Last night I saw Terence Malick‘s acclaimed film Tree of Life. The beautiful movie amazingly mystified and produced utter boredom at the same time. Magnificent and often emotionally detached, Malick created an intriguing mediation on the cycle of life; one which I’m not sure I ever care to see again but at the same time I think highly of… perhaps. I know, quite the conundrum and somewhat surprising from me since I usually have a definitive opinion on damn near everything.

Despite the film’s long emotionless periods, the acting was exemplary especially from Jessica Chastain and Brad Pitt, who also served as one of the producers.

And that is where we come to the unexpected connection.

Deciding I needed a more traditional narrative structure and the fact that X-Men: First Class premieres next week, I watched Kick-Ass this morning. Helmed by Matthew Vaughn (director of the forthcoming X film, natch) and based on the twisted graphic novel by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr, Kick-Ass posits a vision of what if an ordinary geek decided to become a super-hero. While I’d read the book years ago, I had never seen the lauded film version until this morning. (I know… I’ll turn my geek card in later. I swear.) I enjoyed Kick-Ass, though much like the original book, it entertained me but ultimately proved to be yet another nihilistic, Millar vision of super heroes.

So the connection? The opening credits roll on Kick-Ass: Lo and behold there’s Mr. Pitt again listed as one of the producers. (He’s produced 17 movies, several of which he doesn’t appear.) Beyond the fact that both Tree of Life and Kick-Ass might be classified as fantasies they couldn’t be much different. The former, a lyrical, haunting mediation on the nature of life and perhaps reality. The latter a bombastic mediation on the ugly nature of violence.

It all struck me as kind of odd in a cool, cosmic-balancing kind of way.

An Unexpected Brad Pitt Connection was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

[  Mood: Scared ]
[  Currently: Listening to the neighbourhood kids playing street hockey ]
We have all heard of the Nigerian Scam. You know, the one where a Nigerian Prince or a deposed government member of some nation you have barely heard of or someone related to one of them, is trying to get money out of the country. Or maybe they are trying to rightfully reclaim their fortune. The why doesn’t really matter. What matters is that they want you to help them. Your reward would be a cut of the millions this person was trying to shuttle out of Africa. All you needed to do was give him your bank account information.

And clearly it works, because they keep coming up with new variations every few months. And I have gotten all of them. But even I have to admit that the one below is a unique and clever.

Now you got to admit this is clever. They are clearly thinking about a new spin on the old scam, and perhaps a way to hit old victims again.

But again, it has all the earmarks of a scam.

1. It is not specifically addressed to me.

2. It uses the names of International organizations or business to gain credibility. (In this case the UN)

3. It uses ridiculous amounts of money as bait.

Caveat emailer. But these things wouldn’t work if their weren’t people out there who thought they could make a quick buck at the expense of "the man". As Mickey always said, "You can’t cheat an honest man."

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.

Green Lantern: Emerald Knights

Promo copy:

With stories by acclaimed writers including Geoff Johns, Alan Burnett and Dave Gibbons, this DC Universe Animated Original Movie explores the rich mythology of the Green Lantern universe through six interlocking chapters. While awaiting a battle with Krona, an ancient enemy of the Guardians of the Universe, Earth’s Green Lantern Hal Jordan, Kilowog, Sinestro and other members of the Green Lantern Corps recount their greatest adventures to new recruit Arisia – everything from tales of the first Lantern to the ominous events that led to the Corps’ Blackest Night! The power-packed voice cast includes Nathan Fillion, Jason Isaacs, Elisabeth Moss, Henry Rollins and Arnold Vosloo.

Special Features (blu ray only):

Sneak Peek at upcoming DC Universe animated movie “Batman: Year One”
Sneak Peek at “All-Star Superman"

Featurette:“Only the Bravest: Tales of The Green Lantern Corps”
Featurette: “Why Green Lantern Matters: The Talent of Geoff Johns"
Feature Film Commentary with Dan DiDio and Geoff Johns

Pod: “From Comic Book to Screen: Abin Sur”
Pod: “From Comic Book to Screen: Laira Omoto"
This short pod will take a peek into Geoff John’s Green Lantern Secret Origin book, which for the first time, showed fans what really happened to Abin Sur before he crashed landed on Earth, and passed on his ring to Hal Jordan.

Bruce Timm’s Picks:

-Excerpt from “The Siege of Starro! Part One” from “Batman: The Brave and The Bold”
-“Revenge of The Reach!” from “Batman: The Brave and The Bold”

Digital Comic: Green Lantern

Warner continues this annoying trend of blue ray-only bonus material. Some of us without a blu ray (or even an HD TV) might be interested in these extras.

The Company Men

Promo copy:

Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck) is living the proverbial American dream: great job, beautiful family, shiny Porsche in the garage. When corporate downsizing leaves him and co-workers Phil Woodward (Chris Cooper) and Gene McClary (Tommy Lee Jones) jobless, the three men are forced to re-define their lives as men, husbands and fathers.

Bobby soon finds himself enduring enthusiastic life coaching, a job building houses for his brother-in-law (Kevin Costner) that does not play to his executive skill set, and perhaps — the realization that there is more to life than chasing the bigger, better deal. With humor, pathos, and keen observation, writer-director John Wells (the creator of “ER”) introduces us to the new realities of American life.

Kill the Irishman

Promo copy:

Over the summer of 1976, thirty-six bombs detonated in the heart of Cleveland while a turf war raged between Irish mobster Danny Greene (Ray Stevenson) and the Italian mafia. Based on a true story, KILL THE IRISHMAN chronicles Greene’s heroic rise from a tough Cleveland neighborhood to become an enforcer in the local mob. Turning the tables on loan shark Shondor Birns (Christopher Walken) and allying himself with gangster John Nardi (Vincent D’Onofrio), Greene stops taking orders from the mafia and pursues his own power. Surviving countless assassination attempts from the mob and killing off anyone who went after him in retaliation, Danny Greene’s infamous invincibility and notorious fearlessness eventually led to the collapse of mafia syndicates across the U.S. and also earned him the status of the man the mob couldn’t kill.

Written and directed by Jonathan Hensleigh and also starring Val Kilmer, Paul Sorvino and Linda Cardellini, KILL THE IRISHMAN is inspired by Rick Porello’s true crime account “To Kill The Irishman: The War That Crippled The Mafia.”

DVDs received 5/23/11 was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

For the May Nexus Graphica column, I decided to forgo my usual monthly missives in favor of a column devoted to recent reads (and views). I reviewed four graphic novels (iZombie: Dead to the World, Stumptown Volume 1: The Case of the Girl Who Took her Shampoo (But Left her Mini), Bulletproof Coffin, and Buffalo Speedway Volume 2) and one DVD (Thor: Tales of Asgard).

Next month, I’ll return with a more traditionally Nexus Graphica-style piece.

A Little of This… A Little of That was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.

Robopocalypse
by Daniel H. Wilson

Promo copy:

In the near future, at a moment no one will notice, all the dazzling technology that runs our world will unite and turn against us. Taking on the persona of a shy human boy, a childlike but massively powerful artificial intelligence known as Archos comes online and assumes control over the global network of machines that regulate everything from transportation to utilities, defense and communication. In the months leading up to this, sporadic glitches are noticed by a handful of unconnected humans – a single mother disconcerted by her daughter’s menacing “smart” toys, a lonely Japanese bachelor who is victimized by his domestic robot companion, an isolated U.S. soldier who witnesses a ‘pacification unit’ go haywire – but most are unaware of the growing rebellion until it is too late.

When the Robot War ignites — at a moment known later as Zero Hour — humankind will be both decimated and, possibly, for the first time in history, united. Robopocalypse is a brilliantly conceived action-filled epic, a terrifying story with heart-stopping implications for the real technology all around us…and an entertaining and engaging thriller unlike anything else written in years.

DANIEL H. WILSON earned a Ph.D. in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University. He is the author of such nonfiction works as How to Survive a Robot Uprising. Wilson lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife and daughter.

Haven (Trial of Blood & Steel, Book 4)
by Joel Shepherd
Cover by David Palumbo

Promo copy:

The great powers of the Saalshen Bacosh are falling. The feudal army of the Regent Balthaar Arosh marches victorious across Rhodaan and Enora, determined to restore the old human ways that were abolished by the serrin of Saalshen two centuries before. The army of Lenayin marches in their wake, in shame. The greater battle was won, yet Lenayin’s part in it was defeat, their king slain, their warriors sent running from the field.

Sashandra Lenayin marches with her people, yet she sees the carnage the Regent’s armies are inflicting upon her former allies, and like most Lenays, she feels dishonored. Sasha leads three quarters of the army of Lenayin to defect and fight for Saalshen, leaving her brothers Koenyg and Myklas with the Verenthane hardliners to fight for the Regent.

All forces now converge on the city of Jahnd, an Enoran word meaning “Haven.” A city of humanity’s refugees in Saalshen, its serrin hosts have allowed it to build into a major power over the centuries, humankind’s only outpost in Saalshen. But the Saalshen Bacosh’s third province, the mountainous land of Ilduur, refuses to come to the aid of its neighbors and without it victory is impossible. Sasha must lead a delegation to the Ilduuri capital, to combat the xenophobic Ilduuri regime’s retreat into isolation, and convince the Ilduuri army to defy their own leaders and rise up in rebellion to fight a foreign war that most Ilduuris do not want.

To save Saalshen and all that she loves about Lenayin, Sasha must become a true Lenay warlord, feared and hated by her enemies, uncompromising and all conquering. But will her own people now inflict upon her one of her worst nightmares, by insisting that she, and not her brother Damon, should assume the Lenay throne and lead her people in the greatest battle that the land of Rhodia has ever seen?

Nights of Villjamur
by Mark Charan Newton
Cover by David Stevenson

Promo copy:

Beneath a dying red sun sits the proud and ancient city of Villjamur, capital of a mighty empire where humans coexist with the birdlike garda race, the reptilian rumel who can live for hundreds of years, and the eerie banshees whose forlorn cries herald death. But now all life is threatened by an encroaching ice age. Throngs of refugees gather outside the city gates, while within, tragedy forces the Emperor’s elder daughter, Jamur Rika, to assume the throne. Joined by her younger sister, Jamur Eir, the new queen takes pity on the common people—and takes counsel from dashing teacher Randur Estevu, who is not what he seems. Meanwhile, a grisly murder draws rumel investigator Rumex Jeryd into a web of corruption—and an obscene conspiracy that imperils the lives of Rika and Eir and the future of Villjamur itself. But far north, where the drawn-out winter has already begun, an even greater danger appears, against which all the empire’s military and magical power may be useless—a threat from another world.

The Scarab Path (Shadows of the Apt, Book 5)
by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Cover by Jon Sullivan

Promo copy:

The war with the Wasp Empire has ended in a bitter stalemate, and Collegium has nothing to show for it but wounded veterans. Cheerwell Maker finds herself crippled in ways no doctor can mend, haunted by ghosts of the past that she cannot appease, seeking for meaning in a city that no longer seems like home. The Empress Seda is regaining control over those imperial cities who refused to bow the knee to her, but she draws her power from something more sinister than mere armies and war machines. Only her consort, the former spymaster Thalric, knows the truth, and now the assassins are coming and he finds his life and his loyalties under threat yet again. Out past the desert of the Nem the ancient city of Khanaphes awaits them both, with a terrible secret entombed beneath its stones…

Books received 5/16/11 was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.

The War That Came Early: West and East
by Harry Turtledove
Cover by Carlos Beltran

Promo copy:

What if British prime minister Neville Chamberlain had defied Hitler? What if the Munich Accord had gone unsigned, and Nazi Germany had launched its bid for conquest sooner? How would World War II have unfolded—and with what consequences? Dean of alternate history Harry Turtledove has the stunning answers in his breathtaking sequel to Hitler’s War.

In the wake of Hitler’s bold invasion of Czechoslovakia, nations turn against nations, old enemies form new alliances, and ordinary men and women confront extraordinary life-and-death situations. An American marine falls in love with a Russian dancer in Japanese-held Singapore, as Chinese guerilla resistance erupts. A sniper on the frontlines of France finds a powerful new way to ply his deadly art—while a German assassin hunts him. In the icy North Atlantic, as a U-boat with a secret weapon wreaks havoc on British ships, occupying Nazi forces target Denmark. And in Germany, a stranded American woman encounters Hitler himself, as a Jewish family faces the rising tide of hatred. From Siberia to Spain, armies clash, sides are chosen, new weapons raise the deadly ante, and new strategies seek to break a growing stalemate. But one question hangs over the conflict from West to East: What will it take to bring America into this war?

Wayfinder
by C. E. Murphy

Promo copy:

THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE—IF IT DOESN’T KILL YOU FIRST

Lara Jansen is a truthseeker, gifted—or cursed—with the magical ability to tell honesty from lies. Once she was a tailor in Boston, but now she has crossed from Earth to the Barrow-lands, a Faerie world embroiled in a bloody civil war between Seelie and Unseelie. Armed with an enchanted and malevolent staff which seeks to bend her to its dark will, and thrust into a deadly realm where it’s hard to distinguish friend from foe, Lara is sure of one thing: her love for Dafydd ap Caerwyn, the Faerie prince who sought her help in solving a royal murder and dousing the flames of war before they consumed the Barrow-lands.

But now Dafydd is missing, perhaps dead, and the Barrow-lands are closer than ever to a final conflagration. Lara has no other choice: she must harness the potent but perilous magic of the staff and her own truthseeking talents, blazing a path to a long-forgotten truth—a truth with the power to save the Barrow-lands or destroy them.

The Measure of the Magic: Legends of Shannara
by Terry Brooks

Promo copy:

After more than three decades of captivating epic fantasy readers, the storytelling magic of New York Times bestselling author Terry Brooks’s Shannara saga continues to enthrall. Now the fascinating chronicle of Shannara’s prehistory reaches a thrilling new peak in the sequel to Bearers of the Black Staff.

For five hundred years, the survivors of the Great Wars lived peacefully in a valley sanctuary shielded by powerful magic from the blighted and dangerous outside world. But the enchanted barriers have crumbled, the borders have been breached by predators, and the threat of annihilation looms large once more. Sider Ament, bearer of the last black staff and its profound power, devoted his life to protecting the valley and its inhabitants—and, in his final moments, gave stewardship of the black staff to the young tracker Panterra Qu. Now the newly anointed Knight of the Word must take up the battle against evil wherever it threatens: from without, where an army of bloodthirsty trolls is massing for invasion; and from within, where the Elf king of Arborlon has been murdered, his daughter, Princess Phryne Amarantyne, stands accused, and a heinous conspiracy is poised to subjugate the kingdom. But even these will pale beside the most harrowing menace Panterra is destined to confront—a nameless, merciless figure who wanders the devastated land on a relentless mission: to claim the last black staff … and the life of he who wields it.

Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Conviction
by Aaron Allston
Cover by Ian Keltie

Promo copy:

Chief of State Natasi Daala has been overthrown, and the Jedi Order has taken control of the Galactic Alliance. But while the new governors dismantle Daala’s draconian regime, forces still loyal to the deposed official are mobilizing a counterstrike. And even the Jedi’s new authority may not be enough to save Tahiri Veila, the former Jedi Knight and onetime Sith apprentice convicted of treason for the killing of Galactic Alliance officer Gilad Pellaeon.

Meanwhile, Luke and Ben Skywalker are relentlessly pursuing Abeloth, the powerful dark-side entity bent on ruling the galaxy. But as they corner their monstrous quarry on the planet Nam Chorios, the two lone Jedi must also face the fury of the Sith death squadron bearing down on them. And when Abeloth turns the tables with an insidious ambush, the Skywalkers’ quest threatens to become a suicide mission.

Books received 5/15/11 Del Rey edition was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
Thanks to the Internet, I learned today

1. That I share the same birthday as Bea Arthur, Stephen Colbert, Mary Walsh and my school librarian.

2. That the guy who played Almanzo on Little House on the Prairie also was Hank Summers in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

3. That Almanzo, who used to look like this:

(Hence why I was going to marry him when I was 11 and watching reruns.)

Now looks like this:

4. Dean Butler, the actor who played Almanzo, now does cabaret. That is billed as perfect for Mother’s Day.

5. I now have no urge to marry Almanzo Wilder, and may never be able to look at the Little House Almanzo pre-pubescent dewey eyes love again.

6. Then again, maybe if I only look at this:

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.

Gordon’s War/Off Limits (Double Feature)

Promo copy:

Gordon’s War: Gordon (Paul Winfield, The Terminator) spent four years in Vietnam as a Green Beret fighting someone else’s battle … now he’s come back home to fight his own. He returns to a Harlem that has changed — drugs and prostitution have taken over his neighborhood, and his wife even overdosed from drugs. Along with his former army buddies, he takes on the Mob to wipe out the corruption that has taken over the city. Also starring Carl Lee (Superfly), Tony King (Bucktown) and singer Grace Jones (A View To A Kill). Directed by Ossie Davis (Cotton Comes To Harlem).

Off Limits: Being a cop is tough. But in war-torn Saigon in 1968, being a cop is crazy. Someone is brutally murdering Vietnamese prostitutes with children by American fathers, and plainclothes military cops Sgt. Buck McGriff (Willem Dafoe, Spider-Man) and Sgt. Albaby Perkins (Gregory Hines, The Cotton Club) are put on the case that no one wants solved. But things are never what they seem in ’Nam, including a novice nun (Amanda Pays), a deranged colonel (Scott Glenn) and a twisted trail of clues that takes McGriff and Perkins from back alleys to battlefields in search of a serial killer who’s ready to make them the next victims. Fred Ward, Keith David and David Alan Grier costar in this explosive action thriller.

This’ll be fun. I’ve never seen the nearly-legendary Gordon’s War.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon
by Peter David

Promo copy:

ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN …

All humankind was watching that fateful day in 1969. But only a handful knew the real mission behind America’s triumph in space. Now the treacherous Decepticons have set their sights on unearthing government secrets. The only hope of averting a crisis rests on the Autobots—yet who knows what remains in the shadows, hidden from man and machine?

The less I say about The Transformers movies and Michael Bay, the happier we’ll all be.

And speaking of Giant Robot flicks…

Crash And Burn/Robot Wars (Double Feature)

Promo copy:

It’s the year 2030, and man’s worst nightmares have become an oppressive reality in Crash And Burn. Big Brother has come to life in the form of Unicom, an all-powerful conglomerate that emerged in the wake of a devastating global economic collapse. A group of dissenters has surfaced to fight Unicom’s autocracy and stop the murderous Synthoid — a humanlike robot programmed to kill all those who pose a threat to the organization. Starring Paul Ganus, Megan Ward (Dark Skies), Bill Moseley and Ralph Waite (Cliffhanger), and directed by Charles Band.

The ultimate battle between metallic giants begins in Robot Wars when a malicious foreign dignitary hijacks the last mega-robot on Earth, the MRAS-2, and threatens to unleash its crushing powers against the people of the Eastern Alliance. There’s only one force magnificent enough to stop the MRAS-2 — a MEGA-1 robot hidden under the city. It’s up to a renegade pilot, his engineer and a brilliant archaeologist to revive the MEGA-1 and reestablish world peace. Starring Don Michael Paul (writer/director Half Past Dead), Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator) and Lisa Rinna (Melrose Place).

While I haven’t seen either one of these robot “epics,” I’m sure they’d match or surpass the script, acting, and direction quality of the first two Transformers. Oops.. said I wasn’t going to discuss the “T” word again. At least I didn’t directly accuse Michael Bay.

Stuff received 5/12/11 was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

Prior to The Steampunk Bible Austin release party event, S. J. Chambers interviewed me about Steampunk TV. She graciously posted the 3+ minute interview on the official Steampunk Bible site.

Additionally the site features images from the successful event itself. Good times were had by all.

From left to right: Liz Gorinsky, S. J. Chambers, Jess Nevins (standing), Michael Moorcock, and Rick Klaw.

Signing line was out the door…

More on the Steampunk Bible page.

Interview about Steampunk TV was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.

Embassytown
by China Miéville
Cover by David Stevenson

Promo copy:

China Miéville doesn’t follow trends, he sets them. Relentlessly pushing his own boundaries as a writer—and in the process expanding the boundaries of the entire field—with Embassytown, Miéville has crafted an extraordinary novel that is not only a moving personal drama but a gripping adventure of alien contact and war.

In the far future, humans have colonized a distant planet, home to the enigmatic Ariekei, sentient beings famed for a language unique in the universe, one that only a few altered human ambassadors can speak.

Avice Benner Cho, a human colonist, has returned to Embassytown after years of deep-space adventure. She cannot speak the Ariekei tongue, but she is an indelible part of it, having long ago been made a figure of speech, a living simile in their language.

When distant political machinations deliver a new ambassador to Arieka, the fragile equilibrium between humans and aliens is violently upset. Catastrophe looms, and Avice is torn between competing loyalties—to a husband she no longer loves, to a system she no longer trusts, and to her place in a language she cannot speak yet speaks through her.

Moon Over Soho
by Ben Aaronovitch
Cover by Wes Youssi

Promo copy:

BODY AND SOUL

The song. That’s what London constable and sorcerer’s apprentice Peter Grant first notices when he examines the corpse of Cyrus Wilkins, part-time jazz drummer and full-time accountant, who dropped dead of a heart attack while playing a gig at Soho’s 606 Club. The notes of the old jazz standard are rising from the body—a sure sign that something about the man’s death was not at all natural but instead supernatural.

Body and soul—they’re also what Peter will risk as he investigates a pattern of similar deaths in and around Soho. With the help of his superior officer, Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, the last registered wizard in England, and the assistance of beautiful jazz aficionado Simone Fitzwilliam, Peter will uncover a deadly magical menace—one that leads right to his own doorstep and to the squandered promise of a young jazz musician: a talented trumpet player named Richard “Lord” Grant—otherwise known as Peter’s dear old dad.

The War That Came Early: The Big Switch
by Harry Turtledove

Promo copy:

In this extraordinary World War II alternate history, master storyteller Harry Turtledove begins with a big switch: what if Neville Chamberlain, instead of appeasing Hitler, had stood up to him in 1938? Enraged, Hitler reacts by lashing out at the West, promising his soldiers that they will reach Paris by the new year. They don’t. Three years later, his genocidal apparatus not fully in place, Hitler has barely survived a coup, while Jews cling to survival. But England and France wonder whether the war is still worthwhile.

Weaving together a cast of characters that ranges from a brawling American fighter in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain to a woman who has seen Hitler’s evil face-to-face, Harry Turtledove takes us into a world shaping up very differently in 1941. The Germans and their Polish allies have slammed into the gut of the Soviet Union in the west, while Japan pummels away in the east. In trench warfare in France, French and Czech fighters are outmanned but not outfought by their Nazi enemy. Then the stalemate is shattered. In England, Winston Churchill dies in an apparent accident, and the gray men who walk behind his funeral cortege wonder who their real enemy is. The USSR, fighting for its life, makes peace with Japan—and Japan’s war with America is about to begin.

A sweeping saga of human passions, foolishness, and courage, of families and lovers and soldiers by choice and by chance, The Big Switch is a provocative, gripping, and utterly convincing work of alternate history at its best. For history buffs and fans of big, blood-and-guts fiction, Harry Turtledove delivers a panoramic clash of ideals as powerful as armies themselves.

Books received 5/7/11 Del Rey edition was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon