The Latest on Weird Al

Alright, I've been away from a computer for two weeks, so let's get to it. A lot happened in the world of "Weird Al" Yankovic while I was gone.

First up, the fifth and final song from his Internet Leaks project was released. It's a cute little ditty about a problem of the modern age, called Ringtone.



I like this one. This is some old-school Weird Al, from the guitar solo to the arrangements. This would be right at home on UHF, despite the timely subject matter.

And that's not all!

While I was gone, Weird Al announced the release date of his next album! Sad news, it's not a new album. It's going to the long-awaited Greatest Hits vol. 3. It's called The Essential "Weird Al" Yankovic and drops on Oct. 27.

Thing is, this is a 2-disc CD with 38 SONGS on it! In the past, Weird Al could only fit 12 songs onto a greatest hits album. As he explained it once on his website, he still has to pay royalties to the original artists for his parodies. And when he did greatest hits albums in the past, he'd eventually reach a point where royalties paid out to the artists became more than the royalties he'd get, and thus the album become unprofitable. But, his new record label figured out a way around that, hence the massive number of songs.

Anyway, here's the official announcement on Weird Al's blog, where you can see the album artwork and the complete track listing.

Latest Targ's Up!

Here we go once again. It's a new episode of U62: The Targ! This week, we're hitting you with Episode 2.43: New Ones, where I pick apart the new works of "Weird Al" Yankovic and Hayao Miyazaki.


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Ponyo and GI Joe: Off the Cuff

Had me a wonderful day in the city! I did something I don't do very often anymore...I did a double feature day. You know, that's when you see two movies in one day. I don't do it very often anymore because, damn, dude, movies are expensive now! When I was frequently doing double feature days around 10 years ago, I'd go to half-price matinees, and it'd pretty much work out to be 2 for 1. But now...it's just too expensive! But still, it's fun to do every one in a while.

First up was one I've been blogging about for quite some time now, the latest from world renowned Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, Ponyo.



Miyazaki's films truly work in transporting you to another world. You just accept this world where a goldfish with a human face can become a little girl. The traditional, hand-drawn animation is wonderous to look at. And that music! Composer Joe Hisashi kicks all kinds of ass. This is definitly lighter fare than what Miyazaki's been putting out recently (ie Spirited Away). This really feels a lot like My Neighbor Totoro. And there ain't nothing wrong with that!

If I have one complaint...it'd have to be with Lisa, the character of Sosuke's mother. Now, Miyazaki is renowned for putting strong female characters in his films. And Lisa looks to be about the same...except for one scene.

SPOILER WARNING!

So, Sosuke's father/Lisa's husband is a ship captain. He decides to take another job and thus be away from home for longer than expected. Naturally, Lisa is upset. But Miyazaki has her throw a very childish tantrum and then sulk like a 7 year old. Seemed kind of out of place.

END SPOILERS!

Other than that, it truly is a magical film so go see it! 3.5 nibs.

And then, we went across the theatre to see G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.



Wow, what a world we live in! Two live action Transformers films, a live-action G.I. Joe...bring on He-Man!

What can I say about The Rise of Corbra? It definitly draws more from the classic cartoons than the classic comic books...there's a stronger focus on the action than the character development.

It's formulaic as hell, they made some deviations from the source material, but you know what? Enough of what I enjoyed as a kids was retained, and that made me happy...kind of like the first Transformers.

3 nibs!

Now let's hope they learned from Transformers example and don't fuck up the sequel.

Astro Boy Trailer

Another of my childhood heroes is coming to the big screen! Hitting theatres this October, it's the all-new feature film version of Astro Boy!



The vital stats: this is the second film from animation studio Imagi. Their first film was 2007's computer animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The director is David Bowers, a long time Dreamworks and Aardman storyboard artist who made his directorial debut a few years back with Aardman's Flushed Away.

We've known for a while now who the celebrity voice cast is, but only recently was it revealed who all their voicing. Previously, the only celebrity voice and who they're playing that we knew was Freddie Highmore as Astro. Highmore is probably still best remembered as Charlie in Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Astro's creator, the distraught scientist Dr. Tenma, who creates Astro in the image of his deceased son, is voice by noneother than Oscar winning actor, well-known comic book nut, and all around crazy guy, Nicholas Cage.

As we trace through Astro's origin, of which this film largely tells, we know that Tenma soon regrets what he did, and sells Astro to an abusive ringmaster, Hamegg, who makes Astro the star attraction in his circus. Hamegg is voiced by Nathan Lane, still best loved by a generation as the voice of Timone in The Lion King.

Astro is soon rescued from the circus by Tenma's old colleague Dr. Elefun, who recognizes Astro and knows that his potential is being wasted. Elefun is being voiced by Bill Nighy, who's still probably best known in North America for playing Davy Jones in the Pirates of the Caribbean films. Elefun soon encourages that Astro go to a regular school with regular kids, where he meets Cora. Cora is voiced by Kristen Bell, still beloved by geeks the world over as Veronica Mars.

In addition to the origin, they also drew a bit from the "Peacemaker" storyline from the original manga. President Stone (voiced by Donald Sutherland) sees Astro's obvious military potential, and when Astro refuses to become a WMD, the President unleases the Peacemaker robot to bring in Astro.

And there's a couple of celebrity cameos revealed at the San Diego Comic Con a few weeks ago that are worth noting. Samuel L. Jackson voices Zog, that robot that Astro brings to life in the trailer up there. And Charlize Theron reads the opening narration.

What am I thinking? Well, I'm cautiously optimistic, because I liked the CGI Ninja Turtles. However, there's a lot of gags in that trailer, like with the robot going "Is this thing on?" and the dog driving the car and all that. I understand the need for comic relief, but that trailer leaves me thinking they may have made the film a little too goofy.

We'll find out on October 26 if it really is goofy, or if they decided to cram all the comedy into the trailer to make it look goofy.

Lost in Translation

OK, if you've been reading this blog all summer, then you know I'm kind of looking forward to seeing Ponyo when it hits theatres this Friday.

Most of Hayao Miyazaki's films have become known for their catchy theme songs. The theme from My Neighbor Totoro is still hummed quite a bit. And the theme song for Ponyo was likened to the Totoro theme, and was quite a big hit in Japan. Here it is:



While it is cute and catchy, it's not quite radio friendly, Billboard Hot 100 material here in North America.

Well, like Miyazaki's last batch of films, it's being dubbed by Disney. And Disney's gotten very good at making the bubblegum pop these days, what the prevalance of the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus on radio these days. And hey! Disney got Frankie Joanas (little brother for the Jonas Brothers, and frequently joins his big brothers on stage as the "Bonus Jonas") and Noah Cyrus (little sister of Miley) to do voices in the American dub. So let's have them cover the Ponyo theme. Sounds good on paper.

But the resulting version is AutoTuned to death and will make your ears bleed. They threw in every cliche of modern pop. Oh my God. It's like some incestuous child of the MiniPops.

Fencing off the Hoodoos

First up folks, sorry there's no podcast this week. I was down in Red Deer for my brother's wedding! We'll be back next week.

And now, I story I saw in today's paper that I want to share. Let's head further south to Drumheller.



Word from Drumheller today that they're going to fence off the Hoodoos.

Being one of Drumheller's best known landmarks, for the past five years, Drumheller's best known museum, the Royal Tyrell Museum, has been co-sponsoring folks to look after the Hoodoos for the past five years. And the results are no good. All the tourists walking around them, climbing on them, and carving their initials into them have significantly accelerated their erosion. So, since the "please keep of the hoodoos" signs are no longer effective, they have no choice but to fence them off.

The plan is to take tenders for the fencing-off project this fall, build the fences over the winter, and have it ready for next year's tourist season. They want a set-up where you can get nice and close to them on a boardwalk, and fences on the hill behind so no one can jump down on top of them.

Here's the whole story.

Weird Al's Latest: CNR!

Alright, the summer of "Weird Al" Yankvoic continues! His new song was released today. It's a loving homage to both The White Stripes and Charles Nelson Reilly entitled CNR:



I really like this one. The sad thing is, though, you don't get the joke until someone clues you in that Charles Nelson Reilly was a flamboyant effeminate television personality and actor back in the 1970s. I'm already seeing the comments, "Who the heck is Charles Nelson Reilly?"

But once you get it, it's funny as hell.

New Ponyo Trailer!

Hey! A new trailer for Ponyo went online last week!



I've already blogged about it quite a bit.... Ponyo is the latest work from Hayao Miyazaki, the Oscar-winning director of such animated fare as Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro and Princess Mononoke. His movies are awesome and you should watch them all...like I did last year.

It finally comes out here in North America on August 14. I managed to catch his last film, Howl's Moving Castle in the theatres, and dude, Miyazaki's animation is made to be seen on a big screen, so go see it when it hits your town. They say it's opening on 800 screens...the biggest opening ever in North America for a Miyazaki film. I just hope that one of those 800 screens will be in Edmonton so I can go see it opening weekend.

Now, I know there are some anime purists out there who are like, "NO! I refuse to see it in the theatre! Because in the theatre, it will be dubbed. Only subtitled anime is the proper way to watch anime!"

Yes the whole "dubbed vs. subbed" debate is one that has torn anime conventions asunder. It seemed to have been rendered moot with the advent of DVD, where you can switch between the two with a push of a button. But it rears its ugly head now and then when you get a major theatrical release like this.

So, in this case, let's talk to the director himself, Hayao Miyazaki. Several years ago, in an interview, he was asked if he prefers that English-speaking people watched the dubbed or subtitled versions. His answer? He wants you to watch the dubbed versions. His logic is he wants your eyes to be on the animation, not on the subtitles on the bottom of the screen.

So, there you go! You have the director's blessing to watch the dubbed version. So everyone head out on August 14 to see Ponyo!

Latest Targ's Up! Latest Movie Review Up!

Doing lots of catching-up on the website on this long weekend. First up, hey! I saw Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince a week ago. I finally review it!

Read the review here.

And now, the regular Sunday business....





Yup, another week, another episode of U62: The Targ! Still trying out my endless rant format. In Episode 2.42: He Fights for the Users the rants include gourmet coffee in fast food places, the first look at Disney's Tron Legacy, and DVD extended editions!


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Green Lantern: First Flight Review

Alrighty, I was just in the city last week. I rarely run into the city on the weekend two weekends in a row, mainly because it gets costly. But, it was a long weekend, and I felt like going a little nuts. Besides, there was a DVD out that I really, really, really wanted to get. As longtime readers of the blog know, I've been collecting and enjoying all of the Warner Brothers/DC Comics straight-to-DVD animated films. I knew I had to get their latest one. I just finished watching it. So sit back, as I review....

Green Lantern: First Flight

Directed by Lauren Montgomery

Starring the voices of Christopher Meloni, Victor Garber, Tricia Helfer, Michael Madsen, John Larroquette, Kurtwood Smith, William Schallert, Larry Drake, Malachi Throne, Rob Paulson and Kath Soucie.

Backstory: Well, like most average joes, my favourite character in the DC pantheon has always been Batman. But I've always had a soft spot for Green Lantern, going back to when I was 8 years old and my brother gave me a Green Lantern Super Powers action figure for Christmas. I also thoroughly loved the last DTV animated film, Wonder Woman, and when I saw that most of the same team that did Wonder Woman was working on Green Lantern, I was ecstatic. But would this one live up to the hype I was placing on it?

Plot: Test pilot Hal Jordan is summoned to the dying alien Abin Sur. Sur is a Green Lantern, and on his deathbed, his power ring chose Jordan to be his successor. Now a Green Lantern, Jordan is promptly taken to the Lantern's home base, the planet Oa, where the debate begins as to whether Jordan is truly worthy. The Green Lantern known as Sinestro volunteers to take Jordan under his wing. Jordan goes along with it, but soon grows disillusioned with Sinestro's brutal tactics. As Jordan begins to investigate into Abin Sur's death, it appears that there's a traitor within the Green Lantern Corps. Who could it be?

What I Liked: The film opens with a very anime-influenced transformation sequence when Hal Jordan dons the ring for the first time. We journey to strange new worlds, we see all kinds of aliens, and Sinestro really gets brutal for an animated film. Way to earn that PG-13 rating! And, the voice acting is really top-notch.

What I Didn't Like: There's so much action that it's a detriment to character development, as we barely get a chance to get to know anyone.

Final Assesment: Thoroughly satisfying, but Wonder Woman is still the best one.

3 Nibs

Bonus Features: For bonus features on the DVD, you get previews for the last three DTV animated films, a sneak peak at the next one (Superman/Batman: Public Enemies), a featurette about the epic Green Lantern storyline The Blackest Night, playing out in the comics right now, a featurette on the history of Green Lantern, two episodes of Justice League focusing on Green Lantern, and an episode of Duck Dodgers spoofing Green Lantern.

Fantastic Mr. Fox Trailer

I'll never forget 2005, when two stop-motion animated films, Tim Burton's Corpse Bride and Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit came out at the same time. One of the animators was asked what he thought of two stop-motion animated films coming out at the same time, and his answer was, "At the very least, I hope it means we're keeping [stop motion animation] alive as a folk art."

And 2009 is getting notable in that in this year, we are getting two stop-motion animated films. The first one was Coraline, which came out at the start of the year. And now, at the end of the year, we're getting Fantastic Mr. Fox, based on the class Roald Dahl book of the same name.



What really makes this one special is that it's the first animated film directed by Wes Anderson, the indie film auteur who gave the world The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and, most recently, The Darjeeling Limited.

Anderson began work on the film back in 2004. The original plan was for Anderson to be the director, with Henry Selick serving as animation director...that is, the director who is actually hands-on involved with the animation. (Anderson and Selick had previously collaborated on The Life Aquatic, where Selick and his team of animators provided all the stop-motion animated sea creatures.) But then, the studio that was originally making the film ran into problems, and Selick left the project to go direct Coraline. So, Anderson decided to direct the whole thing himself.

I haven't been able to dig up much on the actual production yet...I have heard that Anderson decided to record all the voice actors in natural settings. For example, if the characters are walking down a dirt road, Anderson actually got the actors to walk down a dirt road and recorded them reading the lines to each other. It was probably hell on the sound designers....

And the animation really does look...lower budget than Coraline. It looks kind of like one of those 15-minute long British children's shows.

This could be quite an interesting little film.

November.

Toy Story & Toy Story 2 3D Trailer

This is something interesting that I thought I'd share. It's the trailer for the 3D special editions of Toy Story & Toy Story 2!



See, with Toy Story 3 being Pixar's blockbuster of next year, they decided to re-release the first two films to theatres as part of the hype. And since every animated movie is in 3D these days, they decided to re-master them into 3D.

The original plan was to release the 3D Toy Story in October, the 3D Toy Story 2 in March, and then Toy Story 3 in June. But some where along the way, they decided to mix things up. Now, this October, we're getting a double feature of the first two Toy Stories, with the new trailer for #3 premiering between them. You know, it's like Grindhouse for 10-year-olds.

And what is Disney now releasing in March to fill the void left by Toy Story 2? A 3D edition of Beauty and the Beast.

Ya know, the Toy Stories are the only Pixar films I've never seen in the theatre...I'm actually looking forward to this.

Latest Targ's Up!

Some weeks, I can hardly wait before I sit down and record an episode of U62: The Targ. Others, I sit at the computer, wracking my brain for hours trying to come up with something worth saying. This week is definitley one of the latter.

Episode 2.41: Cat Days of Summer chronicles my experiences with Photoshop, I continue debating cellphone vs. BlackBerry, and I update you on my summer reading project.


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"His name is Tron. He fights for the users."

Ah, at long last! This hit the San Diego Comic Con a year ago. This year, it was remastered in 3D and shown again, at a panel discussion on the making of this here film. Ladies and gentlemen, the long awaited sequel to Tron, entitled Tron Legacy.



My memory gets fuzzy going that far back, but Tron may very well be the first movie I ever saw. I was in the second grade. My school principal, Mr. Stelter, had this tradition where, once a year, he'd call an assembly, and in this assembly, we'd watch his favourite movie, The Apple Dumpling Gang. I forget why I missed that assembly in the first grade, but I was looking forward to it in the second grade. So when the day came, and the assembly was called, Mr. Stelter announced that he wasn't able to get The Apple Dumpling Gang that year, so instead, we'd be watching another Disney movie, Tron.

And it was good. For the rest of that summer, my BMX was a light cycle and frisbees were those Tron discs.

Rumors of some form of Tron sequel or remake have been circulating ever since I discovered the Internet and started using it to track down movie news. The earliest one had to be 1998 or so, when it was rumored that Pixar -- yes, the makers of Toy Story and Wall-E and this summer's smash hit Up -- would be doing a 100% computer animated remake of Tron. That story turned out to be 100% bullplop.

Disney finally got around to releasing a 2-disc super-special edition DVD in 2002, in time for the film's 20th anniversary. The disc featured extensive interviews with the writer/director/creator of Tron, Steven Lisberger, and Lisberger showed off some concept art for a project dubbed Tron 2.0. The DVD even had a teaser for something called Tron: Killer App. Would this be our long awaited Tron sequel?

Well, Tron 2.0 and Tron: Killer App turned out to be the PC game Tron 2.0. Positive reviews, but sluggish sales of the game kind of made Disney lose interest in pursuing a theatrical film.

A few rumors popped over the years. Around 2006 or so, the announcement was that Disney was pursuing a remake, done to be more contemporary and work in more contemporary computer concepts like the Internet. And then it just kind of faded away....

Until last year. Disney showed that above footage at the San Diego Comic Con last year as a special bonus at the end of their panel, and all hell broke loose. The Internet went ablaze with news that a Tron sequel was on the way.

Yeah, that above footage isn't a trailer, exactly. It's a test reel...a proof-of-concept...a thingie done by the filmmakers to show what a contemporary Tron would look like. It was directed by a veteran commercial director named Joseph Kosinski, who immediately announced as the director of this new Tron film. Jeff Bridges, star of the original Tron, was convinced to come back and reprise his character of Kevin Flynn, an ace computer program who gets sucked into a computer, has to do battle with a villainous A.I., and finds an ally in a computer program named Tron.

The sequel began filming in Vancouver back in April. In addition to Bridges coming back as Flynn, Bruce Boxleitner is back as Tron, and Tron's real-world counterpart, computer programmer Alan Bradley. New characters include Garret Hedlund as Flynn's son Sean, John Hurt as the new villain, and Olivia Wilde as a new program who helps our heroes.

As already mentioned, it's being directed by Joseph Kosinski. Steven Lisberger, the creator of the entire Tron universe, is on-board as a producer. Electronica artists Daft Punk are composing the music.

From what little I've gleamed, the plot is something like this. Based on his adventures in computer world, Kevin Flynn created some advancements in computers that made him a legend in the computer community. But then, he mysteriously disappeared in 1989. Now, 20 years later, Flynn's son Sean finds some new evidence as to what happened to his father. Sean embarks on a quest to find his father, that eventually leads him into the computer world....

It hits theatres next year. If it comes out late June/early July, I think I know what my birthday movie is going to be.

Latest Targ's Up!

You're going to have to thank my best friend for this one. Here I was, all exhausted from a week at my day job, ready to skip doing a podcast this week. Then I got an e-mail from my best friend. "Really looking forward to the Targ this week!" So I figured, just for him, I should do one.

Hence this week's episode, Episode 2.40: By Request. In this one, I monologue about Weird Al's new song and my summer reading project.

You're going to be hearing a lot more monologues in the podcast in the weeks ahead. I'm trying something new. I don't know if you've noticed, but most podcasts are talk radio. And my best friend is starting to wonder why I play songs in mine and don't just rant more. So I'm going to try to just rant more. Exciting times!

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NEW WEIRD AL SONG!!

Hey! Back on Tuesday, "Weird Al" Yankovic released his latest song! Here it is...a little ditty called Skipper Dan.



As with all others in his "Internet Leaks" project, it's already available at iTunes and many other MP3 retailers.

My thoughts on this one? This one is more "funny/sad" than "funny/ha ha." It's always weird to get some pathos out of a Weird Al tune. But it's got a great beat that just kind of gets stuck in your head.

I like it...but don't love it.

Women's Ski Jumping: Still Not in the Olympics

Wow, did I really blog about this over a year ago? It seems much closer....

Anyway, the story. A group of empassioned women's ski jumpers have been trying hard to make women's ski jumping an Olympic sport. I first blogged about it, as I said, over a year ago. Let me do some digging...ah! Here's my original blog entry.

To fill in the gap from my last blog entry, this group of women's ski jumpers decided to sue VANOC, the organizing committee of the 2010 Winter Olympics, citing that it was sexual discrimination and thus a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. VANOC's defense was that they answer to the International Olympic Committee, not the federal or provincial governments, so the Charter doesn't apply. The supreme court...sided with VANOC.

What more we missed in the past year: Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, said that there are very few women's ski jumpers in the world, and that to make it an Olympic sport would "dilute the winners." The women countered that there are many Olympic sports that have far fewer competitors than women's ski jumping. The IOC points to their rules that say, before being considered an Olympic sport, you had to have held at least two world championships in that sport. The first women's ski jumping world championship was earlier this year. The women counter that that criteria was waved from the IOC regulations in 2007.

My opinion: it's starting to look like getting women's ski jumping into the 2010 Winter Olympics is a bit of a lost cause. Time to regroup and focus your efforts on getting them into the 2014 games!

Here's the CBC's story.

And, for a chuckled, courtesy of Cracked.com, here's what women's ski jumping has to compete with to become an Olympic sport.

Amidala in Thor

Alright, let me share the big movie news from yesterday.

Natalie Portman has joined the cast of the upcoming movie version of the classic Marvel comic character Thor.

Portman will be playing Jane Foster, a nurse (and occasional love interest) employed by Dr. Donald Blake. Blake, of course, is the human alter-ego of Thor.

The strange thing is, according to those in the know, Donald Blake actually doesn't come into play in the movie version of Thor. Thor is Thor for the whole movie. So how they'll adjust the character relationship remains to be seen.

As previously announced, Chris Hemsworth, last seen playing Captain Kirk's dad in Star Trek, will be playing Thor, and Tom Hiddleston, will be playing Thor's arch-enemy Loki. Kenneth Branagh, still best known for his Shakespeare adaptations, is directing.

They start filming early next year for a May 2011 release!

River Rats 2009!

Alrightie, gang, here we go, it's my most ambitious YouTube video to date! It's a two-parter!

And it chronicles Athabasca's always-awesome Magnificent River Rats Festival.

So please, enjoy The Magnificent River Rats Festival 2009 (Part 1)!



And the exciting conclusion, the Magnificent River Rats Festival 2009 (Part 2)!

Latest Targ's Up!

And we're back! Sorry there was no episode last week...I went home for Entwistle's centennial celebrations, and I never got around to producing an episode in advance.

And I tell you all about it in this week's episode, Episode 2.39: Bitrex. I unleash my pent up bitterness at turning 32, I give you my uncensored comments on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and we also chat about fast foods of the world.

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Deadpool is Green Lantern!

It broke late on my movie gossip websites last night that Ryan Reynolds has entered into final negotiations to play Hal Jordan, the best-known carrier of the mantel of Green Lantern.

Reynolds, of course, is no stranger to the superhero genre. He's still on the big screen right now playing Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. He was the vampire slayer Hannibal King in Blade: Trinity. And back when David S. Goyer, co-writer of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, was attached to do a movie version of The Flash, Goyer frequently mentioned his desire to have Reynolds play Wally West.

The movie version of Green Lantern is being directed by Martin Campbell, who directed the two Zorro films (Mask of... and Legend of...) and the two James Bond films GoldenEye and Casino Royale.

They want to start filming in January for a Summer 2011 release.

Teriyaki McBurger!

WOO!!

I saw a commercial for McDonald's on TV last night!

THE TERIYAKI MCBURGER IS COMING TO CANADA!!

Oh...oh...no wait. I'm jumping the gun, here. It's a special "Teriyaki Quarter Pounder," "Teriyaki McChicken," and "Teriyaki Chicken Wrap." Cool nonetheless, but still not a true Teriyaki McBurger.

For those who never studied McDonald's around the world, the Teriyaki McBurger is one of McDonald's signature sandwiches in Japan. Made with pork instead of beef, the pork pattie is slathered with teriyaki sauce, and topped with shredded lettuce and a dollop of mayo. I ate a lot of them when I was in Japan....

I had my first one in June of 2002, on my third or fourth day. A couple of us in our teacher training went down to McDonald's for dinner, and I ordered one. It was my first McDonald's meal in Japan. One of my fellow trainees said, "Dude, you're actually trying one?" and I said, "If I wanted a Big Mac, I would have stayed home."

I had my last one on my final day in Japan...it was officially my final meal in Japan. I had just checked in at the Tokyo Airport, had about an hour to kill before my flight home to Canada, and as I was wandering around the airport, I stumbled across a McDonald's kiosk. And I thought, "This'll probably be the last time in a long time I'll be able to have a Teriyaki McBurger." So I ordered one. And thanks to the multi-lingual staff at the airport, is the only one I've ever been able to order by speaking English.

I don't want to sample foods of the world, I want to sample fast foods of the world. Is that a wrong-headed goal? And I'm not talking about Teriyaki McBurgers and McDonald's that serve beer...I'm talking about fast food chains found only in other countries, like British chip shops and the like.

It'll be a trip of a lifetime, but I'll probably die of clogged arteries halfway through.

Revenge of the Fallen Review is Here!

Took a week, but my full review of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is finally ready!

Read it here!

Blogworthy DVD Announcements

So I was perusing through some upcoming DVD releases, and one in particular caught my eye.

Ally McBeal: The Complete First Season and Ally McBeal: The Complete Series are both coming on October 6.

This is quite surprising because it was thought for the longest time that Ally McBeal would never be released on DVD. Why? Because the music clearance fees would be astronomical.

A little more backstory is required here. As you all know, it's quite popular to stick current hit music in TV shows. However, that becomes a bitch when it comes time to release that show on DVD, because a music clearance fee (i.e. royalties) need to be paid to the artists. And more often than not, the music clearance fees are so high, that it makes television producers give pause, take a second look at the budget, and go, "We can't afford that."

There are many ways to get around this. The most common way is to remove the song from the sound mix, and replace it with a cheaper soundalike. A good example is House. The producers use the song Teardrop by Massive Attack as the opening theme. They couldn't afford it for DVDs, so on the complete season DVDs, they use...a cheaper soundalike!

Of course, this method does have its detractors. For Quantum Leap: The Complete First Season, several songs were replaced with cheaper soundalikes, and several fans screamed bloody murder, as the cheaper soundalikes wound up ruining the moods of the scenes.

There's also the worst-case scenario, which is the producers could simply completely edit out the scene where the song is used. An example of that is WKRP in Cincinnati: Season One, which edited out some scenes. Some fans said the episodes were incredibly badly butchered. However, series creator Hugh Wilson did say he was "satisfied" with the effort.

And hence the surprise that Ally McBeal is finally coming to DVD. The show used popular songs in just about every episode, usually 3 or 4, so it's long been assumed that Ally McBeal would simply be too expensive to release on DVD.

But now, with it's October 6 release, it's going to be interesting to see how the episodes had to be changed. Whatever the case, some of the originally music will doubtlessly be used, in which case, Vonda Shepard will probably make out like a bandit.

---

And hey! Another DVD announcement that I wanted to share.

Warner Brothers finally released all the official details on their next DC Universe straight-to-DVD animated film, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies.

For those who don't remember, let me refresh your memory on the plot. A giant kryptonite meteor is heading towards the Earth and could wipe out all life as we know it. President Lex Luthor decides to turn this negative into a positive: he blames the whole thing on Superman and Batman, declares them Public Enemies #1 and #2, and puts a $1 billion bounty on their heads. Superman and Batman are then on the run from the government-sanctioned superheroes ordered to bring them in and bounty hunting supervillains, while they work to clear their names, stop the meteor, and bring down Luthor. It's based on the storyline from the Batman/Superman comic book.

Anyway, the big announcement had to do with the voice cast. Kevin Conroy, who's been voicing Batman since Batman: The Animated Series, will be back voicing Batman. Clancy Brown, who's been voicing Lex Luthor since Superman: The Animated Series, will be back voicing Lex Luthor. And Tim Daly, who voiced Superman on Superman: The Animated Series, will be back voicing Superman.

Anyway, it'll be available in single-disc movie-only editions, a 2-disc special edition, and Blu-Ray.

2-disc special edition bonus features:
- Preview of the next DC animated movie, which is TBA at this time.
- A featurette on The Blackest Night, which is DC Comic's big event storyline for this year.
- a featurette on the many Superman/Batman team-ups that have happened over the years.
- 2 episodes of Justice League, selected by Bruce Timm.

And it might be time to spring for Blu-Ray. In addition to all that, on the Blu-Ray you also get:

- a featurette about the voice cast. (This is the first time that Conroy, Daly, and Brown have worked together since the 1990s, so it's quite awesome.)
- 4 episodes of Justice League, chosen by Bruce Timm.

It all comes out September 29!

And I should say that this is really the next next DC animated film. The next one is Green Lantern: First Flight, coming out at the end of this month.

More Dumb Movies on the Way

*sigh* You know, some people in Hollywood are taking the concept of snatching up an established property and adapting it for the big screen just a little too far.

Remember the old Atari game Asteroids? Here's a clip from the game:



Yeah, they're turning that into a movie. Universal Studios just picked up the movie rights. Lorenzo diBonaventure, the producer who supervised the big screen adaptations of Transformers and G.I. Joe, is doing the same thing for Asteroids. Matthew Lopez, who wrote Disney's recent re-make of Race to Witch Mountain, is writing a script. No word yet on when it's hitting theatres.

But that's not all! Speaking of classic toys coming to the big screen, it was also announced that they'll be making a big movie version of...View-Master.

That's right...View-Master.



Brad Caleb Kane, who writs for the TV show Fringe, is writing the script. Roberto Orci and Alec Kurtzman, the big-name writers who wrote Star Trek and the two Transformers are producing.

If it's not in 3D, I'll be very disappointed.

"My Thoughts on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" or "Yes, I Would Like Some Cheese With My Whine."

If there's one geek stereotype I've tried to avoid, it's the whiny fanboy. That being said, I'd like to apologize for what you're about to read.

I just got home from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

I have issues with it.

My big number one issue is how Michael Bay chose to portray my childhood heroes. Optimus Prime. Ironhide. Sideswipe. The Autobots as a whole. They are iconic characters to a generation. That's the key word there: characters. They are people...granted, 50-foot tall metal people, but living breathing people nonetheless.

But Michael Bay treats them as nothing but hardware...big shiny things that point big guns that go boom. There's no character development with them, we don't learn anything about them, hell, they hardly even speak!

Arcee is in this film. Arcee! Yay! Iconic for being the token female Autobot. Blink and you'll miss her. She only has two lines. I know because I counted.

These characters are more than just military machines, but military machines are all they're treated as.

In fact, a good way to look at this is like a Godzilla movie. We all know in a Godzilla movie the main appeal is watching the giant monsters slug it out. Same as with Michael Bay's Transfomers. The appeal is watching the giant robots do battle. But they have to reload some time, so while that happens, we focus on the humans, and rely on them to advance the plot. The big question in the Godzilla movies is, "How do you make the human characters interesting?" Michael Bay's answer was, "Make them as annoying as FUCK!"

Sam's mom eating some pot-laced brownies and getting high on a college campus...it's as bad as you've heard. Sam's new roommate, the geek who constantly screams "WE'RE GONNA DIE!" It makes my brain hurt.

I fully understand the need for comic relief. But they chose to go with bad comedy...men in thongs, dogs humping legs, stuff like that. There's at least five "dog humping" jokes. Dogs humping dogs, dogs humping legs, dogs humping robots, robots humping legs. WE GET IT!!

And when they're not being annoying, the humans fare about as well as the robots. No character moments...no conversations between them that turn them into people. Like this. Remember the first movie? Megan Fox's dad is all in prison cuz he was a car thief? Well, in this movie, he's out of prison, and they have a father/daughter auto shop business. The two of them are just...there. They don't even ATTEMPT the obvious...which would be some kind of father/daughter reconciliation scene. Nope, the dad has about two lines, and Megan Fox just stands around looking hot. We get it. Megan Fox is hot. At least ATTEMPT to have her do something! God, at least strippers get to dance. Megan Fox doesn't even get to do that.

And the Autobots named Mudflap and Skids. The centre of all the controversy right now. Every negative wannabe gangsta stereotype rolled into two Autobots. Dubbed by some as "Car Car Binks." Not much more I can add to what's already been said. Well, one thing. Perhaps one good thing. Because of all the coverage they've been getting, I was expecting them to be much more...prominent in the film. The good thing is they're not there as much as I thought they'd be.

There's only one real character moment...one scene that gave me goosebumps. Megatron, Starscream, and the Fallen, all on the burnt-out remains of Cybertron, plotting their next move and explaining the Decepticon's mission. We get to know Megatron, we get to know Starscream, we get to know the villain's motivation...a few more scenes like that and a lot less humping jokes and we might have had a movie.

Enough negativity. What I liked: spectacular fight scenes. ILM once again brought their A-game. Great action scenes. Enough name-checking of Transformers lore to make me smile...space bridges, the Matrix, etc.

But great fight scenes and randomly tossed-out references do not a good movie make.

2 out of 4 nibs.

Proper review coming soon.

Timmy's Comes Home

I love me my fast food, and that Canadian icon of fast food/donut shops is finally coming home.

That's right, Tim Hortons is finally becoming a Canadian company once again.

But you're thinking, "Mark! I've seen those highly patriotic commercials. I thought Tim Hortons was already Canadian!" Well, not for the past 15 years.

It was in 1995 when, as you may recall, Tim Hortons merged with Wendy's. Tim Hortons became a Wendy's subsidiary and thus, an American company.

It was in 2005 that Wendy's declared Tim Hortons to be getting so big that they were competing against themselves. So, Wendy's decided to sell off Tim Hortons. It was once again an independent company, still had its world headquarters in Oakville, Ontario. But, for all legal purposes, it was still an American company.

But now, they're filling out all the paperwork and doing all the legal stuff to make it legally a Canadian company. Why the reason for this switch? Because we have lower corporate tax rates than the USA, and the Tim Hortons shareholders like that.

Here's the story

Latest Targ's Up!

Moving kind of slow today. Athabasca's Magnificent River Rats festival ended at around midnight last night, and I'm still in recovery mode. Good thing I had the foresight to record this week's episode of U62: The Targ while I was still at 100%!

This week, Episode 2.38: Free with Membership. We're analyzing Pokemon, talking about River Rats, and reminiscing about MASH.

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Of Pokemon and Hot Springs and Other Idle Dreams

It's been a slow couple of weeks. Not much to blog home about. So I guess I could do like most blogs and start ranting and rambling about the various things I am a fan of.

For example, Pokemon. I love Pokemon. Many find such a love to be weird, but there it is.

One thing I love about the Pokemon cartoon is when something overtly Japanese happens. For those who don't know, I spent a year teaching English in Japan. So when something overtly Japanese happens, I understand it, and I feel like I'm in on a larger joke.

What happened in this last episode...our heroes were walking down the road (as they do at the start of every episode) and nightfall is coming. With the nearest pokemon centre still too far away, Dawn takes a closer look at the map and realizes that a friend lives near by. This friend happens to own and live in a hot springs resort, so they can crash with Dawn's friend and enjoy the hot springs for free. What good are friends if you can't mooch off them?

And then it turns out that the hot springs have dried up so our heroes go on a quest to find out why.

But yeah. Hot springs. I loved going to hot springs. I've been going since I was 2 years old, when every summer saw at least one trip to the Miette Hot Springs in Jasper. I haven't been out to Miette in a couple of years...I'm starting to miss it.

You have to admit, Canada really is poor when it comes to hot springs. We have about three or four in the Rockies and that's it. Not like Japan, where there's whole resort towns built around hot springs. I remember a few years back, the Banff Hot Springs were running low, so they were filling up the pool with plain ol' Town of Banff tap water. The hot springs management were all like, "What? We always do this when it runs low." Meanwhile, in Japan, when word got out that several hot springs resorts were topping off their pools with plain ol' tap water, it created a national scandal and a special government subcommittee was formed to look into the problem.

But let's not forget, if weren't for those three or four hot springs we have, we wouldn't have our national parks service. As the legend goes, back when they were building the railroad, some railway workers discovered a hot spring in Banff. The hot spring soon became a popular recreation area, and before you knew it, people were starting to scrap over who owned the hot springs. The fight got so bad that finally the federal government stepped in and said, "Something this awesome should belong to EVERYONE!" So the government claimed the hot spring and formed Banff National Park to look after it. And our national parks service was born!

Hot springs. I love them. I wish I could travel the world and sample all the many different kinds. That could be a great TV show for the Travel Channel. I travel the world, sample the hot springs, hang out with the locals, learn the history of the place. I should pitch that!

But first, I should hit the gym. Let's be honest, such a series would feature me in a swimsuit for half of every episode. Stressing out about your body to look good in a swimsuit: it's not just for women anymore.

Ponyo and Airbender Trailers

Let's take a quick minute to take a look at some of the hot new trailers in movie theatres.

First up, we have The Last Airbender, based on the smash-hit cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender. (They changed the name for the film so as not to get confused with James Cameron's long-awaited return to filmmaking, Avatar.)

For those who never watched the really awesome cartoon, The Last Airbender takes place in a mythical, vaguely Asian land where people can practice the mystical art of "bending," martial arts that manipulate the four elements. As such, there are four nations in this world: Airbenders, Firebenders, Waterbenders, and Earthbenders. One day, the ruler of the Firebenders gets it in his head that he wants to rule the world, so he starts off by killing all the airbenders.

But one escapes...Aang, the Avatar. The mystical Avatar is the only one who can learn all four types of bending, and thus bring peace to the land.

So the series follows the adventures of Aang as he journeys through this land, a fugitive of the firebenders, and learning the other types of bending.

Joining him on his quest are Katara, a gifted young waterbender, and Katara's brother Sokka. While Sokka is not a bender, he's still a skilled warrior himself.

Now, sadly, this film has become somewhat controversial. How can such a fantastic story be controversial? Well, it's like this. As I said, it takes place in a land heavily based on Asia, all the characters are Asians, so naturally the film was going to have an all-white cast. Luckily, the backlash started early enough that the filmmakers were able to rectify things somewhat in the rest of the casting.

Of course, also controversial, in that whiny fanboy way, was the choice of director. This cartoon is being adapted for the big screen by Captain Twist Ending, M. Night Shyamalan. That was controversial because many say that Shyamalan only made one good film, The Sixth Sense. This is also the first film that Shyamalan made that is not based on of his own, original ideas.

The cast is predominantly unknowns...about the only name in the cast is Dev Patel, star of the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire. Patel plays Prince Zuko, the firebender prince charged with finding Aang.

I thoroughly enjoyed the show and, controversies aside, my fingers are crossed that the film will be good. The film hits theatres Summer 2010.



Next up, another film I've mentioned several times on the blog, Ponyo.

Ponyo is the latest epic from world-renowned Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki. It hit Japanese theatres a year ago, and finally makes its way to North America.

Ponyo is kind of like Miyazaki's re-imagining of The Little Mermaid, from what I gather. It follows the adventures of young goldfish princess named Ponyo, her infatuation with a human boy named Sosuke, and her quest to become human. As for the tone of the film itself, some Miyazaki afficianados say it's for the younger folk...more My Neighbour Totoro than Spirited Away.

As with the past group of Miyazaki films, this is being brought to North America by Disney. As with the last two Miyazaki films, Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle, the English dub is being supervised by the head of Disney animation, the director of Toy Story, and one of the biggest Miyazaki geeks in the world, John Lasseter. Lasseter is sparing no expense this time out, with the goal of making Ponyo Miyazaki's biggest hit in North America. He's brought in Hollywood uber-producer Frank Marshall to help out. Marshall was responsible for most of the Steven Spielberg blockbusters of the 1980s. His last film was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

As is the tradition in North American films, the voice cast features a galaxy of stars. Tina Fey, Matt Damon, Liam Neeson, Cate Blanchett, Cloris Leachman and Betty White all provide voices. Ponyo is voiced by Noah Cyrus, Myley Cyrus's little sister, and Sosuke by Frankie Jonas, the littlest Jonas Brother.

It hits North American theatres on August 14.



I kind of think Disney dropped the ball with this trailer...they should have put it in front of Up. Instead, it's going to be in front of the drama My Sister's Keeper in theatres this Friday. Oh, and The Last Airbender trailer is going to be in front of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Dance with the Devil in the Pale Moonlight

Around a month ago, I wrote a blog entry reminiscing on the 10th anniversary of a film that had massive ramifications on the geek universe, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Well, I had a lot of fun writing that, and with the 20th anniversary of another geek classic upon us, I thought I’d write another article reminiscing about that film. Yes, today is the 20th anniversary of the film that launched a franchise, Batman, directed by Tim Burton.



I HATE YOU BATMAN!

Words cannot describe how much I loathe you as a film. Upon repeated viewings, I can’t help but think about how you ruined my life and completely destroyed me. I hatred burns with the intensity of a thousand suns. You changed me...you altered me...you made me view myself in ways that I was not yet ready for, and I hate you for it.

But that was not the case when we first met. When we first met, it was the summer of 1989. That was quite a monumental summer in my youth. My twelfth birthday was approaching. Elementary school was done, and I was preparing for the new challenges and adventures in junior high. My family moved into a newer, bigger house, and for the first time in 8 years, I finally had my own room. And I managed to steal my first kiss from that girl next door...that spirited redhead by the name of Samantha Eddington.

OK, there was no girl living next door, there is no such person as Samantha Eddington, but everything else is true, and when I sit down some day to write my coming-of-age tale, it will be set in the summer of 1989, and little miss Eddington will come to life on the page. And another aspect in my coming of age tale set in the summer of 1989 will be true...Batman will be everywhere.

It was impossible to escape from Batman that summer. The Batman logo was on merchandise of all kinds. That Diet Coke commercial was constantly running on television. Batdance by Prince was always on the radio. The Edmonton Journal deemed it “the summer of the bat,” and even ran an interview with a graphic design major at the U of A who had painted the Batman logo all over her car. “I understand it’s all a fad, and I’ll repaint my car this fall,” she said. “I’m thinking maybe a soccer ball pattern.” Of course, all this didn’t happen spontaneously. It was all because of the movie.



Batman directed by Tim Burton. No other movie to date had been that heavily hyped. And, with my 12th birthday approaching, along with it came the annual tradition of my birthday movie. Yes, ever since my 11th birthday, I have celebrated my age by going to see a movie. And with the summer of 1989 upon me, there was only one movie I wanted to see...Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.

Other things happening in pop culture was that Star Trek: The Next Generation had finished its second season. I had become thoroughly hooked on this thing called Trek and I was wearing blinders for that summer. The only movie that was on my radar was The Final Frontier. So arrangements were made. That was the movie I was going to see on my birthday. There were some friends of the family who wanted to come along, but they didn’t want to see Star Trek, they wanted to see Batman. So, Mom bent over backwards, scouring the movie listings for a Cineplex in Edmonton that was showing both Star Trek and Batman. And she found one, Capitol Square 4, right in the heart of downtown Edmonton.

My birthday came around, and it was fantastic day. We arrived at the Capitol Square to see Star Trek and...it wasn’t playing. “We’re so sorry,” said the clerk. “We stopped showing it yesterday.” My 12 year old heart sank. “Is there any other movie you want to see?” my mother asked. I walked into the lobby to stare at the four movie posters to make my decision. To this day, I remember very clearly what those four movie posters were: Batman, Lethal Weapon 2, Dead Poets Society, and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. My blinders were off. My eyes were finally open to the other films out in the summer of 1989. I made my decision, and walked up to my parents. “I want to see...Honey, I Shrunk the Kids!”

My brother said, “Screw that, I want to go with the others to see Batman.” So we split into two groups. My brother and Group A went to see Batman. Me and Group B went to see Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Honey, I Shrunk the Kids was really good. My 12-year old self enjoyed the hell out of it.

And then came the waiting. Batman had a later start time and a longer length than Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, so we started spending a lot of time in the lobby waiting for Batman to get out. We went for a walk around the block. Sunset in downtown Edmonton is always really pretty, even my 12 year old self enjoyed it. Eventually, Batman ended, and this endless wave of people started pouring out of the theatre. Never had I seen a crowd so large! And it wasn’t ending. They just kept coming and coming and coming. And finally, my brother emerged from the crowd. “Ohmygodohmygodohmygod IT WAS SO AWESOME!!!” He sure was a lot more excited about Batman than I was about Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.



And for the rest of the summer...hell, for the rest of the year, my brother was the biggest Batman geek you’d ever meet. He had the official “making of” book..the deluxe hardcover edition. He got the soundtrack, so not only was it on the radio, but Batdance was being cranked up at every available opportunity. At least every 20 minutes, he’d ask me if I’d ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight. For his birthday, we went to the auto show, so he could get his picture taken next to the Batmobile. As I said, there was just no escaping from Batman that summer.

December was soon upon us. Naturally, my brother got Batman on VHS for Christmas. And there, on Christmas afternoon, huddled around the TV set, was when I finally got to see Batman. And you know what? It was so much better than Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. If I could go back in time to my 12 year old self, I would probably say, “Dude, no. Go see Batman.”

As I said, it was impossible to escape from Batman in the summer of 1989. For a stretch there, it felt like I was living with Batman. Because of its prominence that year, Batman came to symbolize a lot of the magical things of that summer. Hanging MY posters in MY room. Sleepless night wondering how different grade seven would be from grade six. And wondering if the girl who would serve as the inspiration for Samantha Eddington would ever notice me. It was the last summer of my childhood, and it was so much fun.

So how did I grow to hate such a symbol? Well, we jump forward to the year 2004. I’m back in school, going to NAIT, studying to get my radio diploma and achieve that dream of being on the radio. I’m down in NAIT’s South Lobby, doing a remote broadcast. I was partnered up with one of my classmates for this broadcast. As is my want, I was up there, dancing to the music, waiting for my time to be on the radio, when Batdance came on. “Dude! This is like the greatest song ever!” I said to my classmate. “This song is crap, how can you like it?” she said to me. And I started telling her the tale...an abridged version of what you just read. The magic of the summer of 1989. “How can you not remember the summer of 1989?” I said to her.

She looked at me cockeyed and said, “I was two years old in 1989.”

BAM. I felt as though a batarang had hit me in the face. It finally occurred to me that I was now surrounded by people who had never danced to Batdance. People who don’t know what it means to dance with the devil in the pale moonlight. And they don’t know it because it was before their time. Remembering a magical summer from 20 years ago...had made me old.

That’s why I hate you, Batman. You turned me into an old man. You are now part of a distant past that only exists in history books. And because I was there to experience it first hand, it makes me aged and decrepit. Damn you, Batman. Damn you to hell.

Prince - Batdance
Uploaded by val6210 - Watch more music videos, in HD!

Latest Targ's Up!

Not going to lie. Things are starting to get really dull in my life right now, and that's leading to a lot of dull episodes of U62: The Targ.

This week is Episode 2.37: Smalltalk. We're chatting about my recent trip to the dentist, analyzing Weird Al's new song, and counting down to Revenge of the Fallen!

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New YouTube Vid: Athabasca University Convocation

I made my latest YouTube video! We just had one of my favourite events in Athabasca, Athabasca University Convocation!

See, Athabasca is home to the main campus of Athabasca University, and every June, thousands of graduates from all over the world descend on this town to have their moment on the stage and accept their degree or diploma.

It's always been one of my favourite Athabasca events mainly because the events staff up the university always puts on one heck of a show.

And I tried to capture that show as much as I could!



A couple of interesting stats I couldn't work into my narration: AU Convocation is a 3-day event. The only day I could make it was day 3, and that's where all this footage comes from. This year, the University was expecting 2200 people to show up. That includes graduates, their family and friends to cheer them on, and various dignitaries. That pretty much doubled the population of the town for those three days.

WEIRD AL'S NEW SONG!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, "Weird Al" Yankovic has released a new song!

A loving homage to the Doors called...Craigslist.



Some notes about the music video: it was directed by Liam Lynch, who directed such fine films as Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny and Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic. Weird Al says it was an incredibly low budget affair, filmed completely in Lynch's garage.

This is the second in Weird Al's new project called "Internet Leaks." Weird Al is going to be releasing 5 songs online over the next few months...this is the second. The first was his TI parody Whatever You Like which came out back in the fall.

It goes on sale tomorrow everywhere were MP3s are sold!

The End of Pushing Daisies

Well, Pushing Daisies is now officially done.

You may remember that it was canceled back in December. However, there were still three episodes left. And they finally got around to showing those final episodes this month. The third and final one aired Saturday night. I taped it and just finished watching it.

I know series creator Bryan Fuller was disappointed with the end. Mainly because, like a lot of TV shows, he had an overreaching, all-encompassing storyline mapped out. And the show was canceled at a point when he decided to take a break from the main storyline, and do a group of standalone episodes focusing on the supporting cast.

Luckily, the show has a narrator, so through use of the narrator and some clever editing with scenes from previous episodes, they were able to create a coda that wrapped up some of the dangling loose ends, but not all.

But it looks like Fuller is going to get to finish the story. He just got all the i's dotted and t's crossed so he can do a Pushing Daisies comic book. The comic, with the working title of Pushing Daisies: Season 3 is planned to be a 12-issue series, and Fuller is describing it as "a fresh take on the zombie genre."

And don't forget that Pushing Daisies: The Complete Second Season hits DVD on July 21. So everyone, run out and buy a dozen copies! Maybe if sales of the DVD are strong enough, we can pull a Firefly and spawn a movie version.

Latest Targ's Up!

Ho hum. Just another Sunday of no cosmic importance. Except, of course, the most cosmically important event of all...a new episode of U62: The Targ!

On tap today is Episode 2.36: Uppity. Just a few rants and observations about Up, and Zagat just released a fast food survey that I need to comment on!

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Law & Order: UK in CDN

You may remember a few months back I did a massive blog about all the international versions of Law & Order. Here it is, in case you missed it the first time.

Well, in case you missed the TV spots, Canada's very own City TV has picked up Law & Order: UK for the summer! I watched the first episode a few nights ago...it is undoubtedly Law & Order.

Oh! And something I forget to mention in my original post about all those international Law & Orders. Everyone's favourite crossover character John Munch is actually in negotiations to make guest appearances on both the Law & Order: UK and Paris enquêtes criminelles (the French Law & Order: Criminal Intent). In fact, when originally asked if Munch would be on Law & Order: UK, the producers said, "Umm...we actually thought that was required."

The Legion Street Sale

Here's my newest YouTube video, in which I check out the Legion Street Sale.

It's got my first special effects shot. I'm so proud.

Up is up!

As promised, my complete review of Up is now up!

Click here to read it!

Latest Targ's Up!

We got gray skies and rain outside my living room window today, so it's a great day for indoor fun...such as uploading and downloading my latest episode of U62: The Targ!

This week, Episode 2.35: The Golden Squirrel. We're ranting about Edmonton's Expo bid, Transformers voices, and Disney's next animated film!

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Up Comments / Discount DVDs!

So, I just got home from watching the latest Pixar epic, Up. Damn you, Pixar! This is three films in a row now where you made me cry at the end! And that's a good thing.

It's just spellbinding as we watch this old man try to finally fulfill his lifelong dream. Highly, highly recommended.

And, of course, composer Michael Giacchino does another spectacular score.





Apparently, the soundtrack is only being released on iTunes. That makes me sad. I'm no fuddy duddy, but I still like to have a CD cluttering my shelf.

Highly recommended. Go see it. As always, a complete review will be coming to the website in the days ahead.

Also, I saw the film in 3D. I think that's worth noting. As we all know, 3D is currently being rammed down our throats as the future of film, and it looks like all computer animated films for the foreseeable future are going to be in 3D, so we'd better get used to it.

First I got over the sticker shock that they charge $3 more for these 3D films. $15 for an adult! Also, being one of poor eyesight, the glasses always fit awkwardly over my regular glasses. The discomfort of those things smooshed against my face made things tough to get into. And I noticed that 3D doesn't meld well with the much ballyhooed curved screens that movie theatres started installing 10 years ago. It causes things to go blurry the closer you get to the edge of the screen.

Is this really the future? I don't know. All the 3D films on the horizon are animated films, a few slasher flicks, and the odd sci-fi film. As soon as we get Oscar-bait filmed in 3D, then I think it's the future.

But, I also took a moment to poke my nose in the DVD discount bins. Whenever there's not much in the new releases that I'm after, I always go poking around in the discount bins to see if there's anything I missed.

My brother was stunned to learn that I still own a VCR. I told him that I actually still have quite a few VHS tapes that I haven't upgraded to DVD yet. When I first got my DVD player, I swore I wouldn't buy a film again unless a 2-disc special edition comes along with enough bonus features to justify buying it again.

So when I looked up today and saw the 2-disc special edition of Apollo 13 for just $10, I figured, "It's time to upgrade Apollo 13."

I'm still somewhat fascinated by the space program, and Apollo 13 is still the best true space story on film so far. You all know the plot by now. Apollo 13 had one of their oxygen tanks explode on the way to the Moon, so they had to abort the mission, and all of NASA's top rocket scientists worked around the clock to figure out how to get the astronauts home alive. Featuring an all-star cast, especially focusing on Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, and Kevin Bacon as the Apollo crew, Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigart. I can hardly wait to crank up the launch of the rocket through my 900W subwoofer!

I got the 2-disc, 10th anniversary edition of the DVD, and it boasts two versions of the film. These days, it's quite commonplace for a film to be released in both regular theatres and IMAX theatres. Well, back in 2003, IMAX was still experimenting with their technology to show regular films in IMAX, and decided to test it on Apollo 13. So, on the 10th Anniversary DVD, you get both the original theatrical version and the IMAX version. Since the IMAX technology was still experimental, the film had to be re-edited to an IMAX-friendly length, and thus the IMAX version is a half-hour shorter than the theatrical version.

For bonus features, there's a documentary about the making of the film, a documentary about the real events, a documentary about the evolution of the space program, a running commentary with director Ron Howard, and a running commentary with the real Apollo 13 commander, Jim Lovell.

I also snatched out of the discount bin a little ol' western by the name of Quigley Down Under. It's one of those films that I always run into on late night TV and enjoy. Tom Sellick plays Matthew Quigley, an expert sharpshooter from the Wild West who accepts a job on a cattle ranch in Australia. When he arrives, he finds that the job is to murder the Aborigines who still live on the rancher's land. Naturally, Quigley tells the rancher to go eff himself, and it turns into kind of a "Die Hard across the Outback," as Quigley uses his skills to outsmart the rancher's henchmen and bring the rancher to justice. Professor Snape himself, Alan Rickman, plays the villanous rancher. It's also got a great music score from a legendary composer named Basil Poledouris.

So, why did I fish this one out of the discount bin? Well, back in high school, I had a friend named Travis. Travis was one of the few fellow movie buffs in my high school, and he's frequently loan me films from his vast VHS collection. He'd even regale me with tales of his uncle in Vancouver who owned a Laserdisc player...Laserdisc being the format of choice for home theatre enthusiasts in the late-80s/early-90s. "But the best film on Laserdisc has to be Quigley Down Under," Travis would tell me. "That part at the start of the film? Where Quigley first shows off his rifle? When my uncle cranks that up through his sound system...the whole room shakes!"

So whenever I spied Quigley Down Under in the DVD discount bins, I'd think, "I wonder how that rifle shot would sound pumped through my surround sound system and my 900W subwoofer?"

Travis, if you ever read this, it sounds damn fine.

Some Disney Bits

Wow, it's been a slow week in Markworld. Not much to blog home about. Which kind of screws me over seeing as to how I tend to use this blog as prep for my podcast. Nothing to blog about means nothing in the show.

A few tidbits on Disney came across my desk that I feel like sharing, so there's that going on.

So, as I've blogged about already, Disney returns to traditional, 2D hand-drawn animation this Christmas with the release of The Princess and the Frog, but what's next? Is it a one-off, or are they going to stick with it?

Well, they're sticking with it, and Disney just let slip what their next traditional, 2D hand-drawn animated film is going to be.

They're going back to the well, and giving us another Winnie the Pooh movie!

I once read a message board post where someone mused that snatching up the movie rights to Winnie the Pooh is one of the smartest things that Walt Disney ever did. I can't help but agree as Disney has been pumping that well dry for the last 20 years now.

Animated Winnie the Pooh started with three short films in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These three shorts were then edited together into the 1977 film The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

But the pumping of that well really started in 1988, with the Satruday morning cartoon The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. That series spawned two straight-to-video movies and three theatrical films (The Tigger Movie, Piglet's Big Movie, Pooh's Hefalump Movie) that don't count because they were made by Disney's TV animation division.

The most recent animated endeavour was the computer animated series My Friends Tigger and Pooh, which is edutainment for pre-schoolers. It generated controversy among Pooh afficianados for replacing Christopher Robin with a spunky little red-haired girl named Darby.

No word yet on what direction this new Winnie the Pooh movie will take. Will it be a for-real animated film, made by the Feature Animation Division, or a "doesn't count" animated film, made by the TV animation division? It's slated for a release in 2011, so we'll find out as the date draws closer.

And that's not all! Following the model of George Lucas and his Star Wars Celebrations (i.e. the official Star Wars conventions), Disney is planning their first ever official convention!

See, back in February, Disney started their official fan club for grown-up Disney fans called D23. "D" for "Disney" and "23" for the Walt Disney Company having been founded in 1923.

And, September 10-13, they're having their first official DisneyCon, the D23 Expo. It's all down in Anaheim, the home of Disneyland.

So that's what Disney's up to!