored. Prepare to be amazed and stuff.

Basil Wolverton died in 1978

DVD: CHUCK SEASON 4.

I Love Chuck.

An Amazon 5* review.

Surprisingly, this isn't what you think it is.

 

Truthfully I really love Yvonne Strahovski who is simply wonderful as agent Sarah Walker. She's absolutely gorgeous but not in a "I-know-I-am-so-worship-me mode" but in an appealing adorable way. That she can act and act well helps a lot (and does most of her own stunts). The only other actress I can think of who has that sort of appeal is Kaley Cuoco of The Big Bang Theory. But then the perfect casting of the three leads is one of the main reasons why this series is so appealing. Strahovski, along with Levi and Baldwin, have great comic chops which work by them playing it more or less straight.

What's also helped is the character development of the leads and the gradual unveiling of their various secrets which help keep things bubbling along. One thing I was concerned with after watching the first series was how the relationship between Chuck and Sarah would develop. After three seasons of the Castle the relationship between the two leads remains unchanged. That hasn't happened here. That relationship -romance, really- has grown as Chuck has grown in confidence as a spy. At the beginning he was gawky and unsure of himself, secretly pining for Sarah who couldn't bring herself to admit she had feelings for him. As this season begins, they are not only living together but Chuck is taking the lead on some missions. The romance sub-plot is now: will they get engaged and if they do, will they get married?

But of course there's also lots of spy work to do. This season we finally meet Chuck's mother (Linda Hamilton) who may or may not be on the side of evil Russian oligarch Alexei Volkov (Timothy Dalton), the season's Big Bad. Dalton is, unsurprisingly, brilliant as the manic murderous mastermind and he looks as if he's enjoying every minute of it. As usual there are plenty of twists and turns and surprise revelations and other guest stars.

Next season will be the last and a truncated 13 episodes at that and I'm actually glad. To be honest, I wouldn't have minded if this season had been the end as it would have been a satisfying conclusion. There's nothing worse than something good going on too long. A good show like this should finish at the top leaving nothing but happy memories in the minds of the audience. When I think of all the other drama shows on TV I like, I can honestly say that I enjoy this one the most. Yes, even more than Dr. Who, The Big Bang Theory, Castle, and How I Met Your Mother.

Oh, and the blooper reel is very funny.

BOOK REVIEW: 1001 COMICS YOU MUST READ BEFORE YOU DIE (2011)

5 star Amazon review.
Absolutely essential.

UK Cover

This book arrived in the same package from Amazon with another of similar size that had been ordered separately. There's a reason I mention this this but it will have to wait to the end of the review.

But first let's dispose of that stupid title. Unlike companion volumes in this series -movies, albums, songs- it is completely impossible for anyone to read all the comics listed unless: you have a lot of free time; a large amount of disposable funds; and are versed in numerous foreign languages. Many of the works are out of print and unobtainable except from national libraries; many have never been translated out of their original language. So forget the title, that isn't what this book is really about.

Essentially it's an historical survey of what the various writers and editor believe to be the best or most significant (the two are not necessarily synonymous) comics ever published. I'd argue that it's also polemical in that it's an argument for comics (by which the compiler includes newspaper strips, comics, graphic novels, manga or whatever form a narrative consisting of words and images appears in) as an art form. Comics are a medium just like films and novels.

It's also a reference book which is arranged chronologically. However, before the entries begin, there is an alphabetical list of titles and at the end an alphabetical index of author and illustrator which lists their included works. (You might not be too surprised to learn that Alan Moore has the most entries.) Include useful introduction and a brief guide to contributors and as a reference work it works very well. What you want to know is easily accessed.

It's enormously wide ranging which means people who read only superhero titles will find it quite disappointing, though the superhero genre is represented along with all the other genres from humour to social realism and all stops in between. It's international in scope which is sometimes frustrating as when a work looks extremely interesting but hasn't been translated into English. And it's also enlightening particularly when you come across something you've raved over but didn't believe anyone else had ever heard of. In my case it was The Chimpanzee Complex (UK, Cinebooks, 3 slim volumes), an amazing work of Science Fiction which I'd read earlier this year. Inevitably you won't agree with all the inclusions and will wonder why some of your particular favourites have been left out but that is all part of the fun of books like this.

The amount of text per entry is just enough to cover the basics of what you need to know about each work and it's up to you and me to decide if we want to dig deeper. There is often a cover or full page illustration to convey the flavour of a work but often there isn't. But then space is limited and the book is heavy enough and price is just enough too.

I do have one criticism to make though, admittedly, it is quite minor. A few more works could have been included by excluding multiple entries of a single title by the same creator (Asterix, Corto Maltese, Blake & Mortimer). This doesn't apply to series which have different creators (Batman).

Of course with books like this, because of the publishing lead-in time, they tend to be out date as soon as they appear. The book which arrived in the same package is Craig Thompson's new masterpiece Habibi, a truly remarkable graphic novel like nothing you've ever read and one that certainly ought to have been included but for its almost simultaneous publication date. And then I looked at the last entry...

 US cover

DVD: MEGA PYTHON VS GATOROID

Slightly revised Amazon 3-star review.
Bad, but in a good way.

And, no, I'm not apologising. The DVD cover is in the previous post.

Okay, neither Tiffany (who is sort of attractive in a sleazy overweight tattooed red-headed busty kind of way) nor Debbie Gibson (skinny blonde who hasn't worn well and looks more like an aging hooker than a scientist) can really act. Both their characters in the film act behave with astonishing stupidity and so does the rest of the cast. The story doesn't always make sense -like how come no-one noticed for months that the alligators and their deadly enemy the pythons were growing in size and why had they suddenly stopped killing each other? The CGI, as usual, is pretty crap.

But who cares when there's so much fun to be had. The two women's characters hate each other which leads to a cat-fight in the middle of a fund-raising party for the swamp where punches and cream cakes are thrown and, without them even noticing, the rest of the guests start getting eaten by monsters, following which one of them says, "I think we're alone now," and the other replies with the next line of the song. Mickey Dolenz has a surprise and funny cameo and gets (spoiler warning) eaten. Sorry was that too late? Well, it was obvious anyway. The DVD cover art doesn't exaggerate by much. There are not just two monsters but dozens of them. Most of the cast gets eaten.

It really is a bad film but I was too busy enjoying myself most of the time to notice. 

MUSIC: LISTENING TO JOE MCELDERRY IN THE BATH

But not through choice!

Susan bought the CD and plays it at every opportunity.

Perhaps a word of explanation to those of you who haven't heard of Joe. He won X-Factor about three or four years which means normally he'd be completely forgotten about by now. However, he went on a show called (I think, I didn't watch it though Susan was a fan)  Popstar To Operastar and won it. Apparently he trashed all the competition, being later revealed that he got more votes than the other singers combined in every show he appeared. To be fair, that is a genuine achievement and the lad really can sing. Oh yes, and he's also local, from South Shields, four miles up the coast from Sunderland. Anyway, the CD above is pretty much based on his winning that and the songs are most light opera or operacised standards.

Me, I just don't get opera. It's not a musical genre I have any appreciation for or understanding of. So for Susan to play this any time she can requires some considerable forbearance on my part as me playing a single guitar chord by Jerry Garcia on a Grateful Dead song causes screams of "Turn that down!" no matter how quiet it is (usually not very to be fair).

She'll even get out of bed at 7.30 in the morning, which is almost unheard of, to switch it on. Which is what she did this morning. She asked me to do it but I refused. Mind you I was in the bath at the time; which is where the title of this post comes in. I've lost rack of how many times I've heard bits of it and I'm getting worried. His version of Somewhere Over The Rainbow with its unusual arrangement (i.e. nothing like either Judy Garland or Eva Cassidy) has actually started sounding not completely hateful to my ears. There's also an Italian-language operacised version of Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On which might be good if it had been sung in English and de-operacised.

I'm getting ear plugs.

(Aside: Hearing that version of the Dion song made realise I didn't have the original. While it's a bit middle of the road for my taste, there's no doubt it's a brilliantly crafted song and sung beautifully by Ms Dion and it's deceptively difficult to sing causing dozens of singers on X-Factor to fall flat on their faces. So I downloaded it from Amazon about half an hour ago and I'm playing it now. For the fourth time.)

ON-LINE SHOPPING: CONFESSIONS OF A COMPULSIVE CONSUMER

It's really too easy buying stuff online and you end up with more than you can read, watch, or listen to because there's always something else new and exciting and reasonably priced. Here are four items that came in the post today along with my justifications for buying them.

 

A few days ago this was mentioned on the comics and media website Bleeding Cool (see sidebar) as being available from HMV online for £16.99. That's all the original versions plus director's cuts, or with additional material, a shedload of extras on each disc, plus two additional discs of supplementary material -an absolutely massive amount of stuff, plus it's in Bluray. How could any horror/sf movie fan resist it even if they had (or used to have) VHS video versions and DVDs? Look man this is a real no-brainer, especially when I'm one of those who think Alien Resurrection is completely under-rated -yes, I love that film.

 

If you've read my reviews of the previous three seasons you'll know how much I love this series and I'll be watching no other DVDs until I've finished watching all 24 episodes and extras.

 Regular readers will know what a big fan of Osamu Tezuka I am even if just from a recent review by another blogger I reprinted here. Helen McCarthy's  coffee-table book The Art of Osamu Tezuka is one of my favourite books ever, but I wanted something a little more in-depth and found this one.

So there we are. I'm sure you can understand how I couldn't really resist buying these things.

What? There's only three there? Ah, well, yes. Um. I was hoping you wouldn't notice. Look, it's no big deal really. I mean it only cost £2.99 and that's the release price and it got a decent review in Horror Movie A Day website (see sidebar). Oh very well, here it is.

 

Look it has 80's teen pop stars Debbie Gibson and Tiffany in the lead roles and they have a cat fight at a garden party (I've seen the clip). You dare try and tell me that that doesn't automatically qualify this Syfy-produced monster movie for cult status!

While we're on the subject, Horror Movie A Day also reviewed a DVD today which sounded like a lot of fun and was also only £2.99.

 

Oh get lost. So I like dumb daft horror movies. Sue me.

On Monday I got two extremely thick and heavy books which were ordered separately but have a link between them. That, however, is going to be the subject of a different post. 

DVD: FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL (2008)

Okay, I bought this because it stars Jason Segel (who also wrote the script) from the TV series I love How I Met Your Mother. I think he's a very talented comic actor. That it also starred Kristen Bell from another favourite TV series -Veronica Mars- didn't hurt either. That it included Russell Brand wasn't, however, a selling point but in the event he was pretty good.

The plot is pretty basic. Composer of music of hit TV crime series is dumped by his girlfriend who is also the star of said series, and goes to a hotel in Hawaii to forget about it all only find his ex is there with new boyfriend but there is the distraction of the friendly and  pretty girl (Mila Kunis) on the reception desk. I think you can work out from the above photo who is playing whom.

I did watch the uncut version which I assume, apart from slightly extended scenes, there are more and longer shot of a naked Segel exposing his todger. (Note: todger is a slang British synonym used by a person who is too embarrassed to write the word penis.) If that in fact is the only difference, I would rather have watched the original. There's plenty of sex and female nudity (breasts), notably early on when Segel is trying to drown his sorrows in casual sex, usually for comic effect so no-one can say that it's just to show attractive naked women. Not that I'm complaining.

There's a little bit of meta-fiction as the part Bell plays is of an actress who learns halfway through the film that her TV series has been cancelled and she has to try for film roles. This is the exact situation Bell found herself in when Veronica Mars was sadly cancelled and, talented as she is, she hasn't exactly set the film world alight.

Brand is rather likeable as the completely amoral  British pop singer and he provides a nice counterpoint to Segel's serious and overemotional musician. Kunis is fine too and there are several good supporting characters.

The overall result is a rather enjoyable quirky romantic comedy with fine performances all round. There are nits to pick but I can't be bothered and I've just ordered (for 36p plus postage) another comedy with Segel in the lead role.

COMPUTER CRIME: I'VE BEEN HACKED - UPDATE

I've just received an email sent to Susan Hardy (my wife, in case you're a new visitor) which couldn't be delivered and it's actually the email which was sent to everyone on my contacts list. I hadn't actually seen it before. Even Barry, with whom I've been in regular phone and email contact about this over the weekend, had deleted it.

Hi

My regrets for this sudden request, I have been involved in a robbery
during my trip to Madrid, Spain. I got mugged and all my belongings
cash, mobile phone and credit cards were all stolen at gun point.  I
need your help as am trying to raise some money.

I've made contact with my bank but they are not providing a fast
solution. I need you to lend me some money to sort my self out of this
predicament, will pay back once I get this over with.

Please let me know if you can assist me in anyway so i can forward you
details to effect a transfer. You can reach me via email or the
hotel's desk phone (deleted)

I can see how my friend was fooled by this as he didn't know where I was -though a phone call to my home would have told him. There are a couple of minor mistakes (grammatical, typo) but these could be put down to me being in an emotional state. It's not like one of those letters from Nigeria. It's concise and coherent.

Bastards. 

I wish upon them to become victims of the most vile acts they can imagine.

COMPUTER CRIME: I'VE BEEN HACKED!

About 3pm on Friday afternoon I discovered I'd been logged out of Google. I tried to log in and couldn't. I couldn't use Google as a search engine. I couldn't use my Gmail account. And I couldn't get in to my blogs -I could read them, I just couldn't post anything.

Half an hour later I got a phone call from a colleague who'd' received an email from me saying that I was stuck in Madrid and needed money urgently. Not being an idiot and working on the IT side of things, he realised my account had been hacked and had called to warn me. This wasn't the last call I received on the subject.

I still didn't suss out exactly what was happening as it had never happened before. After trying and failing to log on to Google, I was informed I'd tried too many times and couldn't retry my password until the following day i.e. October 1st. October 1st and 'Google' didn't seem to realise it as it wasn't until the afternoon before I was allowed to try again. I get blocked. There was also alternative @ymail I could use which I now realise was part of the con.

In the meantime I'd logged on to Yahoo, which I used as a temporary homepage instead of my customised iGoogle, and did some searches under Gmail account hacked, visiting several pages before finding one where I could contact Google via a form. I also created an email account at Yahoo so I had some means of contacting people and being contacted. I had to allow 24 hours so I allowed more before nothing happened and sent another one. This time I did get a reply which I found when I got back from empyting the donated petfood bins from three local superstores -Asda, Sainsburys, and Morrisons- which had been kind enough to let us have them. So followed the instructions which resulted in me having to fill in another copy of the form. But this time after submitting it I was directed to a different web page and shortly after that I regained control of my account. Hence this posting.

However, there were consequences. Any emails I'd received since Friday had disappeared for good, though the spam hadn't been touched. I had to restore my contacts list which was actually no bad thing as I had to access the list and tick those addresses I wanted restored resulting in trimming it down from over 230 to a mere 40.

And this morning I found out that someone (whom I'm not going to identify had been taken in by the con and had actually sent money -he wouldn't tell me how much. He hadn't thought, he admitted to me, he'd just reacted. He'd seen that a friend was in trouble and did what he could to help; without thinking. What a lovely person he is. Not that I didn't know that already. Anyone who knows him knows that and it makes me sick to my stomach that these scum have conned someone like that. I hope that lots of really bad things happen to him/her/them and that they suffer.