Some good, some bad.

Ho! It’s June already, and the general populace of Manchester are complaining that we “haven’t had much of a summer, have we?”, despite summer not officially having started yet. Nothing like a bit of positivity, eh?

Good things that have happened since my last post:

Went to visit the family, back in Yorkshire. Only a flying visit, but we managed to sneak in a trip to a small farm (the kind that lets you roam around and feed the animals) where we saw alpacas, dwarf horses and these strange emu-like birds that I can’t remember the name of for the life of me. Yes, I can. They’re called Reas, or Rheas. I remember because I had ‘Road to Hell’ stuck in my head for hours afterwards. Until about 8pm, actually, where it was replaced by the tunes of Twisted Wheel and The Pigeon Detectives, opening the refurbished Bridlington Spa. Fairly decent music, not really my thing but I always appreciate live music anyway. Tinitus rules!

Tuesday night, I went with some friends to see The Weakerthans at Manchester’s Academy 3. They played a real mellow set, with nobody in the crowd doing anything other than a little light swaying, but that’s their thing (I think). “Everybody have good time” as the Russian M.A.S.K. agent would say. The support act was brilliant as well. If you ever get the chance to check out Dawn Landes, I highly recommend it. Very stripped-down songwriting, sweet songs and she’s very nice as a person, to boot. I bought her CD from the merch stall, and I was surprised to find her actually selling me the disc personally.

Now… Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I wanted to like this, God knows I did. I’m a huge fan of the first three films and although my expectations were low, my hopes were high. It came in at around the same level of enjoyment as Independence Day did. A fun enough spectacle, but at least it’s not part of a series I love. Wait… it is.

Oh, hell.

It falls into every blockbuster convention as if somebody had put a thin covering of leaves over a hole just in front of a great, original idea. It currently is trying to claw its way out, but, as the withered corpses of Attack of the Clones and X-Men 3 would suggest, it’s not worth it. You’re done, Indy.

There are some redeeming features. The effects are great, and LeBeouf’s performance is miles better than the rest of the cast. But, you watch Raiders and tell me how much ILM had to do to enhance that movie. This series should be about running, fighting, exploring and witty lines. … Skull has these things, but in such a different way that it’s just not right. Compare Ford and Blanchett trading barbs at the start (or middle, or end) to Ford and Paul Freeman in Raiders‘ classic bar scene. The dialogue just doesn’t compare, nor do the actors, as convincing characters. Ford seems to have lost all of his subtlety.

Such a shame. But life goes on.

Good film news… my buddy Scott O Brown has recently had his comic Atlantis Rising optioned by Dreamworks! It’s not the most red-hot news right now, since it was posted in April, but I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned it yet. Here’s the news item. I’m currently working with Scott on a project we’re both really excited about, and hopefully I’ll be blogging the hell out of it shortly! While I’m talking about Mr Brown, why not vote for his Zuda webcomic Red Ice, currently vying for a place in the winners’ circle.

Right, back to the work. Zippedy-doo-dah.