Yellowstoned

I'm still recuperating from a week in Yellowstone; I road-tripped with the boys there. They had a blast, although it was a helluva drive (all told, I drove >3700 miles, round trip!) But I thought it was worth it for the boys to get a sense of just how big this country is. I've been out west before, but have never driven the distance. Anyway, they loved it, had a lot of fun. We saw bison, elk, ospreys, coyotes, ravens, grebes, etc. I heard a pack of wolves one morning, too. Good times! B1 really loved the geysers and hot springs, was fascinated by them. I took over 1000 pix with my Nikon, while B1 took lots of shots with his own camera. Yellowstone was beautiful, although the ghostly remains of trees from the '88 wildfire were all over the place. That must have been one serious conflagration, because you could see those dead trees amid the sea of green, and some hillsides and mountain faces were still on that long, slow road to recovery.

Butterflying

Had a butterfly land on me yesterday. Butterflies love landing on me. B1 pointed it out, said "Daddy, there's a butterfly on you!" It hung out on my jacket for a bit, before flying off and then briefly landing on my back, and then flitting away. Go figure.

Avenge Me!

I took the boys to see "The Avengers" over last weekend -- so, that makes it the first time since the original "Star Wars" movies that I've seen a movie three times on the big screen. I just wanted them to be able to see it on the big screen, with the great sound. They enjoyed it, although they still relate more to the animated version I've showed them on DVD.

Speaking of the movie, I saw the drugstore clerk again, and mentioned having seen the movie. He waxed lyrical about it, particularly about the Hulk, breathlessly speculated that the sequel would feature more Hulk. He knew his Marvel, though, since we were talking about the Thanos cameo at the end, and what that would mean for the sequel (in a word, trouble -- watch out, Avengers! Thanos will fuck you UP!) I'm kinda hoping Kang appears at some point -- Kang is one of my favorite villains, and was always getting after the Avengers. Ultron could be a good one, too, if they did it right. Or Graviton. Anyway, we'll see. I just hope the makers of the movie are able to mine what made the first one great and run with that in the sequel.

Eclipsed

B1 was really stoked about the partial eclipse last night, and more so that I was able to snap a few pictures of it (below). He was thrilled by that, and I was happy that I was actually able to see it, given how low in the sky it was. One of the advantages of living in a high-rise! The ghost image was from my double-paned windows, alas. But the image of the eclipse came through very nicely.

Off to the Races

I saw that news blurb about how more non-white babies are being born than white babies and grimaced. The people saddled with racism are going to be having a field day with that, going apeshit as they fret about this. Between that and everything else that's dragged the GOP into looneyland, it's not going to be pretty. Forget notions of E Pluribus Unum and what-not; no, Whitey is gonna be going crazier than usual over this latest demographic trend, with doubtless more strident calls to save "the white race" from the non-white hordes. Lordy.

And with Obama as President, it's going to be even worse, in terms of the tone of the rhetoric of the Right. Not pretty. It's embarrassing to think that racism would still be part of people's mental makeup in the 21st Century. Like when you think of all the things a person has to face in this century, all the things to deal with, being a racist is even more pathetic -- in 1912 or 1812, I can see it, but in 2012? Embarrassing as hell. And this latest news is going to fan the fires of those rearguard racists. Fear is at the heart of all racism (and, really, all conservative politics -- hell, that's been borne out in research).

Speaking of fear, the city's all aflutter over the NATO Summit, which is starting today. Supposedly thousands of protesters have bused into the city over the past couple of days, and the city's on alert to make sure nothing happens. We'll see if anything does. I'm thinking it'll be a tempest in a teapot, honestly; if this were Berlin or Brussels, I could imagine a lot of fervent protest about NATO, but in Chicago? Honestly? I don't see it really happening. But we'll see, I guess. The summit's supposed to be all weekend.

Avengers: Animated

Having "Avengers" on the brain since watching the movie a couple of times (yeah, I saw it again, and liked it as much the second time!) I picked up the "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" animated series (four volumes, Season 1), and have enjoyed it (as have my boys). B1 likes Cap and Hawkeye in particular, while B2 likes Hulk. Thor, my favorite Avenger, is well-represented in it. The show is entertaining, mixing bang-up action with nice, drawn-out  narrative arcs that are atypical in American animated shows. I appreciate that, and the writing is good -- it doesn't have the gravitas of the Justice League series from years ago, but it has good animation and entertaining banter between the characters. There are great lines that are just funny, and good battle sequences. They may not be as perfectly drawn and kinetically awesome as the best of the DC animated shows, they are still fun to watch. There's a scene when Thor and Wasp confront MODOK, and it cracks me up -- Thor is transfixed by MODOK's appearance, repeatedly commenting on his giant head even as he's fighting him. Cracks me up. Anyway, the show is way better than I expected it to be. I'm enjoying it, which means it's likely to be canceled soon, given that any show I like tends to end up canceled. Marvel has been hit-or-miss with its animated fare, unlike DC, who had Bruce Timm to anchor their productions, but this Avengers series is definitely good stuff.

Her Radiance?

Okay, so this commercial just freaked me out. This chick just gains these godlike powers to blink out of existence everybody who's in her way? Creep macking on her? *POOF* People ahead of her in line at the club? *POOF* Chicks talking to the guy she's set her sights on? *POOF* The blithe way she just strolls up and says "Hi" to that guy, after all of these people she's evaporated? The guy should be freaked out and asking whether she's some monstrous alien and/or goddess of death or something. And what also bugs me: she deletes the people waiting in line BEHIND her, too. WTF? Why?

Avengers Assembled

I saw "The Avengers" last night, and was greatly impressed! It's the best blockbuster I've seen in years. It's been a long time since I've been that impressed with one of those big budget kinds of enterprises, but this one delivered. And that's in spite of Joss Whedon's screenwriting, which I'm never fond of -- but I have to give him credit for this one -- it definitely delivered the goods. I saw the 2D version with the Sony digital imaging, which was incredibly crisp, breathtakingly clear. The movie fired cleanly on all cylinders, even with a thinly written plot (and, to be honest, there was very much a sense of stretching a pretty thin concept very far to hold it together, but the result, rather than a mess, was something snare drum-tight). The actors carried much of the load -- I have to credit the whole cast for making it work, for filling in the weaknesses within the story with good performances all around.

But the movie itself was just literal dynamite -- exhilarating and fun. I was never bored watching it, despite it being at least two hours long. It all worked. Loki was well-played as the villain, and all the heroes did their parts. The tech components were dazzling -- the SHIELD Helicarrier was impressive as hell. The CGI guys earned their bones in this movie.

The jewel in the CGI crown was the Hulk, who was impressive as hell. I've never been a fan of the Hulk, but they absolutely made every scene with the Hulk sizzle, as he's bashing the hell out of whatever's in his way, whether it's Thor or Loki or alien hordes. It was very impressive, and they even gave Hulk the best comedic moments of it (including a laugh-out-loud beatdown of Loki that had me howling).

I loved the Avengers comic as a kid, so I was really worried that they'd butcher it on the big screen, but those worries were shelved by this movie, which couldn't fail to impress. Again, it's a blockbuster, so I watch it with "blockbuster rules" -- I'm not expecting Shakespeare when I watch a blockbuster, but I'm also very picky about blockbusters (for example, "Inception" actually bored the hell out of me, and I've groused about that before, although I seem to be the only person living who actually didn't love that movie) -- but "The Avengers" was just fabulous fun.

Of the actors, only Hemsworth's Thor felt like he was dragging a little, and even he grew on me throughout it. He looked the part, but I felt like he was behind the other actors in their portrayals of their respective heroes. Makes me laugh to see Black Widow supplant the Wasp as one of the founding members of the Avengers, and, of course, how Giant-Man is nowhere in the mix. I think those were good choices (and, besides, with Paltrow cameoing as Pepper, that's about as much WASP as one can take in a movie).

Anyway, I really enjoyed that movie on a level that I've not enjoyed blockbusters since I don't even know when. Well worth it. I'm gonna catch it again.

Oh, and the Thanos teaser at the end was even more fun. I actually exclaimed "Whoa!" out loud, and cackled.

Avenged Sevenfold

I think I may catch "The Avengers" after work tomorrow. I need to indulge my long-dormant Marvel fanboy self. I collected a lot of AVENGERS, back in the day, most of which I still have, stashed away in storage. I dug some of them out, let B1 check out a few issues. Amazing to think that they're from 1977 -- they're 35 years old! OMG! I always took very good care of my old comics (although I lost about 2/3 of my childhood comics collection when my folks had carelessly left them in a musty basement in one of their properties when I was away at college. Thankfully, the ones kept in Mylar bags had weathered that debacle, and I was able to recover them, once I'd realized where my folks had put them).

Anyway, I figure I'll catch the flick, since it looks like it should be halfway interesting. I really hope they do a sequel with either Ultron or the Absorbing Man or Taskmaster (yeah, right -- no chance of that). That would be fun. The problem with doing superhero movies is for all the non-fans of comics, they have to ladle in the exposition so the people know what the hell is going on, who Villain X is. They'll probably do Kang or Mandarin as the villain in any sequel.

Hulking

I had to share an amusing exchange at the drugstore: ahead of me in line was this guy talking to this tattooed gay Latino, who was talking excitedly about the upcoming "Avengers" movie, and how he was ready to watch the Hulk kick everybody's ass. As an old-school Marvel fan, I had to chime in that I thought Iron Man could probably take out the Hulk, but the gay guy would have none of it, saying "The Hulk kicks EVERYONE'S ass! Iron Man! Superman! Thor! Everybody! And do you know why?" and I said "Why?" (passing over that Superman's from DC, not Marvel) and he said "Because he's FULL of pure emotion. He's pure, unstoppable emotion." and I said "Sure, when he gets pissed off enough, Hulk can beat anybody, but Thor could fight Hulk to a standstill. He's the Thunder God. He's got Mjolnir, his Uru hammer." and that gave the Latino pause, and he said "Mmm. Yes, Thor versus the Hulk WOULD be a very good fight. Hmm. I like Thor." and I said "He does have a certain Asgardian charm." and the guy said "You know what it is about Thor? It's the CAPE. I loooooove his cape. But I love the Hulk MORE. He's got SUCH big muscles!"

Anyway, had to share that before I forget it, as it was an amusing Chicago type exchange. I had to pipe up, since it's so rare to actually get to talk up comic bookage these days! Baha!

NATO, Running, Mannn

Haven't been on in a few days, alternately too busy, too bored, etc. to post. May's here already? WTF? I have this weird sense of time speeding along and dragging, as well. Can't believe summer's almost here. The city's getting all squirrelly about the upcoming NATO summit, expecting protests and what-not. I can't honestly imagine much happening, despite the breathless intonations of worry by the local newsies, etc. I mean, of all the things for Americans (particularly Chicagoans) to riot about, is NATO really high on that list? I'm just not seeing it. I mean, May Day passed comparatively quietly over here, so, barring something extraordinary, I'm thinking NATO will come and go quietly as well. If we were in Berlin, I might say there's a chance of big protests, but in the Midwest? Nah.

Blogger changed their format, bending the knee to their Google masters. In making it more Google-friendly than it was before, they've altered the layout of their site, which kinda bugs me. It feels less user-friendly to me. The posted entries look the same, of course, but the setup isn't quite right.

Did I mention that Exene got into the NY Marathon. She's predictably stoked about that. She'll be running three marathons in a row this fall, like September, October, November. That's in addition to doing an Iron Man triathlon this summer. That cray-cray. One of the many reasons for divorcing her was the endless hours she spent running, trusting me to work full-time and tend the boys while she was off running. Running is a hobby for those with a lot of time on their hands, without a lot of obligations (or with a partner willing to take care of the obligations while that person is off running -- especially if a person is doing serious distance-running, where the mileage piles up). Because in addition to the running, there's also the down-time as the running gets back and rests after their run. She's hoping to get B1 to run, to repeat her own pathology in him, but I don't think he'll be into it, in truth. Because it's not actually fun. You ever see runners at marathons? Even the elite ones look like they're in agony, let alone the tens of thousands of punters who are running in their wake.

Although this is definitely NOT Exene, I have noticed runner chicks who run while fully made up. That seems just insane to me. Makeup while running?? WTF? It looks bizarre. My nickname for them is "Spiffs."

Conandrum

So, I watched "Conan the Barbarian" on DVD, surprised to see that there is some extended footage in this one, something like four minutes -- first time I'd ever seen those scenes, which had been cut in the US release I'd seen a zillion times. The two main additions are a chat about springtime between Conan and Subotai, and a kind of trippy extension of the Princess loping around with Conan in the Mountain of Power, on his way to dispatching Thulsa Doom. While the former was kind of startling, the latter was really odd. There is a sense that the Princess has some serious Father issues, since she goes from leaving her father, King Osric, to traipse after Thulsa Doom and be his bride/concubine/whatever, and then, realizing that Doom is going to do her in, that spell is broken and then she's apparently enthralled by Conan -- not exactly interacting with him in the scenes, but sort of just ambling around nearby, and semi-worshipping him, until he takes her by the hand and carries her over the rocky terrain, away from the ruin of Doom's temple. It's really odd, more so since I'd never seen this extended version before -- the Princess's presence in it is distracting, since she was always more than a little loopy, and she's clearly loopy, still (and, since, in the deleted scenes, we see the apparent assassination of King Osric by his men -- this doesn't make it in the final movie, it's at least assumed that the Princess is going to be Conan's lady friend). Trippy stuff, and I can see why they clipped it from the American release -- I mean, I always found it odd how she basically vanished after the Battle of the Mounds, but this extended version is bizarre -- imagine the Princess doing a silent interpretive dance sequence while Conan is going about his bloody business, and you'll get a sense of the vibe her presence in the final scene conveys.

Anyway, besides that, it was fun to watch again -- one of the things I always enjoyed about the movie is director John Milius's meticulous attention to little details, how he showed so much and didn't tell -- definitely a hallmark of him having written so many screenplays in his day, having that sense of how to frame a scene. That is one of the things that brings such satisfaction to the movie. For example, in two key sequences:

Conan at the Temple Gathering

When Conan is in disguise, trying to sneak into Doom's temple, there is a great sequence here, where you see Rexor and Thorgrim come out like they're looking for somebody. Already, the trap is springing on Conan, but it's very much shown without being told. Conan keeps brandishing the jade snake decoration from the Serpent Tower, thinking it's his pass for getting deep into the place, but a temple guard takes it, and you see him walking through the foreground with the decoration, getting the attention of Rexor and Thorgrim. All while the music is playing, and you can see the jaws of the trap closing in on clueless Conan, but it's done purely through imagery. Love how that scene sets up.

People Stew

The revelation that the Set cultists are cannibals is again just shown, without any dialogue -- you see the people bodies hanging in the hellish kitchen of Doom, without too much attention being drawn to it. And the "People Stew" is poured, and these bearers then carefully walk the glop up to the Orgy Room. The attention to continuity is marvelous here, as Milius is very attentive to this, showing the progression of those bearers all the way there, and even showing them leaving -- the effect of this is to integrate the pacing of the scene like clockwork, to create a very real sense of presence. He didn't have to do that, he could have just cut to the Orgy Room, but he actually walked those bearers all the way there, and then on their merry way, their task accomplished. It's very precise, and it's very well done (and from a production standpoint, it reflects an attention to detail that most directors would finesse).

Unfortunately, I can't find either of these clips on YouTube to illustrate it, but if you watch it, you'll see. Milius sweats the details, and I think those details are one of the real delights of the movie from the viewpoint of the audience. He does that throughout the movie. Continuity breeds credibility in moviemaking.

Barbarous

I was kind of pissed the other day, because I was trying to find a DVD for "Conan the Barbarian" (1982) -- the REAL one, and all I could find was the remake. Now, I haven't seen the remake, but I highly doubt that it could hold a candle to the original movie. In the larcenous drive to remake movies, when I'd heard they were doing that with "Conan," that felt the most quixotic to me, simply because the original has its own peculiar alchemy to it. Although critics sniffed about the violence and it having fascist overtones (or undertones) and saw something sinister in Austrian Arnold beheading Black James Earl Jones, to me, it's just a good fantasy movie. One of the best, in truth. From 1982 until 2001 (when LOTR came out), "Conan" reigned as one of the only true successes in fantasy moviemaking -- it had the right epic feel, had great battle scenes, and even its neo-Nietzschean ethos fits like a gauntlet. The movie is fun. Thulsa Doom is a great villain, Arnold is great as Conan (even his character's silences are kind of endearing and perfect -- I mean, the guy IS a barbarian, right?) Subotai, Valeria, Subotai, Thorgrim (sp), Conan's dad, Mako as the Wizard, even Max Von Sydow phoning it in as King Osric (if memory serves) -- all of it flows really well together. The deliberately low-key way they did magic was an inspired touch, and, I think, it one of the things that lent "Conan" its special character -- the magic is there, but it's done in such a low-key, matter-of-fact way, it works perfectly with the story, without causing a distraction.

I first saw this movie as a kid, with my family, in a drive-in theater! How retro is that? But my liking of it didn't stem from some nostalgia for that; rather, I appreciated it more over time, as I'd caught it over the years. Maybe the great soundtrack is part of it (heh, I actually have the soundtrack on CD), conveying that grand scope that's vital to any fantasy movie.

My only complaint is that the end doesn't quite work -- after the high point of the Battle of the Mounds, it's kind of a letdown when Conan finally dispatches Thulsa Doom. All of that buildup throughout the movie, and then the final confrontation is kind of meh, especially after all that had come before it. But it's only a slight complaint; I love the movie.

So, I'd had it on VHS over the years, and, when I replaced that with a DVD player, I hadn't gotten around to getting a DVD copy of "Conan," figuring I'd eventually get there. Then that damned remake came out, and now that's displaced the far worthier original -- for a whole generation of kids, THAT is "Conan," now. Ridiculous! Fortunately, I was able to get it from Amazon, and made a point to, before it somehow disappeared. I'm looking forward to catching it again.