Oh, God, Tim Burton...you're killing me!

For serious...I know his new character posters for his upcoming film Alice in Wonderland are all over the internet, but my God. They are GORGEOUS. Just GORGEOUS.





Trust me, I am VERY excited about this adaptation. Mm MMMM.

Let's See How This Works...

Here's the deal: I don't really know what's going on with this blog. I know I like the idea I have for it (of cataloging things I love and things I discover; of having that sort of directory all in one place) I'm just not sure how to organize it in a fun, appealing, unique kind of way. You can see I've kind of got some categories already started with the Movie Spotlight and the Cool Comic of the Month. I want to keep these going from now on. I think I'll also have music and book Spotlights, as well as some other things I come up with along the way.

A lot of this goes back to my love of lists that I discussed in the first entry. If I can label something I can categorize it and then easily go back and find it should I so desire. With that handy little label tool this blog has, it makes that all the more fun and easy to do. The tricky part is just my lack of experience - I've tried listing things I love in the past in notebooks and such, but never in this manner and on this scale. We'll see how it pans out. For now I'm just cruising nice and easy along the way. We'll just have to see what happens from here...

It's going to be an ADVENTUUUURE!

Pride of Baghdad

So, Borders sent me a 40% off coupon I just couldn't resist and I have to say I'm glad I didn't. While at the store tonight I stumbled upon a couple of different comics I thought looked really interesting, so went ahead and bought both. The first was "Pride of Baghdad" written by Brian K. Vaughan with art by Niko Henrichon. The second was "The Filth" written by Grant Morrison with penciling by Chris Weston and ink by Gary Erskine. After I got home I started and finished "Pride" and wow. It was really lovely.

It's based on the true story about four lions that escaped the Baghdad Zoo in 2003 after an American bombing raid. This is the illustrated story of their brief journey into freedom as told from their perspective. While the story was satisfying, I have to say I'm more in love with the art. It's gorgeous. See:









Stunning, right? The colors are just so lush, perhaps, is the word I'm looking for. Well, lush in some panels and very subdued in others. It all works out to illustrate what is already a great story in a really delightful way. I could really just sit and look at the pages in this comic for days. At some point in the near future I'll see if "The Filth" turns out to be as good a time as "Pride of Baghdad" was.

In other news about things I'm reading: I'm a bit further into An Arsonist's Guide to Writers Homes in New England by Brock Clarke and I've started to reread Lolita by Vladimir Nabakov. After those are finished up it's on to Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow and whatever is next on my book club's agenda after Lolita.

Happy reading!

Movie Spotlight: Gretchen

Long time, no blog! But I'm back with a movie rec I just couldn't resist. The other day I recorded a movie called Gretchen thinking (thanks to the description: Loner girl meets underachieving boy who opens up her mind) it would be some cheesy Donnie Darko spin-off I hadn't heard of. Boy, was I wrong. It turned out to be quite the gem of a film.

It's about a 17 year old girl named, can you guess? Gretchen, who must have some form of autism because she's just that inept at dealing with people in social situations. She also has the worst taste in clothes (even if the movie does take place in the 80's, which isn't 100% clear) and boys, tending towards those even more bizarre than she. One boy in particular, Ricky, catches her eye and when Gretchen catches Ricky macking with another girl, Gretchen's resulting behavior sends her on a whirlwind adventure that takes her to an "emotional growth boarding school," a really lame rave, her long lost father, and eventually jail.

The best part about all this is Gretchen, herself - she's basically a female version of Napoleon Dynamite. But the movie on the whole is like if you took Napoleon Dynamite and gave it the gravity of Me and You and Everyone We Know, because the movie is really more about Gretchen's attempts at relating to other people then it is about Gretchen just being ridiculous.

I was really surprised, and in a totally pleasant way, by Gretchen. I kind of want to show it to everyone I know, but I can't find it anywhere. I can't even find a trailer. But the Sundance site did have a clip from the movie, so here you go:



Gretchen was written and directed by Steve Collins and stars Courtney Davis and Stephen Root.