Under the Sea

I'm sure it'll come as no surprise that I ran out and bought the 2-disc special edition of The Little Mermaid last week. I more or less had to...I already have the 2-disc special editions of Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King. Those four films together represent the massive resurgance in animation that dominated the 1990s.

Actually, I have a happy memory of The Little Mermaid. It represents the first time in my life a woman called me "cool."

The year was 1997. Disney had just re-released The Little Mermaid to theatres. Kinda mad at myself for having missed it the first time in theatres, I decided to go see it. I was still at Augustana, and I would be seeing it at Camrose's classic old single-screen theatre, the Bailey.

I was just chillin' in the common room, when an accquaintance of mine walked in. She was off to see her boyfriend and we made small talk. She asked if I had plans for that evening. I said I was off to see The Little Mermaid.

Her eyes grew wide in awe. "You are so cool, Mark!" she said. "I know of no other man who would willingly go to see The Little Mermaid!"

It was quite a feather in my cap that night.

Anyway, Disney did another stellar job with the 2-disc special edition of The LIttle Mermaid. If I have a complaint, it would be that they neglected to include the trailer for the 1997 re-release...one of the few trailers that gives me goosebumps.

Oh, well. To celebrate, here's 5 Fun Facts about The Little Mermaid:

1. The Little Mermaid was Disney's last animated film that was painted and photographed by hand. After The Little Mermaid, Disney switched to the CAPS system, which did all of that on computer.
2. The Little Mermaid was Disney's first animated film in years in which the animators filmed extensive live-action reference footage. (Live-action reference footage is when the animators have actors act out the scene to get a better idea of how to animate it.) In the live-action reference footage, Ariel was played by Sherri Stoner, who went on to write and do voices for Animaniacs.
   
3. Ursula the Sea Witch was based on Divine, an obese female impersonator who's a mainstay of the films of John Waters.
4. Walt Disney had originally planned to do The Little Mermaid back in 1940, but the project was scrapped. When they decided to do it in 1989, the animators actually dug out and took a look at all the concept art that was done in 1940.
5. Grimsby, Prince Eric's servant, was voiced by Ben Wright. Wright was also the voice of Roger, Pongo's owner, in One Hundred and One Dalmations. Wright actually had to remind the Disney animators of this fact when he was hired.

Hey! Look what I found on YouTube! It's the 1997 re-release trailer! You would have seen this in theatres in front of Hercules:

This is a story 'bout a guy named Al....

Well, hopefully, by now, you've heard the news.

"Weird Al" Yankovic's latest album, Straight Outta Lynwood, made its debut on the Billboard charts at #10. It's officiall the first top 10 album of Weird Al's career.

The first single, White and Nerdy, debuted on the Billboard charts at #28, making it the highest-charting Weird Al single since Eat It, all those years ago.

I've had my copy for a week now, and I've listened to it non-stop. It's at least as good as his last one. And musically, it's very strong. Very hummable...easy to sing along to.

But of course, the best part is the bonus DVD. Six music videos, each one animated. Hands down, the best one is the video for Close But No Cigar, which was animated by John Krikfalusi, the Ren and Stimpy guy.

Most fascinating is the featurette of Weird Al making the album. It's nothing but raw footage of Weird Al in the studio, singing, directing other musicians, and hunched over a mixing board. We've all known that this version of Weird Al must exist...but to finally see it is endlessly fascinating. However, it loses six points for the cheezy final shot of Weird Al's baby daughter looking at Daddy through the studio glass.

Highly recommended.

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Of course, along with Straight Outta Lynwood, i got my copy of The Weird Al Show: The Complete Series.

For those who don't remember, let me refresh your memory. Weird Al had been going around Hollywood for years pitching a sketch comedy show that would showcase his humour. Then, enter the CBS Network, who felt that, with some tweaking, this Weird Al show would make a good addition to their Saturday morning line-up. Around this time, new laws were passed, increasing the percentage of children's programming that had to be educational. So, CBS decide to tweak Yankovic's program even more to make it educational.

The end result? The Weird Al Show, a kids program so sterile and preachy that not even the target audience of 5-year-olds would watch it.

I just finished watching the 13th and final episode. My God, I forgot how preachy the show was. You're literally beaten over the head with a moral every 2 minutes. But a lot of Weird Al's trademark humour still shines through, which is why it's still popular with Weird Al's fans.

I'm going to have to go back and watch all 13 episodes again with Weird Al's running commentary. Apparently, in the commentaries, Weird Al vents a lot of his bitterness at how the show was tweaked to death.

But it's just great.

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And over the weekend, I got to do something I'd never done before.

I experience "Weird Al" Yankovic on vinyl.

I showed up at home for the Thanksgiving weekend, and Dad was showing off his latest purchase. After being turntable-deprived for almost a decade, Dad bought himself a brand-new record player. And, he was waiting for his technologically-adept son (me) to come home and hook it up to the stereo. I had it set up in a matter of minutes, and the house was rockin' to Dad's vintage collection of Wilf Carter and Johnny Cash records.

And when Dad got bored with that, I was hit with an inspiration. I ran down to my room and dug out the only "Weird Al" Yankovic record I own.

The year was 1998. The world was still reeling at Ginger's departure from the Spice Girls. Junior high lovers were slow dancing to that Aerosmith song from Armageddon. And Augustana Univeristy was rocking out to the sweet sounds of Chaos in a Box. It was a slow night during the show, so I started digging through an old tub of 45s slated for disposal.

(For those who are too young..."45s" are those smaller records with a big hole in the middle that were used for singles.)

I reached into the tub and randomly pulled out....

the single for I Lost on Jeopardy.

Since those 45s were going to be thrown out anyway, I took it home that night.

And it sat.

Until that Thanksgiving weekend when I cranked it up on Dad's new record player.

That was really cool.

Latest Targ's Up!

This week's episode of The Targ is up!

The latest show is Episode 21: The Bat Show. Nothing but songs from the Batman movies!

Give it a listen!

The Weird Al Countdown Continues....

I got an e-mail from Amazon.ca today.

My copies of The Weird Al Show: The Complete Series and Weird Al's new album, Straight Outta Lynwood have shipped.

Experience tells me it'll be here Wednesday or Thursday.

The Day

This day, which I've been waiting for for over a month, has finally arrived.

Firstly, for us Canadians, The Weird Al Show: The Complete Series comes out on DVD! All 13 classic episodes of Weird Al's short-lived childrens show from 1997. As I said, it was supposed to come back a month ago, but for reasons unknown, it got pushed back a month for us canucks.

And, secondly, for you Americans...it's Weird Al's new album, Straight Outta Lynwood!

I pre-ordered the two of them on Amazon.ca over a month ago. Amazon.ca tells me it'll be shipping in a week.

So, while we're waiting a week, enjoy this really cool fan-made music video I found for Polkarama!, Weird Al's latest polka medley:

Latest Targ's Up!

So, this week's episode of The Targ is up! This week, it's Episode 20: Vulgarity. I play all the nasty, vile, dirty-joke-ridden songs I can only play without broadcast regulation.

Needless to say, this week's is not safe for work.

Give it a listen!

Super Clerks on November 28

Ladies and gents, November 28 is shaping up to be a phenomenal day on DVD. And it's right at the start of holiday shopping season, so take note! These make good Christmas presents...for me.

First up, November 28 is when Superman Returns comes out on DVD. Now, I did enjoy Superman's return to the big screen. As is the case these days, it'll be available in a single-disc, no bonus features edition, and a 2-disc special edition. Here's what you get for bonus materials on the 2-disc special edition

• The 172 minute documentary Requiem for Krypton: Making Superman Returns (dude! That's a whole hour longer than the film!)
• A featurette called Resurrecting Jor-El
• 11 deleted scenes, with all the special effects completed
• Kevin Spacey's bloopers
• The trailers and TV spots

But, also coming out on that day, for the ultimate Superman fan, is the gigantic, 14-disc boxed set The Ultimate Superman Collection. This set contains every Superman movie ever made. How did they get it up to 14 discs? Well, here's what all is included:

• Superman: The Movie - Special Edition (4 discs)
• Superman II: Special Edition (2 discs)
• Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (1 disc)
• Superman III: Special Edition (1 disc)
• Superman IV: The Quest for Peace - Special Edition (1 disc)
• Superman Returns: Special Edition (2 discs)
• You Will Believe: The Cinematic Story of Superman (new documentary all about the films. 1 disc)
• Look! Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman (1 disc)
• Bryan Singer's Journals Extended Editions (Singer's video blog that he made during the making of the film - including 2 episodes never posted online! 1 disc.)

But wait! There's more! Included in the box is a special reprint of Superman #7, a new booklet about the history of Superman, and a mail-away offer for all the film's movie posters!

Also out on November 28 is my favourite film of the summer, Kevin Smith's Clerks II. It'll be a 2-disc special edition, and here's what all you get for bonus features.

• Running commentary with the cast and crew
• Back to the Well: Making Clerks II (feature length documentary about making the film)
• The top 10 episodes of Train Wreck. (Train Wreck was Smith's video blog about making the film...on his message boards, Smith said that you're only getting the top 10, and not all 75.)
• Deleted scenes and bloopers (Smith says it's purely coincidental that there's 37 minutes worth)
• Featurettes on the dance sequence and the now-infamous donkey sequence.

And, no Kevin Smith fan would be complete without picking up An Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder. This follow-up to An Evening with Kevin Smith documents even more of Kevin Smith's live shows! That's also out on November 28.

As I said, all would make great Christmas presents...for me.

An Action No One Thought I Would Ever Take

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm about to make a bold proclimation I thought I'd never say. I'm going to do something I thought I'd never do.

I'm going to buy a membership in the PC Party of Alberta.

Now, I know. Right now, you're shocked and horrified. I've never been a fan of the Tories, never like Ralph Klein, so plese, before you click away, let me explain myself.

As I'm sure you heard, Klein turned in his letter of resignation. The leadership race (which has actually been running since February) has now officially begun. And, being a news hound, all the official news releases from the PC Party came across my desk today.

So here I"m reading the rules of the game. I quote the news release directly:

"We will be conducting a leadership election on the same basis as the one in 1992...one member, one vote! ...we will hold a formal election quite similar to a provincial general election."

Sounds great, don't it? Then I read this sentence. And this is how I came to my decision.

"Any Albertan who meets voting requirements and purchases a PC membership will be able to vote!"

Right there. If you want to vote for the next premier of Alberta, you have to be a member of the party.

I've actually been thinking about this for a while now. About a month ago, I read the statistic in the Edmonton Journal. When you add up all the people in Alberta who are actually members of the Tory party, and factor in voter turnout and voter apathy and all that, do you know how many Albertans will be chosing the next leader of this province?

3%

3% of the people chosing our next leader.

(Well, I don't remember the exact statistic...but I do remember it was a single didget.)

And I don't know about you, but I want to be part of that 3%. I want a say in how my government is run.

So that's why I'm going to be dropping my $5 and joining the Tories. Just for this one election.

And then when a real provincial election rolls around, I'll vote...NOT Tory.

So, please forgive me. I want my vote.

THE NEW WEIRD AL VIDEO!!!

So, last night at 10 PM, "Weird Al" Yankovic was going to premiere his music video for White and Nerdy over at AOL.com.

But....

AOL.com went and cancelled it because the video was leaked to the Internet over the weekend. "It's not really a world premiere then, is it?" was AOL's logic.

So, not wanting to disappoint his fans, Weird Al went and posted the White and Nerdy video over on his MySpace page!

Click and Giggle!

Latest Targ's Up! Latest Weird Al News!

Firstly, this week's episode of The Targ is up! This week I have Episode 19: Jar Jar's Big Adventure. I bought Star Wars on DVD again. Hear me whine about what a sucker I am!

Give it a listen!

The Targ. Now in a lower, easier-to-download, resolution!

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And here's the latest as we inch closer to "Weird Al" Yankovic's new album, Straight Outta Lynwood.

The music video for Weird Al's first parody, White and Nerdy, will be premiering TOMORROW over at AOL.com! It goes online at 10PM Alberta time, and you don't have to be an AOL member.

Plus, the video will be making its TV debut this Wednesday on the American music video channel VH1. You lucky Americans, you!

Mark Cappis: Officially an Idiot

Well, I'm back from Edmonton. And what did I do?

I bought Star Wars on DVD. Again.

Now, once again, the original theatrical versions of the films! On DVD! Which will last much longer than VHS! Or some I told.

I even went all the way to Best Buy just so I could get it in the fancy tin.

I've already watched snippets of the original theatrical versions on DVD, and I tell ya, I can't see what all the fuss is about. They look just as good as most of my other DVDs do.

But then, most of the DVD critics are watching them on $20,000 home theatre set-ups. It'd probably be noticable on one of those.

But I have them...again. This is the fourth time I've bought Star Wars...and the second time on DVD.

I rant about this all in this week's episode of The Targ. I'm putting the final polish on it, and it'll be posted tomorrow (Sunday) morning.

Yet Another New Weird Al Song!!

Wow! Just two weeks to go before Weird Al's new album (well, three weeks for us Canadians), and Weird Al has gone and posted yet another song from the album at his MySpace page!

This is the long-awaited, eagerly anticipated first parody from the album. It's called White and Nerdy, and it's a parody of Ridin' by Chamillionaire.

Sadly, this one is not available for download. I mean...we need some reason to buy the CD, right?

Give it a listen.

And hey! Here's some props from the original artist! Chamillionaire has it on his MySpace page too!

Latest Targ's Up!!

Hey all! Forgot to mention that the latest episode of The Targ is up!

This week is Episode 18: Summer Movies 2007, in which I count down what I think will be the top 5 films of next year.

Give it a listen!

NO NO NO!!!

NO!!!!!

I just swung by the official "Weird Al" Yankovic website, and he had bad news.

Here in Canada, Weird Al's new album, Straight Outta Lynwood, has been pushed back one week.

It now comes out October 3.

And, here in Canada, it will not be a dualDisc (that's where side 1 is the CD and side 2 is the DVD). Here in Canada, the CD and the DVD will be two seperate discs. And the DVD will not be mixed in 5.1 surround sound or have instrumental versions of the songs.

So, darn darn darn! I gotta wait another week!

Happy Star Trek Day

I just have to take a moment to acknowledge that today, September 8, is the 40th anniversary of Star Trek.

We all know the tale. On this day, back in 1966, the first episode of Star Trek was shown on NBC. The episode was The Man Trap, better known as "the one with the salt vampire." And, to this day, it's celebrated by nerds and trekkies the world over as Star Trek's anniversary.

Let's see who's company I keep. Wikipedia has a whole list dedicated to notable trekkies. Some of the ones that stand out for me:

Seth MacFarlane - the creator of Family Guy has long been known to be a trekkie. MacFarlane even made several cameos on Enterprise as "Ensign Rivers," a member of Trip's engineering staff.

Matt Stone and Trey Parker - According to Wikipedia, Stone and Parker called Star Trek "a kick ass show that's also a huge part of our pop culture landscape." I always knew that, as there are thousands of references to Star Trek throughout South Park...from incredibly subtle to blatantly obvious.

Bryan Singer - As I once read on a Star Trek message board, "anyone who doesn't belive that Singer is a trekkie just has to watch the end of X2." And I agree. It's such a clear homage to the end of The Wrath of Kahn. Singer even has a "blink and you'll miss it" cameo in Star Trek Nemesis. In fact, on the Nemesis DVD, there's a great Easter egg...a 3 minute interview with Singer about his cameo. In the interview, Singer tells a tale of, when he was a film student, he went to a lecutre on the Paramount lot, but he snuck away from his tour group and broke into the set of The Next Generation. They weren't filming, so Singer just hung out on the bridge until a security gurad caught him and threw him out.

Tom Hanks - Yup, the 3-time Oscar winning actor is a trekkie. Hanks was even the first choice to play Zephram Cochrane in Star Trek: First Contact, but he had to decline because he was so busy with his directorial debut That Thing You Do!.

Ben Stiller - Knew it. Tons of references throughout the films that Stiller has directed.

And the one that surprised me the most....

Stephen Harper - Yup. According to Wikipedia, our PM is a rabid trekkie - but only for the original series.

Anyway, I'm going to celebrate right now by popping The Voyage Home into the ol' DVD player.

Gigantic "Weird Al" Update / That's My Bush on DVD

Wow. So I was checking out the Wikipedia entry on Weird Al's new album, and lo and behold, they had the complete track listing! Here's what's gonna be on Straight Outta Lynwood, coming out on the 26th.

1. White and Nerdy

• Parody of Ridin' by Chamillionaire
• Over at his MySpace page, Weird Al mentioned that he's in post-production on the music video for this song. Weird Al describes it as a "big budget, old school Weird Al video."

2. Pancreas

• Apparently, an homage to pop legend Brian Wilson

3. Canadian Idiot

• Parody of American Idiot by Green Day. Oh boy....

4. I'll Sue Ya

• A Weird Al original. No information at this time.

5. Polkarama!

• The requisite polka medly. No word yet on what to expect inside.

6. Virus Alert

• Apparently, a tribute to computer viruses, spam, and everything else you get in your e-mail

7. Confessions part III

• Parody of Confessions part II by Usher

8. Weasel Stomping Day

• A Weird Al original. No information at this time.

9. Close but No Cigar

• Apparently, this is about a cat that tries to hit on human women, before realizing that humans aren't his type. A lesser comedian would fill this with double entendres involving "pussy."

10. Do I Creep You Out

• Parody of Do I Make You Proud by Taylor Hicks.
  
• Weird Al's first American Idol parody.

11. Trapped in the Drive Thru

• Parody of Trapped in the Closet by R. Kelley
• Seeing as to how Trapped in the Closet is a 40 minute epic in 12 parts, rumor has it this'll be 10 minutes long and follow in the tradition of such Weird Al classics as Albuquerque and Genius in France.

12. Don't Download This Song

• The first single, ironically now available for download at www.dontdownloadthissong.com.
• In case you haven't heard it yet, it's done in the style of We Are the World and preaches the evils of downloading music.

And that's what we have to look forward to on September 26.

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And, there was a DVD announcement today that I would be completely remiss in not mentioning. I've mentioned time and again that one of my favourite parts of DVD is how dead TV shows that didn't last very long eventually get a super-special edition treatment. And, the latest DVD TV show that I'd prayed for is finally coming out. On October 24, it's....

That's My Bush!: The Definitive Collection.

For those who don't remember, about 5 years ago, South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker got it in their heads to do a sitcom. But they're sitcom would rip apart all the cliches and conventions of the genre. So, they decided to take a typical sitcom premise and apply it to...the White House.

The end result: That's My Bush!

George W. Bush was the well-meaning, but stupid, husband.

Laura Bush was the preachy and long suffering wife.

Karl Rove was the straight man.

And throw in such other cliches as the dumb blonde, the wacky next-door neighbour, and the wisecracking maid, and you had a sitcom.

It was damn funny TV. Apparently, it was cancelled because it was just too big a budget for Comedy Central.

But if you love South Park, you're gonna get a kick out of That's My Bush!.

For bonus features, you get:

• Running commentaries on all episodes by Matt Stone and Trey Parker
• Running commentaries on all episodes by the whole cast
• Deleted scenes and bloopers

October 24!!

New DVD Day!!

As I've said many times in the past, I love Tuesday, for it's the day of new DVDs!! There's not much out today, but two releases of note.

First up, there's Gojira: The Original Masterpiece. For the first time ever on DVD in North America, it's the complete, uncut, subtitled, original Japanese version of the original Godzilla film. And, of course, it's all beautifully digitally restored. It's a 2-disc set...disc 2 contains the more-well-known North American edit, known as Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

And, also out today, for the first time on DVD...the last Mel Brooks film to be released on DVD...it's the 1993 comedy classic...Robin Hood: Men in Tights! Seriously. this is the last Mel Brooks movie to come out on DVD...and as such, it has become one of the most requested DVDs. But it's out today, devoid of bonus features, and discount-bin-priced.

Latest Weird Al News!!

So, over at the official website, "Weird Al" Yankovic has revealed who all the animators are who have done music videos for his upcoming album Straight Outta Lynwood. See, his album's going to come with a DVD, with 6 new music videos on it...each one animated! Who are those six animators?

- Academy Award Nominee Bill Plympton. He did the one that's online right now, Don't Download This Song.

- John Krikfalusi, the creator of Ren and Stimpy.

- The entire team behind the brilliant stop motion animated cartoon, Robot Chicken. (Their video will actually be a segment on Robot Chicken on the 23rd.)

- Thomas Lee, who's best known work is the Shockwave cartoon The Star Wars Gangsta Rap

- David C. Lovelace, who created the Shockwave cartoon Retarded Animal Babies.

- Jim Blashfield, who did such classic music videos in the 1980s as "And She Was" by Talking Heads and "Boy in the Bubble" by Paul Simon.

I should mention that all these animated videos are for Weird Al's original songs...he's currently filming a live-action music video for the first parody, and in pre-production on a video for the second parody.

So that's a grand total of 8 music videos from this album!!

Latest Targ's Up!!

Just a quick note to let you know that I've got the latest episode of The Targ up! This week is Episode 17: A Tale to Tell. I try something different this week...this time, instead of doing a typical radio break between songs, I tell a whole story...about my centuries long quest to get a multiregional DVD player!

(Well, it's just 3 years long, but you know what I'm saying.)

Give it a listen!

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Other than that, I'm just lamenting the amount of money I spent yesterday. In addition to the aforementioned DVD player, I also bought myself a VCR. It may surprise you to know that I haven't upgraded all of my movies to DVD yet...and I still have a bunch of videos I watch from time-to-time. Besides, with season premiere season just around the corner, I wanted to be able to start watching Family Guy again.

And, I bought a vacuum cleaner. That was a flat out necessity, as my carpet was starting to get pretty vile.

And, as has become my way whenever I make a trip to Edmonton, I wind up blowing $100 on DVDs. This time, I splurged and got those ultra-rare Cadillacs of special editions...Criterion DVDs. I got Criterion's releases of Armageddon and Monty Python's Life of Brian. Each one was $50.

I can hear you all the way from where you are..."$50 FOR ARMA-FREAKIN'-GEDDON??" What can I say? It's one of those DVDs I've been lusting after ever since the medium was invented.

Now go listen to The Targ.

Star Trek: The Original Series - Special Edition

Wow. One of those trekkie wet dreams is coming true.

Ever since that episode of DS9 where Sisko and crew went back in time into The Trouble with Tribbles, and nerds were treated to a CGI original series Enterprise, trekkies have had a common dream.

"Wouldn't it be cool if they did, like, a special edition of the original series? And they updated all the special effects with today's technology?"

Well...IT'S HAPPENING!!

It was officially announced yesterday that Paramount Pictures has been in the midst of digitally remastering the original series, with the ultimate goal of re-releasing it in high definition.



And, in their re-mastering process, all the special effects have been updated. Check out this brand new, CGI rendered Enterprise that'll be in all the episodes.

And updating all the space shots isn't the only thing. Every time they look out the main viewer to see a planet in space? New CGI shot. Every time they beam down to an alien planet? Brand new digital mattes, complete with rolling clouds and dozens of computer animated extras.

Along with this, they're completely remaking the opening credits sequence. Creating a new orchestral version of the opening theme. Computer animating the whole thing.

And it's all going to be in glorious high definition.

And the best thing? It's not going straight to DVD. It'll be on TV! Where you can watch it for free!

It debuts in syndication on the week of September 16. Check your TV listings for when and where.

DVD Day

As I've said many times before, I do so love Tuesdays. Because this is the day that new DVDs hit store shelves. It used to be that I did a massive re-cap here in the blog about the new DVDs out today, but you know, life has been getting in the way, and I don't do that as much anymore. But there's a bunch of new ones out today that I feel I need to highlight.

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In the realm of the home theatre enthusiast, there's no greater crime than double-dipping. This is when a movie studio releases one of your favourite films in a newer, more-special edition, with all new bonus features, forcing you to buy it again! Horrible, simply horrible.

This week, New Line Cinema is guilty of double-dipping for it's release of The Lord of the Rings: Limited Editions. Yup, Frodo and the Fellowship are released. Disc one contains both the theatric version and the extended edtions. Disc 2 contains a brand-new, feature length documentary about the making of that chapter in the trilogy.

And of course, these versions are discount bin priced, so if you've been holding off on buying the trilogy, now's probably the best time to do so. If you already own the trilogy, don't bother.

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Another double-dip that I don't mind is the brand new, 2-disc special edition of the anime classic, Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro.

Most of the anime geeks I know absolutly adore the works of Hayao Miyazaki. He's the man who brought us such classics as My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. Miyazaki cut his teeth on TV animation throughout the sixties and seventies, with the peak being his work on the late-70s incarnation of that much beloved anime franchise, Lupin III.

Of course, at the peaf of Lupin III's popularity in the late-70s, a feature film version was commisioned, and the end result was Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro. The first feature film from Hayao Miyazaki. There's an urban legend in anime circles that Steven Spielberg declared Castle of Cagliostro to be the greatest action film ever made.

The plot: Arsene Lupin III, that gentleman their and adventurer, heads off to the country of Cagliostro for his latest caper. Before long, he meets a princess who's about to forced into marriage, runs afoul of the Count of Cagliostro, and mayhem ensues.

This new special edition is meant to mimic Disney's dubs of Miyazaki's films. (Miyazaki made it before he founded Studio Ghibli, so Studio Ghibli doesn't own it.) As with the Disney dubs, you get the entire animatic for the film, and the original Japanese language tracks.

Worth a look-see.

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And, at long last, the big blue bug of justice is here!

One of the most requested cartoons finally comes out on DVD. It's The Tick vs. Season One. The classic superhero spoof created by Ben Edlund. It's not the complete first season, because some legal thing kept one episode from season one (The Tick vs. the Mole Men) from being added.

The set is completely devoid of bonus features, but it's finally out on DVD!

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And, for those who were raised on the Disney afternoon, you may want to check out Disney's new releases of TaleSpin: Volume One and Darkwing Duck: Volume One. Each 3-disc set contains the first 26 episodes of their respective series.

Targie McTarg

This week's episode of The Targ is up!

This week, it's Episode 16: DVD Lament. In it, I whine about how the real world expenses of food and rent cut into my DVD purchasing ability. Oh, and I play some OutKast.

Give it a listen!

Feeling Old

For the first time in my life, I'm starting to feel old.

It started a couple of days ago...back on Thursday, I was reading the news story that it's the 20th anniversary of when Rick Hansen began the Canadian - and final - leg of his Man in Motion world tour. Wow. His Man in Motion world tour actually came through Entwistle...he stopped and gave a speech. School was closed for the morning so we could all go see it.

Actually, it started back in May...when I saw that it was the 20th anniversary of the opening of Expo 86. I didn't go, but I remember all the hype and hoopla. Yup, even here in Alberta, advertising for it was pretty intense. My parents seriously considered going to it...but a trip to Vancouver just wasn't in the summer vacation budget that year.

So, what's been making me feel so old? The fact that all these seminal events in my childhood happened 20 years ago. I'm remembering things that happened 20 years ago. That feels like such a long time....

So, I"m feeling nostalgic. Enjoying going through YouTube. No longer satisfied going through the stuff I loved, like G.I. Joe and the TransFormers, I'm now going after stuff I vaguely remember.

Like this. when I was a kid, it was always great going to my grandparents house in Red Deer. They had something called "cable TV," and all my 6 year old brain really knew was that "cable" meant tons of cartoons on Saturday morning that I'd never seen before.

Being 6 years old, one of the most popular TV shows of the day was The Dukes of Hazzard. My brother and I loved that show. We had to go to bed every night at 8, except on Friday, when we could stay up late and watch The Dukes of Hazzard.

And then, one fateful Saturday morning in Red Deer, my brother and I got to see this cartoon. Just one episode:

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And then, there was the summer of 1989. There was no more monumental summer in my life than the summer of 89. the end of elementary school and the start of junior high...we moved into a bigger house, so I finally got my own room...my parents decided to go for cable TV...and playing in the background, constantly, pervasivly, was hype for a little Tim Burton movie called Batman.

I want to do some kind of creative project someday set in the summer of 89...throw in the death of a best friend, and an awkward first kiss, and you've got a classic coming-of-age story.

Anyway, as I mentioned...got cable TV that summer. And, in the fall of 89, one of the first new cartoons I was treated to was this little movie tie-in gem:

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And then, who could ever forget this TV spot?

(Sorry, Kenten)

A Brief History of Weird Al on the Internet

So, in the latest news in regards to "Weird Al" Yankovic's new album, Weird Al has now launched Don't Download This Song.com, where you can download his first single, Don't Download This Song in a much higher quality MP3 than on Weird Al's MySpace Page.

Acutally, this got me thinking.... "Weird Al" Yankovic went online around the same time I did, so let's take a look back at some of the more notable acheivments of Weird Al in Internet history.

Spring 1996 - In the liner notes of Bad Hair Day, there's the little note, "Check out Bermuda's home page." When you swing by the url www.loop.com/~bermuda (link no longer works), you find the home page of Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, Weird Al's drummer. Bermuda's home page is completely dedicated to Weird Al, detailing the new album and Weird Al's upcoming concert.

Fall 1996 - Bermuda's home page becomes the Official "Weird Al" Yankovic website, and moves to www.weirdal.com. Bermuda remains as the webmaster - a position he holds to this very day.

Fall 1997 - With the launch of The Weird Al Show, the website becomes your place for everything you want to know about the show.

May 1999 - To tie-in with the new album, Weird Al launches www.thesagabegins.com (link no longer works), which was a pretty spot-on parody of the Official Star Wars Website, cirrca 1999. While there, you can watch the video for The Saga Begins in streaming video, and read up on how the first single from Running with Scissors came to be.

July 1999 - Weird Al does it again, launching www.itsallaboutthepentiums.com (link no longer works), where you can watch the video for It's All About the Pentiums in streaming video, and download some nifty things.

Spring 2003 - Being all the way in Japan, I lean pretty heavily on wierdal.com to get all my news on Poodle Hat.

May 2006 - When Weird Al is forced to drop a song from his upcoming album, he makes it a free download from weirdal.com. The song is You're Pitiful.

June 2006 - Like everyone else in the world, Weird Al launches a MySpace page.

August 2006 - Weird Al makes the first single from his new album, the song Don't Donwload this Song, a free download at his MySpace page. The music video goes up at Yahoo! Music the next day.

Wow. This internet thing rocks.

WEIRD AL'S FIRST NEW VIDEO IN 3 YEARS!!

Hey! Over at Yahoo! Music, you can watch the music video for "Weird Al" Yankovic's new single, Don't Download This Song.

Check it out! Like, now, dudes!.

A little note about this video: like all 6 music videos on Weird Al's new album, this one is 100% animated. The animator on this one was world-renowned animator Bill Plympton. Plympton is world-famous for having cranked out 26 short films and 5 animated features...and animating each and every frame himself. He won the Best Animated Short Film Oscar in 1987 for a short called Your Face. He was last nominated last year for a short film called Guard Dog.

I first heard of him back in 1997, during the release of his animated feature I Married a Strange Person. I thought it was remarkable that he animated the whole thing himself, and for the life of me, for the past 9 years, I couldn't remember his name.

Take notes on this man, Mr. Bowick, cuz I know you have similar ambitions.

Blue Thunder on DVD

I feel like I would be remiss if I didn't take a moment to mention what came out on DVD today.

I've quite frequently blogged that one of my favourite aspects of DVD is "The Complete Series." Every TV show that you loved, but only lasted a dozen episodes, seems to get released in a 3-disc super-special edition.

And, for every well-known dead TV show that comes out (eg Firefly), there's one that makes you go, "HOLY MOLY! I forgot this existed!"

Today's release falls in that latter category.

Today, it was the release of Blue Thunder: The Complete Series.

This short-lived TV show lasted only 11 episodes in the mid-1980s. It was based on the Roy Scheider movie of the same name.

The premise: a squad of of super-elite helicopter pilots work for the LAPD. Their aircraft: Blue Thunder, a super, hi-tech, armed-to-the-nuts attack helicopter, which they use to fight crime in the skies over LA.

The original movie was a fairly taught consipracy thriller. The TV show evolved into a thinly-veiled knock-off of that other show from the 1980s about a super-advanced attack helicopter, Airwolf.

I have very cloudy memories of this show.

I can't believe they released this. I just might buy it out of curiousity.

But the question remains: why does this get released when we're still waiting for Andy Richter Controls the Universe?

Blue Thunder...KITT...Airwolf...the A-Team's van...Magnum PI's Ferarri...that Lambroghini from Miami Vice...the General Lee...Mom was right. Action shows in the 1980s were all about the vehicles.

NEW WEIRD AL SONG!! DOWNLOAD!! NOW!!

Well, just a short 2.5 hours ago, the first single off of "Weird Al" Yankovic's new album was posted and made available for download over at Weird Al's MySpace page.

The song is a Weird Al original. It's the very ironic choice, Don't Download this Song. Done in the style of classic 80s benefit songs, like We Are the World and Do They Know It's Christmas?, Don't Download this Song is a plea to not hurt the income of mega-rich rock stars by downloading free music.

It's not gutbustingly hilarious, but it will make you smile.

It does feel like a throwback to classic 80s Al, given they style it parodies. I could see this tune fitting in quite well on Even Worse.

Go listen to it. Judge for yourself.

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In other news, Warner Brothers has become the first movie studio to open up a division dedicated to pumping out straight-to-DVD movies.

The division is called "Warner Premiere." They boast that they're going to draw a lot of big name talent, both in front of and behind the camera, to make straight-to-DVD films. And, not all of them will be crappy sequels. They hope to make 15 films a year.

The first under the Warner Premiere banner will be The Dukes of Hazzard 2, due out next year.

Latest Targ's Up!!

So, the latest episode of the Targ is up! This week is Episode 15: Slapdash. Actually, it's been up since Friday, and I'm just getting to blogging about it. I threw it together quickly so I could go down to Red Deer and say "Hi" to my visiting German relatives.

Hey, my great tante is 80. This could conceivably be the last time I see her. Although, she said that she would come back to Canada for my wedding.



And then, we all went out to lunch today at the Earl's in Red Deer. I was fascinated by this mirrored ceiling.

Movie News Bitlets

It's finally official!

The big sequel to Fantastic Four is called....

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

According to the official plot description, Silver Surfer shows up on Earth, starts wreaking havoc, and it's up to the Fantastic Four to stop him! And then, Dr. Doom shows up, hell bent on stealing the Surfer's power.

The whole cast is coming back. Doug Jones, best remembered as Abe Sapien in Hellboy, is in final negotiations to play the Surfer.

Tim Story is once again directing. They start filming really, really soon, in order to hit their projected release date of June 15, 2007.

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Hey! And one of my favourite directors, Tim Burton, has finally announced his next project.

Burton will be directing a movie version of the classic Broadway musical Sweeny Todd. That's the one about the psycho barber who murders people, and the restaurant downstairs cooks up the bodies and serves them to people!

Johnny Depp will, of course, be playing the titular murderer, Sweeny Todd. It just wouldn't be a Tim Burton movie without Johnny Depp!

They begin doing rehersals in November, filming starts in February, and they're aiming for a November 2007 release.

Oh, and Depp will be doing his own singing.

Stuff that's been building up

Be careful what you wish for.

As I'm sure you know, if you ask Canada Post nicely, they'll stop delivering junk mail to you. I asked them, because I was sick of all the flyers I was getting. And now, on many days, I lament on how empty my mail box is. Days, nay, weeks go buy without anything in my mailbox.

And today...I got a fistfull of bills.

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Have I mentioned how pissed off I am over the release of The Weird Al Show: The Complete Series? It was supposed to come out yesterday, but for some weird reason, here in Canada, it's been pushed back to September 26.

Right now, I'm looking at Amazon.com and wondering if it would be worth it to order it out of the States. But then, September 26 is also when Weird Al's new album comes out, so maybe I should just hold off and make the 26th my Weird Al day.

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Hey! Here's some cellphone snapshots I took a few weeks ago.


For those who've listened to this week's podcast, you've heard me talk of the Muskeg Creek trails here in Athabasca. Well, from my walk down these trails, I stumbled upon this lookout point, gazing across a hidden valley.

Well, it felt that way.

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And then, the next day, I was so bored I drove the hour to Lac La Biche. Nice place, that Lac La Biche. Here's Lac La Biche's most famous landmark, this old hotel, which is now town hall and the tourist information booth. I have a postcard of this place.... It was kind of weird. This is the first time I'd visited a place that I'd been sent a postcard of...that I'd never been to.

Latest Targ's Up/Big Weird Al News!!

I haven't blogged this yet...but the latest episode of The Targ is up! This week is Episode 14: Road Trip!. I'd been planning this one ever since I started the podcast...it's a collection of my favourite road trip songs.

Give it a listen

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And, while I'm at it, I've got to share the HUGE "Weird Al" Yankovic news.

On Monday, August 21, at 7pm Alberta time.

"Weird Al" Yankovic will be premiering the first single from his new album at his MySpace page.

And it'll be a free download.

That's Monday, August 21, at 7pm Alberta time.

Bookmark Weird Al's MySpace page now!

The Most Insane Movie Ever Made

Tonight, I finally rented and watched the most insane movie ever made.

Godzilla: Final Wars

Let me once again fill you in on the backstory. 2004 was the 50th anniversary of Godzilla. Toho Studios (the movie studio that owns Godzilla) also decided to give Godzilla break for a few years. So, they decided to go out with a bang. They signed who is regarded as the best action film director in Japan, Ryuhei Kitamura, and the end product was the longest and most expensive Godzilla movie ever made: Final Wars.

The plot: Godzilla is finally defeated! Entombed in ice in Antarctica. Before you know it, giant monsters are running amok all over the world. And then, aliens appear and subdue the monsters. Of course, the aliens turn out to be manevolent, and they unleash the monsters as part of their invasion plan! Outgunned, out numbered, and without hope, the last surviving humans know they have only once chance: resurrect Godzilla.

Now, what makes this insane? You know how in a typical Godzilla movie, the humans spend all their screen time sitting around wondering how to quell the giant monsters? Well, in this movie, instead of sitting around, you get car chases and totally insane martial arts action. And then, as the climax nears, the humans starting going through rip offs of Star Wars and The Matrix.

Rip offs of Star Wars and The Matrix in the middle of a Godzilla movie.

Again, like the final seasons of Teen Titans and Justice League, the whole attitude was, "This is the last one, so forget plot! Let's just throw in all the cool shit we want to see."

There's even a swaggering American who weilds a katana and talks like John Wayne. In a movie like this, I believe that's called "the kitchen sink."

It...it has to be seen to be believed.

Rent Godzilla: Final Wars. You will not be disappointed.

Weird Al's new album stats

So, last night, over at the Official "Weird Al" Yankovic website, they unveiled the specs on Weird Al's new album, Straight Outta Lynwood. Firstly, they tell us we can expect parodies of songs by:

- Chamillionaire

- Green Day

- Usher

- R. Kelly

- Taylor Hicks

In fact, over at Chamillionaire's MySpace page, Chamillionaire has said that Weird Al's first single will be "White and Nerdy," a parody of Chamillionaire's "Ridin'".

But the BIG news is that Straight Outta Lynwood is a DualDisc. This means that side 1 is the CD, and side 2 is a DVD! What's on this DVD?

- Instrumental mixes of all the songs, remastered in 5.1 surround sound, and with optional karaoke lyrics on screen.

- A 9-minute documentary on the making of the album.

And the big news....

- 6 NEW MUSIC VIDEOS!!

Rumor is that all 6 videos will be animated. Ren and Stimpy animator John Krikfalusi has been saying for months that he did one.

September 26 is the big day.

Pirates review and varioius news bits

Well, back on Monday, when I went into Edmonton to buy those DVDs, I also went to see that pirate movie that every one's talking about....

Click here to read my review of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

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Well, my week has been ruined.

Here, I swung by Amazon.ca to start pricing out The Weird Al Show: the Complete Series only to find that, for some odd reason, here in Canada, it's been pushed back two weeks - to August 29.

That's a bummer.

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And here's an interesting tidbit.

Kevin Smith's been doing his Q&A thing again, and he revealed that his next film will be...

a horror movie.

Yup. Smith figures after making nothing but comedies, it's time to try something different. It'll be a hard core horror film, not some horror-comedy, and Smith also implied that it'll be an old school, 1980s-style slasher film.

I usually avoid scary movies, but I think I'll make an exception for this one.

Feeding the Addiction

Well, I was blessed with having the holiday Monday off, so I went down to Edmonton and foolishly spent lots of money on more DVDs. What did I get?

V for Vendetta - Naturally. Book was better, but it's still a pretty good film. I got the limited, 2-disc special edition, naturally. As an Easter egg, they've got that gangsta rap music video that Natalie Portman did on Saturday Night Live. As many websites have lamented, is it really an Easter egg if they advertise it as one of the bonus features?

Jack of All Trades: The Complete Series - Oh...my...God. This is one of the funniest TV shows ever made. The year is 1801. Jack Stiles is the best secret agent in the USA. For his latest mission, Jack is sent to the South Pacific island of Palau Palau. His current mission: foil the plans of the French governor, and thus slow Napoleon's advance across the globe. He does this by donning the guise of a Zorro-like crusader called the Daring Dragoon. He is aided in his mission by super-sexy British spy Emilia Rothschilde.

The history of the show: The year was 2000. That relic of the 1990s, Hercules: The Legendary Journies, had just gone off the air. Universal Studios asked the executive producer of Hercules, Sam Raimi (yes, the director of the Spider-Man movies), to cook up a replacement. Raimi came up with the back-to-back action hour: two, half-hour action shows. The first one was the campy sci-fi epic Cleopatra 2525. The second one was Jack of All Trades, a vehicle for Raimi's old friend Bruce Campbell. Campbell, of course, plays Jack Stiles.

And seriously, it's Campbell who makes the show what it is.

Sorry, no podcast

Well, my hard drive has smartened up...kinda. It's now doing it's constantly running thing, which ruins every take when I try to record something.

Again, with this problem, all I have to do is leave it on and running and it'll eventually run itself out.

But this is it. I"m now looking for a new computer.

Laptops Suck

Well, after a year of my hard drive making funny scratching sounds, my laptop finally quit on me today. There I was, typing up some prep notes so I could record this week's podcast, and just auddenly restarted.

And kept restarting. And restarting. Stuck in an endless loop of restarting.


This has happened a couple of times before...sometimes, if I leave it for an hour, I will be able to successfully restart it. But I don't think so this time.

As always happens in these situations, I'm left scrambling, trying to remember the last time I made backups. I think it was around six months ago...right before I started doing my podcasts, so of course, all my podcasts are lost, as is my intro, my extro and all the fake commercials I made for my podcast.

Lucky for me, though, my resume and demo tapes are still safely backed up at this section of my website.

I think my back up discs may have been lost, though. Back in Entwistle, I left them carelessly unlabled and on top of the CD spool, so I'm about 90% certain that my parents have thrown them out by now, saying to themselves, "stupid defective blank CD that won't work."

So, I rebuild. I start over from scratch. But first things first. I need a new computer. Something I can't really afford right now, because my rent and my student loan payments consume a whole month's pay.

Although, now seems to be a good time to buy a new computer. Everything's on sale for back to school. And my company does have this really nice employee computer purchase plan that I've been considering taking advantage of....

The moral of this story is the same as it always is: Back up your hard drive frequently. Once a month, at least. My new machine will have a DVD burner, so that way, all I have to do is drag and drop onto a blank DVD. With a blank DVD holding about 5G, that's more than enough to back up one hard drive.

Cars on DVD

Well, Disney has announced the DVD of Cars, and Pixar fans all over are shocked. Why? Well, every Pixar DVD to date has been a loaded-to-the-nuts super-special edition. Cars is just going to be a single-disc release, with bonus features that seem sparse in comparison. What you get:

Mater and the Ghost Light - As per new Pixar tradition, there's an original animated short. This is the latest.

One Man Band - The Oscar nominated short film that you saw in front of the film in theatres.

- 4 cut scenes

- The Inspiration for Cars featurette

- and a trailer for Pixar's next film, Ratatouille

November 7 is the magic day.

Ah, OK. I did a little more poking around online. According to some VP of Marketing for Disney, Cars is so skimpy on bonus materials because they're only sticking with the popular features as part of a new marketing strategies. Hence, animated shorts and promotional stuff for the next.

Dude, Disney's gotta go back to the marketing strategy they did for DVDs about 6 years ago. Release 2 editions of each DVD: a single disc version, skimpy on bonus features for the Wal-Mart market, and a 2-disc mega-ultimate edition for nerds like me.

X-Men 3 on DVD

Well, we got the official announcement on the X-Men: The Last Stand DVD. It comes out on October 3. it's going to be a single-disc special edition. Here's what you get for bonus stuff:

- running commentary with director Brett Ratner, and writers Zask Penn and Simon Kinberg
- running commentary with producers Avi Arad, Lauren Shuler Donner, and Ralph Winter
- deleted scenes
- 3 alternate endings
- 3 different sets of menus (like on the Star Wars DVDs)
- a preview for Ben Stiller's next film, A Night at the Museum
- trailers for all of 20th Century Fox's Marvel films (Daredevil, Elektra, Fantastic Four)

And that's it. There'll also be a Collector's Edition, which comes with a 100-page comic book featuring a new X-Men story written by Stan Lee, and Stan Lee's favourite X-Men stories.

Oh, and of course, a boxed set of all 3 films.

October 3!

BEST...MOVIE...PROMOTION...EVER

Some of you may have recently gotten a phone call from Samuel L. Jackson, reaming you out and then ultimatly telling you to take me to see Snakes on a Plane.

Wanna know how I did that?

Go to this website, type in your friend's name, your name, and just choose the insults of your choice. Then, enter your phone number, and the phone number of your friend.

It's just that simple. And free.

So, go for it. Get Samuel L. Jackson to call up your friends and tell them to take you to Snakes on a Plane.

1000 Years Ago, Superstition and the Sword Ruled....

At the recent San Diego Comic-Con, Gargoyles co-creator Greg Weissman told the crowd that, if you want to see Garogoyles: Season 2, Volume 2 on DVD, the best way to do that is to tell 1000 people that Gargoyles is on DVD.

Consider yourself told.

New Batman Movie News!

After months of rumouring, it's finally official!

Heath Ledger is the Joker!

This is all for the big sequel to Batman Begins. And, we also have a title for the next Bat-film. And no, it WILL NOT be Batman Continues, as originally joked about.

The next Batman movie will be called....

The Dark Knight.

Christopher Nolan has officially signed on to come back and direct. The screenplay was written by Nolan and David S. Goyer, with a final polish by Nolan's brother Jonathan.

The start filming early in 2007, for a summer 2008 release.

What do you think of today's arty innovation? Instead of listing everything that all those movie folks did, I just linked to their Internet Movie Database entries.

Learning is Fun!

As I mentioned a few days ago, I finally got Gargoyles: Season 2, Volume 1, and I'm still watching a lot of Gargoyles. Still, the best cartoon Disney ever produced.

And, thanks to the running commentary, I'm learning new hidden things about the show that I never knew before.



Take, for example, the Weird Sisters. Ever since Shakespear's MacBeth, these three witches have become a popular archtype in all kinds of fantasy works. Now, while I knew that these three actually did have individual names in the Gargoyles universe, I didn't know that they were supposed to be symbolic.

The golden-haired one is Phoebe, and she is the Sister of Grace.

The raven-haired one is Celene, and she is the Sister of Vengeance.

The silver-haired on is Luna, and she is the Sister of Fate.

God, I need a life.

Latest Targ's Up!

This week's episode of The Targ is up! This week, we've got Episode 12: Glassware. Even though I don't drink, I've amassed quite a collection of beer glases. Here's the tale of how I got them...and I play some Smash Mouth and Nelly Furtado.

Give it a listen!

Superman and King Kong on DVD

So, with Superman Returns in theatres, and doing quite well, all of the classic Christopher Reeve Superman movies are currently undergoing massive restoration, and are all getting new special editions. And...the stats for those special editions have been announced! Let's get to it:

Superman: The Movie - Four Disc Special Edition
Wow! 4 discs! I will point out that some of these bonus materials are recycled from the Y2K 2-disc special edition, so I'll mark the recycled stuff with a *. On this four disc set, you get:

- Both the original 1978 theatrical version and the 2000 director's cut that was prepared for DVD.

- The original trailers and TV spots*

- running commentary with director Richard Donner and creative consultant Tom Mankewickz*

- running commentary by producer Pierre Spengler and executive producer Ilya Salkind.

- Music only track*

- 3 featurettes about the making of the film*

- deleted scenes

- screen tests*

- the original 1978 TV special The Making of Superman

- the 1951 film Superman and the Mole-Men starring George Reeves as Superman!

- The first 9 Fleisher Studios Superman cartoons from the 1940s, beautifully digitally restored!

Superman II: 2-Disc Special Edition
Ah, the film that introduced the phrase "Kneal Before Zod!" the geek lexicon. You get:

- New running commentary by producer Pierre Spengler and executive producer Ilya Salkind.

- The original The Making of Superman II TV special from 1981.

- The original Superman's 50th Anniversary from 1988.

- the trailer

- the featurette First Flight: The Fleisher Superman Series, all about the making of the Fleisher Superman cartoons from the 1940s.

- the remaining 8 Fleisher Superman cartoons

Superman III: Deluxe Edition
Just a single-edition version for the one with Richard Pryor. You get:

- running commentary by producer Pierre Spengler and executive producer Ilya Salkind.

- the original The Making of Superman III TV special from 1983.

- deleted scenes

- the trailers

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
Again, only a single-disc edition. You get:

- running commentary by writer Mark Rosenthal

- deleted scenes

- the trailer

Now, before I continue, I should mention that all of the above DVDs will be in a big boxed set called The Christopher Reeve Superman Collection. Got it? Because what's next isn't in the boxed set.

Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut
For those just joining us...Superman and Superman II were originally being filmed at the same time, with the goal of the two films coming out wihtin a year of each other. Well, when Superman was 80% filmed and Superman II was 60% filmed, it was decided to focus all their energy on finishing #1, and going back and finishing #2 later. So, #1 was finished, came out, was a giant hit. But, original director Richard Donner was not brought back in to finish #2. He and the producers had massive conflicting interests. Richard Lester was brought in to finish #2, and geeks the world over were left wondering, "What would it have been like had Richard Donner finished it?"

Well, now you're going to find out. Using Richard Donner's orginal notes (and with the final film getting final approval from Richard Donner), and lots of footage that Richard Donner shot that Richard Lester didn't want to use, Superman II has been completed that way Richard Donner wanted it done.

SEE lots of scenes with Marlon Brando as Jor-El that were filmed, but long since thought lost to the ages!

SEE the massive subplot of Lois Lane figuring out Clark Kent's true identity and her many attempts at unmasking him!

SEE much more threatening and serious Zod!

For bonus materials:

- new running commentary with director Richard Donner and executive consultant Tom Mankeiwicz.

- the featurette Superman II: Restoring the Vision, which is all about the controversy I outlines above and the efforts to create this edit

- even MORE cut scenes that weren't used.

All these Superman DVDs come out November 28.

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Let's take a break from Superman now. Who's up for another dose of King Kong?

Coming out on November 14 is King Kong: Extended Edition. Peter Jackson's monster movie epic in a new, extended edition! Don't worry, unlike that 4-hour REturn of the King Extended Edition, the King Kong Extended Edition is only 13 minutes longer than the original version. Let's break down the bonus features by disc:

Disc 1: Part 1 of the Film - running commentary with Peter Jackson and co-writer/producer Philipa Boyens, and 16 deleted scenes

Disc 2: Part 2 of the Film - the rest of the running commentary, 5 featurettes, and the trailers

Disc 3: The King Kong Archives - intro by Peter Jackson, 8 new featurettes, 5 video galleries, 5 pre-viz animatics, 3 motion-capture/animation comparisons, and the 1996 and 2005 screenplays.

Yes, the 1996 screenplay. In fact, a couple of those featurettes are even dedicated to the 1996 King Kong. Now, in case you don't know what I'm talking about...back in 1996, Peter Jackson started work on King Kong, with the intent of having it in theatres by 1998. But then, Disney started doing a remake of Mighty Joe Young and there was that American Godzilla...so Universal thought that the market was getting oversaturated with giant monster movies. And they pulled the plug on Peter Jackson's King Kong.

So, Jackson went and made The Lord of the Rings, became the world's #1 director, and Universal then practically begged him to come try his hand at King Kong again.

So, yeah. Lots of these bonus features are going to get into the kind of King Kong Jackson would have made 10 years ago, had he got to.

Whew. I think this was my longest entry ever.

Guess What's Back?

John Lasetter. Pixar's resident genius. When Disney bought Pixar a few months back, Lasetter announced that one of his goals was to bring back Disney's traditional, hand-drawn, 2D animation.

And today...Disney announced their first (in 5 years) traditional, hand-drawn, 2D animated film.

It's called The Frog Princess. It's still very early in development...no details are ready yet. All we know is the basic premise: a gender role reversal on The Frog Prince.

It'll be written and directed by John Musker and Ron Clemmens. This duo was on the forefront of Disney's resurgance in the early 90s, having wrote and directed The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. (They also did Hercules and Treasure Planet.)

And, Alan Menkin, he who did the music for 3 of the 4 above films, is already signed on to do the music.

As I say about all movies...I just want it to be good.

But I'd perfer 100% kick-ass, leading to a massive resurgance of traditional animation.

A Day of Mixed Blessings

I did something today I really shouldn't have done.

After denying it to myself since December, I finally broke down and bought Gargoyles: Season 2, Volume 1. God, I loved that cartoon. Still do.

So, the good news: I own Gargoyles: Season 2, Volume 1

The bad news: probably shouldn't have done it...should probably save my money for better things.

The good news: I own it!

The bad news: While doing some surfing, I discovered that, at the annual Gargoyles convention back in June, co-creator Greg Weisman announced that sales of Season 2, Volume 1 weren't that strong, so Season 2, Volume 2 will probably never see the light of day.

Looks like I ain't throwing out those videos I made just yet....

(About 5 years ago, when the Family Channel was showing Gargoyles in reruns, I taped every episode.)

By the way...

Oh, I should have said this last night. My Clerks II review is up.

Give it a glance

More DC Animation!

So, the news that's having me geek out today is the announcement that DC Comics and Warner Brothers are finally going to go nuts making straight-to-video animated movies. And not just Batman and Superman! Finally, all the DC universe will be getting its props in STV animation.

And, to top it all off, each one's going to be shooting for a PG-13 rating!

Bruce Timm, the producer and genius behind Batman: The Animated Series and Justice League is the big boss man of the whole project.

So here's the first batch that DC/WB is producing:

Justice League: New Frontier
Written by Stan Berkowitz (one of the writers of Justice League), and based on the graphic novel DC: the New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke.
Story and visual consultant: Darwyn Cooke.
What it's about: set in the 1950s, during the fall of DC Comic's Golden Age and the rise of the Silver Age. All told from the POV of Hal Jordan, who becomes Green Lantern by the end.

Superman: Doomsday
Written by Duane Capizzi (Justice League); based on a story by Duane Capizzi and Bruce Timm
What it's about: They're not saying, but with a title like that, I think it's fair to assume it's based on the classic "Death and Rebirth of Superman" storyline.

Teen Titans: The Judas Contract
Written by Marv Wolfman (veteran comic writer, including the original Teen Titans: The Judas Contract storyline) and Tom DeSanto (writer and producer of the first two X-Men films...producer of the live-action Transformers)
What's it about: The Teen Titans are betrayed to their greatest enemy by one of their own.
Why does this sound familiar?: The Judas Contract was the inspiration for the season 2 storyarc of the Teen Titans cartoon. So, naturally, this one has me the most curious.

Just saw Clerks II

So I just got home from Clerks II. Yeah, you heard me right. One of my co-workers talked me into going right after work today. I didn't need much convincing.

Now, what can I say about Clerks II? What can I say about the one movie I've been looking forward to ever since it went into production?

All I can say is...wow.

I always thought Chasing Amy was Kevin Smith's best. This is at least as good as Chasing Amy.

When I was hunting for my first job in radio, I'd often tell people that I was at a point where I didn't want a job anymore, I wanted a career. Clerks II is very much about being at that point in your life.

So maybe because I'm at that point, I identified with Randal and Dante's struggles a little more. I already know exactly what some of you are going to say: it's cliched and hokey in some parts.

But I throughoughly and completely loved it. And it's funny as hell.

4 Nibs all the way.

"I talked to my pastor about this, and he said that machines turning into robots aren't blasphemous. You know...cuz God created Man, and Man created Transformers...so, Transformers are like a gift from God."

"Oh, shut the fuck up, Go-Bot!"

I'm gonna go write a full review now.

On the Fringes

Well, this weekend was the Athabasca Fringe, and, being a part of the station (who was one of the big sponsors, actually), I got me a press pass. I got to go to every show for free, on the condition that I write a glowing news story on it. Of course, the glowing news story is written and I'll read it on the air tomorrow, but sadly, because of the limitations of radio, I can't go that in-depth.

That's why I have I blog.

But yup, let me re-iterate. Athabasca has a Fringe festival. They boast that it's the largest rural Fringe in North America. In years past, performers for the Edmonton Fringe have used it as sounding board...a place to try out new stuff. You know, like how a play will run in Chicago before it opens on Broadway.

This being a small town...a church-going town...there was a lot of religous plays. Conversations with God, one-man Passion plays, stuff like that. Didn't make it out to those ones.

What I did make it out to was really good. The high school kids had a production, which was damn good for a bunch of high school kids, but it was a little heavy-handed in its message.

I saw another play called The Square of All Roots. According to the info, it's become quite a popular Fringe play. It was quite good. I suggest it.

Athabasca's also one of the few Fringes that also has a lot of musical performances and concerts...took in a couple of those. Saw the local piano virtuoso...he's actually in his second year at Augustana, going for his degree in music. He was very good.

I was also highly captivated by Paula MacNeil, a soprano currently working out on the west coast. Yes, you heard me right, I took in some opera. She was very captivating...."spellbinding" is the right word.

But yeah. I had a really good time. Wish I could have seen more shows, but we were broadcasting live, meaning it was a bit of a working vacation.

---

Actually, I mentioned the local pianist who's currently going to AUC...reminded me of one of my happy memories of Augustana.

I always remember the music practice rooms on the ground floor of North Hall. Now, I didn't take any music courses, so I never set foot in one of those music practice rooms. However, I do remember the music.

On those cool, moonlit evenings, when I was out on a sevrun, or just out clearing my head after a long night of homework, I'd always wind up walking past North Hall. And, more often than not, there'd always be some young soul, in one of those music practice rooms, pouring out his or her heart into their music.

I'd often be entranced, and I'd just stop and take a moment to listen to the music. Sometimes I'd listen for a few moments...I think my personal record was an hour.

But yeah. There's something about hearing some music on a cool, moonlit night that just entrances me.

The Targ's Back!!

Yay! The first new Targ in three weeks, thanks to the landlord coming home and flipping the high speed Internet back on!

So, this week is episode 11: Happy Belated Birthday. this is the birthday episode I was going to do three weeks go, but couldn't, so it's kinda anti-climactic at this point.

Click here to have a listen!

WE HAVE A TITLE!!

Well, over at the official "Weird Al" Yankovic" website, you'll find that they've announced the title for Weird Al's new album!

His new album is called....

"Straight Outta Lynwood."

BEST...NEWS....EVER

Forget Shia LaBeouf as Spike Witwicky. Forget Jon Voight as the Secretary of State of the USA. The one bit of casting news that we TransFans have been waiting for is who is doing the voices of the Autobots and Decepticons in Transformers.

And today, they announced who is voicing the biggest, baddest Autobot of them all...the pure model of epitomy and heroism...Optimus Prime.

So, are you ready? Optimus Prime will be voiced by....


Peter Cullen!!

Sadly, some of you are probably asking, "Who the hell is Peter Cullen?"

Well, Peter Cullen did the voice of Optimus Prime on the 1980s cartoon. Cullen is still quite active as a voice actor, doing tons of movie trailers and stuff. He's also Disney's official voice of Eeyore.

Needless to say, I'm happy.

Now, we hope and pray for the announcement that Frank Welker (the original voice of Megatron) will be voicing Megatron.

Behold the Power of YouTube!!

I waste too much time at YouTube.

I finally found one of my favourite Robert Smigel cartoons from Saturday Night Live. Remember, this was one in, oh, January 1998...at the height of Titanic mania, and when Disney animated films still dominated cineplexes.

Turtle Power!!

In my action figure magazine, ToyFare, people began musing when 80s nostalgia would end...ToyFare speculated that it would end when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles made a comeback, seeing as to how TMNT was the last big thing to come out of the 80s...action figure wise.

Well, the new TMNT cartoon starts its fifth season this fall, the new comic is still doing quite well for Mirage Studios....

And the new movie comes out in the spring! March 30, to be exact...17 years to the day after the first live-action film.

It's all computer animated, baby! CGI all the way! The director is a guy named Kevin Monroe, it's his first film, and the first product from a studio called Imagi Films.

But you don't want to hear me blather about it.

Go watch the four turtles leaping over rooftops in New York City in CGI glory!

No offence to Jim Henson's animatronics, but these CGI renditions of Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Donatello and Raphael kick ass.

Want more details about the film? Here we go:

- It actually takes place in continuity with the live-action films, taking place shortly after the events of #2.

- Shredder is not the villain, but he does make a cameo.

- The only announced voice actor so far is Japanese-American character actor Mako, who's voicing Splinter. I'm sure my fellow nerds remember Mako best as the voice of Aku on Samurai Jack.

- Casey Jones and April O'Neil fall in love.

- And yes, there'll be lots of in-jokes and references to the original comics and the cartoons.

This is going to be a little more grown-up, too...they're shooting for a minimum PG rating.

March 30, 2007. Turtle power returns to the screen!

I HAVE A DATE!! (No, not that kind of date) (hey, didn't I do this joke already?)

September 26.

Right now, if you swing by The Official "Weird Al" Yankovic website, you'll be treated to a picture of Weird Al looking all like Kevin Federline along with the date "09/26/06"

We have a release date for the new album!

And now, the news

Two bits of news for today:

- after months of speculation, it's finally official. Peter Jackson is giving us a King Kong: Extended Edition. It's comes out November 14. It'll be 3 discs, and all the bonus stuff is TBA.

- One of the oldest and most influential comic book heroes, The Spirit, is finally coming to the big screen. The movie will be written and directed by...Frank Miller, the comic book legend who gave us Sin City and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. Miller made his directorial debut as the co-director of the movie version of Sin City.

DVDillema

On the plus side, I love having a steady job. It means steady income again.

On the down side, I hate having a steady job. It means a constant trickle of everyday expenses that eats into the disposable income.

Of course, I'm lamenting this today because it's Tuesday...the day of new DVDs.

What I'm looking at right now and seriously wondering if I should blow the money on it is Jack of All Trades: The Complete Series. It's one of the funniest action shows ever made.

The year is 1801. The always fantastic Bruce Campbell plays Jack Stiles, the best secret agent in the still-very-new USA. Stiles latest mission has him sent to the Carribean island of Palau Palau, where his mission is to sabotage the schemes of the French governor and thus slow the advance of Napoleon across the globe. Stiles decided the best way to do that was to don the guise of the Zorro-like hero the Daring Dragoon. And, of course, he was joined in his mission by the super-sexy British spy Emily Rothschilde, who was a more conventional spy and saboutour.

The show was briefly on in 1999 and 2000. It (along with the sci-fi opus Cleopatra 2525) was cooked up to be the replacement to Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. It didn't last long...just barely 2 season and 22 episodes.

And all those episodes are available today, spread over 3 discs.

---

Also out today is Amazing Stories: Season One.

Let me fill you in on a little pop culture history. Back in the mid-1980s, when he was arguably at his creative peak, Steven Spielberg had an idea for an anthology show...something akin to The Twilight Zone or even The Wonderful World of Disney. Every week, you'd get something new and different.

Spielberg recruited several big-name directors to do episodes, including Joe Dante, Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorcese, Irvin Kirshner, and even himself.

While it was adored by critics and developed a cult following, it never caught on, and ended after two seasons.

But now, season one is out today!

I, personally, am waiting for season 2. Season 2 contains the animated episode Family Dog, which was directed by the one, the only, Brad Bird. Yup, the guy who did The Incredibles and The Iron Giant. It was his first, shall we say, professional work as a director.

It even boasted character designs by Tim Burton.

---

And then, for your hit of 80s nostalgia, today is also the release of The Best of She-Ra: Princess of Power.

This is the first wave of the adventures of Adora, twin sister of Prince Adam, as she leads the rebellion on the planet Etheria against the brutal rule of Hordak. And, when the fighting gets tough, Adora calls upon the power of Greyskull to become She-Ra!

The Best of She-Ra: Princess of Power is a 2-disc set. Disc 1 contains the theatrical The Secret of the Sword, which chronicled He-Man's quest to Etheria to find his twin sister and make her face her destiny. Disc 2 contains the top 5 episodes, as chosen by He-Man/She-Ra fans.

Following the pattern of the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe DVDs, the boxed sets of She-Ra will begin around Christmastime.

Guess Who's Coming to Smallville?

So, which teenaged superheroes have met up with the young Clark Kent so far on Smallville?

- The Flash
- Aquaman
- Cyborg

Who's next?

Green Arrow!

That's right, the young Oliver Queen comes to Smallville. Unlike those other heroes, who were just 1-episode dealies, Queen will actually be featured in a 7-episode story arc. Apparently, Queen is starting to think about forming an organization of superpowered beings, and he starts snooping around Smallville because of all the superpowered anomolies that town has produced.

Oliver Queen will be played by Justin Hartley, who played Arther Curry/Aquaman on the unsold Aquaman pilot.

And in other news, there's another character from the Superman mythos who'll be popping up on Smallville next season. Jimmy Olson will also be swinging by. Last season, Chloe Sullivan implied that she lost her virginity to Jimmy Olson, so...yeah. Watch for that.

It's Good to be Home

First and foremost, finally got the review of Superman Returns up.

Head to the main site to check it ou!

Secondly, got some big DVD news for all the Trekkies in the house. After months, nay, years of speculation, Paramount has finally made it official. On November 21, we're getting

Star Trek: The Complete Animated Series

Yup. All 22 episodes of the Star Trek cartoon, spread over 4 discs.

And for those who aren't familiar, yes, there was a Star Trek cartoon. It ran from 1974-1976. It was produced by Filmation, the same folks who gave us He-Man and the Masters of the Universe in the 1980s. Critisised for its constant recycling of animation (a Filmation trademark), but still fiercelly debated by Trekkies as to whether it's canon or not.

I'm Home!!

And we're back!

My landlord came tromping home at around 1AM last night, and I wake up this morning to find that my high speed Internet is back! It was almost worth having him wake me up. And this once again adds to my speculation that it was something ridiculously simple, like him having to switch the router back on after one of the power failures.

But, I can start playing catch-up on lots of projects. Firstly, getting that review of Superman Returns up, getting The Targ running again, and catching up on all the naughty websites I wouldn't be caught dead looking at at work.

Like the website for the Alberta Liberal party.

Must Be Thursday...Could Never Get the Hang of Thursdays

I'm all paranoid right now that I missed my best friend's birthday. I was just deleting spam, when, I noticed one with the subject line "(my best friend's name)'s birthday."

So I'm trying to get ahold of everyone right now, finding out what's what. I promised her I'd do something for her birthday and if I missed it, and forgot, well, I'd be very mad at myself.

---

Meanwhile...this movie news is about a week old, but it finally crossed my desk today.

Disney is planning on doing a remake of Adventures in Babysitting. They've already tapped Raven-Symone to star. You may remember her as that unbearably cute little girl on the final seasons of The Cosby Show. She currently stars on the Disney Channel's #1 sitcom, That's So Raven, and Disney's grooming her to be their next tween idol.

I only bring this up because I have fond memories of the original Adventures in Babysitting. It was one of those movies I watched a lot when I was a kid...either rented it or caught it on TV. It was about this teenaged girl, babysitting the neighbourhood brats, when she gets an emeregency call from her friend, and has to make a perilous journey from their sleepy suburb to the downtown core to save her friend. Not knowing what to do with the brats she's babysitting, she brings them along. And the whole thing turns into a pretty good Ferris Bueler's Day Off clone. Our heroine, the titular babysitter, was played by future Oscar winner Elizabeth Shue, and the film was the directorial debut of Harry Potter director Chris Columbus.

"If you wanna get out of here, you've got to sing the blues."

It's pretty good...I suggest you rent it sometime.

---

And, over in the the "why the @#$% are they making this movie?" department, DreamWorks animation just announced the voice cast of Shrek 3. I'm sorry, it's being called Shrek the Third.

So, here's the plot. Following the events of #2, Shrek, Donkey, and Puss in Boots have to go on a quest to find the new ruler of Far, Far, Away. Turns out the true ruler is Artie, aka King Arthur. Meanwhile, while Shrek is gone, Princess Fiona has to save the kingdom from an attempt by Prince Charming to overthrow the kingdom. Fiona does this by turning some of the more famous fairy tale princesses into a crack commando squad. That's right, it's Prince Charming and an army of fairy tale villains taking on Princess Fiona and an army of fairy tale princesses.

So, for new voices, there's the princesses.

Amy Sedaris (Strangers with Candy) is Cinderella
Amy Poehler (she who does Weekend Update with Tina Fey) is Snow White
Maya Rudolph (also on SNL) is Rapunzel
Cheri Oteri (on SNL a few years back) is Sleeping Beauty

In the bastardizing of Arthurian legends:

Justin Timberlake (Backstreet Boy) is Artie/King Arthur
Eric Idle (Monty Python) is Merlin
John Krasinski (that nerdy guy on The Office) is Lancelot

And, in returning roles

Mike Myers is Shrek
Cameron Diaz is Fiona
Eddie Murphy is Donkey
Antonio Banderas is Puss n Boots
Rupert Everet is Prince Charming
John Cleese is the King (Fiona's father)
Julie Andrews is the Queen (Fiona's mother)

It all comes out May 18, 2007. And I'll be seeing Spider-Man 3 instead.

Cuz It's Been a While Since I've Mused

Ya know, maybe it's a good thing that my high speed Internet is down at home...at least for another week, until my landlord gets home and I can start whining about it. This at least makes me get out of the house more. I go down to work to check my e-mail and surf, and when I don't feel like going back to the office, I go to where I'm at right now, the Athabasca Public Library.

It's a really nice day here today. It's kind of cloudy, but I like Atha-B when it's cloudy. See, Atha-B is at the bottom of a valley, giving the illusion that we're surrounded by hills. On a cloudy day like today, it's easy to imagine that the clouds are hiding mountains and that you're in some deep mountain village. Very cool.

Although, there are some things about the town that still strike me. As you all know, I love trains. And, even though the railway tracks were ripped out some 20 years ago, and there hasn't been passenger rail service here about 20 years before that, Atha-B still has a train station. I've been following the story of the train station at town council, and since I read all this on the air about a month ago as a news story, I feel safe blogging about it.

The town currently owns the train station, and a big question before the council has always been what to do with it. Of course they can't tear it down. It has great historical value...not to mention sentimental value within the community. The town has always been pressured to restore it, but that always leads to the question of what they put in the train station once it's restored.

A little more than a month ago, the town took tenders from businesses. The guideline was for the business to lease, restore, and move into the train station. But, out of the 2 tenders received, the town rejected both of them. One tender was to outright buy the train station - something that wasn't in the guidelines - and the other was to move the town's army surplus store into it - something the town council was dead-set against.

So, after all that, the town has decided to restore it after all. But, as one town councillor humbly pointed out, "That still doesn't solve the problem of a tennant."

I have a humble suggestion for a tennant.

How about a Tim Hortons?

Come on! Atha-B is a prime location, as you have Highway 2 slicing right through the middle of town. We're dead centre in the oil patch. And there's thousands of examples of fast food places moving into historical architecture without disrupting it!

That's my idea, anyway. And I would have put in a bid, if I had the half-a-mil that it costs to get a Timmys franchise.

Anyway, that's my dream, if it turns out that I'm living in this town for quite a few years. Put a Tim Hortons - or some kind of fast food place, really - in the old train station.

SUPERMAN!!

Ah, the proud tradition of the birthday movie. Ever since my 11th birthday, I've gone to see a movie to celebrate. Just that simple. Of course, I was working on my birthday this year, and there are no movie theatres in Athabasca, so the birthday got pushed back to today. I slipped down to Edmonton and saw....

Superman Returns

I'm going to have a full review over on my main website once I've got Internet access again, but I'll give you a quick mini-review right here and now.

The plot: Superman's been gone for five years, journeying the cosmos seeking out the ruins of Krypton. He comes back to a world that's moved on without him. That's personified in Lois Lane...who is now engaged to Perry White's nephew and mother to a 5-year old son. Superman, naturally, goes back to doing what he does best and tries to find his place in the world again. Meanwhile, in that 5-year absence, Lex Luthor broke into the Fortress of Solitude and swiped a bunch of Kryptonian technology, which he plans to use in his latest scheme. This looks like a job for...yup.

The good: The acting. Brandon Routh does an amazing job as Superman, and Kevin Spacey is absolutely SPECTACULAR as Lex Luthor. I'm glad he made Luthor less goofy and more sinister. And the special effects are just amazing. We've come along way since 1978.

The bad: This film made TONS of references to the 1978 film. Once the film sank in a bit on the drive home, I started wondering: did I enjoy it because it truly is a good film, or did I just get off on all the referecnes? And plus, there's a big plot twist about 2/3 of the way through the film. I won't get into it here, and granted, it's been done in about a dozen "imaginary tales" in the comics. But those "imaginary tales" were always about the end of Superman...I have no idea how it'll affect a sequel or Superman continuity in general. From what I've read online, this plot twist has divided a lot of people...put me down on the side that thinks it was a bad idea.

Final verdict: Singer delivered the goods. Yes, there's lots I disagreed with, but there's enough Superman specatcle to make up for it.

3 Nibs

Happy Birthday to Me!/No Targ this week

Happy birthday to me!

The big 2-9 this year!

And what better birthday present than being cut off from my Internet access!

Yeah...that's the only problem with agreeing to the landlord's "I'll let you splice into mine" offer. My Internet has mysteriously stopped...landlord's on vacation for the next two weeks and left no emergency contact number...so who do I complain to?

The world, I guess...via blog.

So, for the next two weeks while I wait for my landlord to get back, I guess it's back to sneaking into work and heading down to the library to check my e-mail. Only down side to that is I've got no way to transfer this week's Targ to any of those places to upload it.

Other than that, it's my birthday! Yay!

Feel free to send me a birthday greeting

New Address!

Hey all!

I got me a new address.

No, don't worry, I didn't move. I just saw that my PO Box was set to expire at the end of the month, so rather than renew it, I asked the kind folks if I could start getting my mail delivered to the super mailbox on the corner. And they said yes!

So, my new addres:

Mark Cappis
4913B - 43 Street
Athabasca, AB
T9S 1P6

And there you have it.

Latest Targ is Up!

Dude, the latest episode of The Targ is up! This week is Episode 10: As Seen on TV. I play such classic songs as "that one from that Zeller's commercial."

Go have listen!

Actually, it's been up for about 24 hours now...just haven't had a chance to blog about it!