'TBH Politoons'
Cory!! Strode On Graphic Novels
'Sin City'
By now you've seen all the ads for the "Sin City" movie opening Friday, and if the ads don't make it clear, it IS based on a comic book. In fact, the writer/artist of the Sin City books is listed as the co-director of the movie, and there have been endless articles in the comic book press about how the movie is going out of its way to try and look exactly like the comic. The graphic novels have all been reformatted, reprinted and should all be at your local bookstore.
Frank Miller, the creator of the Sin City books, started as a comic book artist in the late 70's right out of high school, and he's probably the comic artist that movie directors love most. The 1989 Batman movie takes a lot of its visual cues (and some dialogue) from his Batman Graphic Novel "The Dark Knight Returns", the DareDevil movie was a clumsy adaptation of his run on that series in the early 80's, and now Sin City is based directly on his work.
So. The big question is: Are they any good?
A resounding "yes". Miller came into comics when they were pretty much over-run with people trying very hard to write like Stan Lee, self-referential super-hero soap operas that had big fight scenes where no one really got hurt, city blocks were destroyed and all of the drama was from the school of Melodrama. Miller quickly showed he had much different influences. His art used the storytelling style of Japanese comics, with figures in fluid motion and actions divided by series of panels. His stories, however, fused the devices of gritty crime drama with the super-hero idea. By the time he started work on the first "Sin City" story "A Dame To Kill For", he had become one of the most successful comic book creators, and had enough clout that he could do anything he wanted and comic book buyers would pick it up.
The stories are not what make Sin City so involving, however. "A Dame To Kill For" hits all of the standard "Film Noir" clichés, a woman in trouble, a hero with nothing left to lose, corrupt cops, a city that resembles a mythological underworld and a hard-boiled narrator. If you've read a Mickey Spillane novel, or watched a Humphrey Bogart movie, you already know the plot. Characters are quickly drawn archetypes, filling out the idea that this is the grittiest city in existence, and everyone operates in shades of gray. However, what brings "Sin City" to the level of art is the artwork.
Miller decided to use black and white, but instead of simply doing art without color, he used a style of "negative light", where highlighted areas are done in a thick black, while shadows show up as bright white. The art is done in clear, simple bold strokes and leaps off of each page with a power that most artists aren't even capable of coming close to. In contrast to the characters' all being different shades of gray, the art is simple black and white, with no shading. Later books have a single color to emphasize an artistic point (such as "The Yellow Bastard" where a character with jaundice is colored a bold yellow, and that is the only color used in the book), but in "A Dame To Kill For", it's simple black and white.
All 9 of the Sin City graphic novels can be read independently, and all of them are highly recommended, but the best place to start is "A Dame To Kill For", and that book gets a 5 out of 5. And while other geeks may be getting excited about the new Star Wars movie, I'll be looking for a midnight showing of Sin City for MY fanboy excitement.
Cory!! Strode (The Best Dressed Man In Comics) has written comic books, novels, jokes for comedians, Op Ed columns, the on-line comic strip
www.Asylumon5thstreet.com and has all kinds of things on his website
www.solitairerose.com
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Reader Comment
Re: DSL, Cell Or 2nd Line?
Hey, Marty!
I only have one phone line too. It may not be the
cheapest solution, but it's one that has worked for me--I pay for an
internet answering machine (from a company called CallWave--site is
something like callwave.com). They made all the arrangements for me
for the set up to work--they contacted my telephone company and
arranged for the part of their service that forwards my calls (when
I'm on line) to CallWave. For that, I pay the telephone company $2
each month.
Then CallWave tells me anytime someone is trying to call me while on
line. I have CallWave "pro" so I have caller ID and can see who is
trying to ring in. I have the option to "take the call" or let the
caller leave a message. If I take the call, I can talk up to an hour
before CallWave wants to end the call. I can choose to hang up or
hang up and call my friend back if we want to talk longer.
I originally went with one phone line so I could frustrate
telemarketers by keeping the line engaged anytime I was home. But
then too many friends--and lots of friends who had not yet walked into
the world of computers and email--complained about not ever being able
to get me. I thought I would do CallWave for a month or two and do
something else, but I like their service and now I'm content to just
let them do their thing for me.
Linda >^..^<
Thanks, Linda!
At the moment it looks like the cell phone is winning, though.
Purple Gene Reviews
'The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill'
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and breezy.
Ran out to the Valley tonight - lovely night for a drive.
Also talked to dear old Dad. The weather is finally a bit more pleasant, but he says it'll snow, again.
VH1 Classic's 'Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp'
Roger Daltrey
This isn't your usual summer camp. Roger Daltrey, Dickey Betts and Bret Michaels are some of the "camp counselors" who dish out advice on VH1 Classic's "Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp," which lets adults act out their rock star dreams for a week by learning the basics of rock 'n' roll performing from some of the music industry's masters.
The two-hour presentation, which premieres Saturday, also will include sage advice from Nils Lofgren, Jane Wiedlin, Jon Anderson, Simon Kirke, Jack Blades, Elliot Easton, Colin Hay and Bruce Kulick.
Daltrey, Betts and Michaels will be among those who answer questions submitted by viewers and asked at the camp by VH1 Classic host Lynn Hoffman.
Roger Daltrey
Press Club Must Be A Bottom
Jeff Gannon/James Guckert
Despite criticism in some media circles, the National Press Club is standing by its decision to feature James Guckert -- a.k.a. Jeff Gannon, the former correspondent/escort -- on an April 8 panel discussion about journalism and blogging called "Who is a Journalist?" But it has added others to the panel.
Newcomers include Jim Drinkard of USA Today, past chairman of the Standing Committee of Correspondents for the House and Senate press galleries (which turned down Guckert/Gannon for permanent credentials); Garrett Graff, editor of Fishbowl D.C., the first blogger to receive White House press credentials; and Matthew Yglesias, staff writer at The American Prospect and editor of yglesias.typepad.com.
Gannett News Service's Mike Madden and co-chair of the NPC Professional Affairs Committee will moderate the program.
Maria Recio, Madden's co-chair and a Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter, said the inclusion of Gannon had caused "a flurry." She also said she had questioned whether to include Gannon when the panel was first organized: "I raised the issue of 'is he a journalist?' The consensus was that he was someone in the news."
Jeff Gannon/James Guckert
Ends Weinsteins' 25-Year Run at Miramax
Disney
The Walt Disney Co. and Harvey and Bob Weinstein on Tuesday finally agreed that the brothers would step down from the helm of the Miramax Films unit they founded 25 years ago and which produced Oscar winner "Chicago" and box office hits like "Spy Kids."
The Weinsteins, who named Miramax after their parents Miriam and Max, will form The Weinstein Co. and take some of their best-known directors with them, but will also continue to produce some films in conjunction with Disney after they leave Miramax at the end of September.
The decision ends a fiery relationship between the Weinsteins and Disney's outgoing Chief Executive Michael Eisner, which burst into public many times, notably last year when Disney refused to release Michael Moore's anti-Bush hit "Fahrenheit 9/11."
Miramax Films and a 550-title library that includes the hit "Scary Movie" titles and Oscar winners like "The English Patient" will remain at Disney, which can exploit them on DVD or new digital formats of the future.
Disney
Passes MSGOP in Ratings
CNN Headline News
CNN Headline News has supplanted MSNBC as the third-place cable news channel. CNN's sister network recently started a new prime-time lineup that has gotten off to a strong start, particularly a legal-oriented talk show with Nancy Grace.
The new format replaced the continuous half-hour newscasts that CNN Headline News still carries for most of the day. But in its first month, the changes enabled the network to eclipse MSNBC in the prime-time ratings, according to Nielsen Media Research.
For the full day, CNN Headline News also beat MSNBC for the first three months of the year.
Grace, who benefited from a busy month of legal news including Michael Jackson's trial, averaged 518,000 viewers in March, Nielsen said. That instantly made her show more popular than anything on MSNBC, including "Hardball" with Chris Matthews.
CNN Headline News
Starring in Reality Show
Williams Sisters
Serena and Venus Williams will be starring in their version of a tennis reality show. The sisters' off-court lives - their family, friends and the glamour of big-time tennis - will be featured in a six-episode show that is still untitled but set to premiere on ABC Family in July, it was announced Monday.
Serena Williams said she and her sister welcome the chance to "branch out into a new medium."
Williams Sisters
Discusses Marriage to Jackson
Lisa Marie Presley
Lisa Marie Presley aired her "Dirty Laundry" on "Oprah." In the first of a two-part interview on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to promote her new album, Presley spoke Monday about her brief marriage to, who is on trial in Santa Maria, Calif., on child molestation charges.
"Do you think that he loved you as much as he could?" the talk-show host asked.
"Yes, as much as he was capable of loving somebody," Presley replied. (The couple famously opened the 1994 MTV Video Music Awards by exchanging a long kiss.)
When Winfrey asked if she felt that Jackson had used her, Presley replied, "All signs point to `yes' on that. I can't answer for him."
Lisa Marie Presley
Probe Award-Winning Documentary
Oscar Officials
Oscar officials are reviewing complaints that the recent winner of the short-film documentary award, "Mighty Times: The Children's March," misled judges about reenactments in the movie, an Academy Award spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
The flap arose shortly after the Feb. 27 awards show when Steven Kalafer, another filmmaker competing for the same Oscar, wrote to the Academy to complain that the winners had failed to disclose they had used reenactments.
Rules at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which gives out the Oscars, allow documentaries with reenactments to compete for Oscars, so the award would not be taken from director Bobby Houston and producer Robert Hudson.
Oscar Officials
New Season On VH1
'Surreal Life'
VH1 has selected seven new has-beens to stop being polite and start trying to revive their careers on "The Surreal Life." The fifth season, now in production, will premiere Sept. 4, the cable channel announced Tuesday.
The new cast includes "America's Next Top Model" judge Janice Dickinson, former slugger Jose Canseco, Sandi "Pepa" Denton of all-gal rap outfit Salt-n-Pepa, Bronson Pinchot from "Perfect Strangers," Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth from the first season of "The Apprentice," British model Caprice and motorcrosser Carey Hart.
'Surreal Life'
Sue Over Wife Beater Ads
Male Models
Four male models who appeared in an ad campaign against domestic violence are suing New York City, saying the posters stayed up beyond the agreed time, leading people to think they really were wife beaters.
Christopher Dorm, Triple Edwards, Daniel Royer and Javier Velarde appeared in posters throughout the city to promote awareness of domestic violence. The men were pictured behind bars with captions such as "Successful executive. Devoted churchgoer. Abusive husband."
The four agreed to the October 2002 photo shoot on the condition that the ads be posted only in New York City buses and subways and be taken down after five weeks, the lawsuit says. They were each paid between $1,500 to $2,000.
But the posters stayed up until at least August 2003 and appeared in several locations, including police stations and charities, said Jeffrey Pagano, the lawyer who filed the suit in Manhattan Supreme Court on March 23.
Male Models
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Dismantling Dinosaurs
The delicate task of dismantling dinosaurs, some of them assembled almost a century ago, has begun at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, which has one of the oldest and largest dinosaur collections in the country.
Starting Tuesday and for the next three years, visitors will be able to watch as five fossilized skeletons are disassembled as part of a $35 million renovation of the Pittsburgh museum's almost century-old Dinosaur Hall.
Over the next nine months, each dinosaurs will be taken apart piece by piece, one at a time, and trucked to New Jersey where they will be repaired and restored so they will last another 100 years.
Dismantling Dinosaurs
British Invasion
The National Enquirer
Spirits were high in the offices of The National Enquirer in Manhattan last week. A gaggle of British interlopers had taken custody of the tabloid, a SWAT team of Fleet Street meat-eaters brought in to revive the storied but now flagging checkout magazine. Not only was The Enquirer moving its main offices and production facilities to Manhattan from Florida - effectively taking the gossip magazine uptown and mainstream - but even more deliciously the paper also had a cover article suggesting that a Hollywood actor's Super Bowl celebration was a bit more super than most.
Paul Field, the Enquirer's editor and a former associate editor of The Sun, a popular British tabloid, was in particularly fine fettle, even though he was fighting a cold. A stripper and prostitute had told The Enquirer that she spent Super Bowl Sunday last month in the company of the star of a popular television show. The actor, through a representative, has denied the allegations. The Enquirer saved the naughtiest bit from the stripper's account - allegations of drug use - for the issue coming out today, the last one produced in Boca Raton, Fla.
In holding off, the editors took a tactical risk that they would not be scooped. "No, I'm not concerned," Mr. Field said, sitting at a table in his office. "No other publication would touch that story," he said, unlike in Britain, where "there would be other papers all over it."
The National Enquirer
Fined for Fruit
Hilary Swank
Two-time Oscar-winning actress Hilary Swank has been fined for bringing forbidden fruit into New Zealand, after getting thumbs down from judges in an appeal, a court said Wednesday.
Swank was issued notice of a fine for breaching New Zealand's strict quarantine laws when she failed to declare an apple and an orange while arriving at an airport on Jan. 15 on a flight from Los Angeles, but appealed the penalty to a court.
The Manukau District Court on Wednesday advised the country's Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry that Swank's appeal had been rejected and that she had been fined $142 plus costs of $21.
Hilary Swank
Splits Pennsylvania Town
Teaching Darwin
The pastoral fields and white frame houses appear at peace, but this Pennsylvania farm town is deeply at war over teaching Darwin or Christian creationism in its schools.
Since last year the school board voted to have high school biology teachers raise doubts about Darwin's 145-year-old theory and suggest an alternative Christian explanation for life. The city has since been deeply riven over the issue of separation of church and state.
The command landed in the sprawling, red-brick Dover high school like a bomb. Biology teachers refused to read it, while around 15 students walked out in protest.
Pastor and parent Ray Mummert, 54, explained their point.
"Christians are a lot more bold under Bush's leadership, he speaks what a lot of us believe," said Mummert.
"We've been attacked by the intelligent, educated segment of the culture," he said, adding that the school board's declaration is just a first step.
Teaching Darwin
Prime-Time Nielsen
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for March 21-27. Top 20 listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.
1. (1) "American Idol" (Tuesday), Fox, 27.6 million viewers.
2. (4) "Desperate Housewives," ABC, 24.1 million viewers.
3. (3) "American Idol" (Wednesday), Fox, 20.9 million viewers.
4. (X) "American Idol" (Thursday), Fox, 20.2 million viewers.
5. (X) "Survivor: Palau," CBS, 19.2 million viewers.
6. (7) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 18.9 million viewers.
7. (X) "NCAA Basketball Championship: Kentucky vs. Michigan State," CBS, 17.9 million viewers.
8. (38) "House," FOX, 17.3 million viewers.
9. (20) "CSI: NY," CBS, 16.7 million viewers.
10. (14) "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," ABC, 16.4 million viewers.
11. (11) "Grey's Anatomy," ABC, 16.2 million viewers.
12. (X) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," (Wednesday)" CBS, 16.1 million viewers.
13. (11) "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 15.9 million viewers.
14. (X) "60 Minutes," CBS, 15.5 million viewers.
15. (9) "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS, 15.4 million viewers.
16. (11) "ER," NBC, 15 million viewers.
17. (22) "NCIS," CBS, 14.9 million viewers.
18. (X) "NCAA Basketball Championship: Illinois vs. Arizona," CBS, 14.2 million viewers.
19. (X) "Cold Case" CBS, 13.2 million viewers.
20. (29) "The Amazing Race 7," CBS, 12.4 million viewers.
Ratings
