It's Monday, therefore I am
May. 19th, 2003 12:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kyburgWent and saw X2 with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
unclejimbo Friday night - should have known then I'd get little to no sleep all weekend. Wonderful movie. Will go see it again - and want on DVD ASAP.
However.
Shoot me if you wish, but I just don't like X-Men comic books. Actually, my gripe with them is the same gripe I have with all of American comics - they are products of their market. The writing is often simple hackery with delusions of credibility and the backstories are doubletalk explaining doubletalk. Not always...but too often for my comfort level. This sort of thing often underscores my preference for manga and anime - in those markets, backstory is often simple, elegant and consistent - even if beyond the realm of believability (hey, if trees can fly and cabbits turn into spaceships, what else do you want me to swallow whole?).
Artwork? Okay. I love Alex Ross. Don't ask me about anyone else.
American comics often start with the barest of premises and then have to backfill - with predictable gaps of credibility, let alone a lack of just plain Good. Yes, I will read them, enjoy them and put them aside and likely never pick said book up again. Jim leaves them in the bathroom. That's plenty of time for me to get them read.
This X2 movie, though - the concept is working very well, as long as they don't overdo it. Since they are working with a well-established property, the backstory is more easily handled, ignored or just not used. The production values are outstanding, but not overpowering. The casting is equal parts inspired and anticipated; spot-on performances, masterfully directed. I never thought I'd be happy to see Magneto execute a perfect jailbreak - but I was...I loved Nightcrawler and as I think about the film, he's the one who gets most of my musing. Halle Berry got a whole lot more screen time. Well, that's clear - thumbs up, it was nice to see the work on Storm, thumbs down, Cyclops came off a total prick with little other screen time to balance it. Wolverine got just enough screen time...and the film had the best darn CAT I've seen in a long time.
Patrick Stewart was practically perfect in every way.
This is not the comic books. Think of this like you would a crazy anime TV spinoff from your favorite OAV - same names, same faces, different stories - and it goes down better. I like what Wolverine wears in the movies. Oh very yes.
Okay, I'll see the Matrix when I can. When I want to watch pretty pictures and so forth. I'm withbigbigtruck. I don't need to be in the theater to chew the meaning behind it all - that's better spent with friends, warmed cognac and conversation.
That was Friday night.
Saturday? We hit the road to get to Hemet by 10:00. Waking the dead, getting showers, fed and off the computer, we left the hotel about 9:15 and I was certain we were going to be major league late...but taking the 91 all the way through, we arrived only about twenty minutes behind schedule. It's a white-knuckler, but it worked - and we took Mom out for her Mother's Day, which was another 45 minutes further east to Cabazon, where we shopped. Ate. Bought stuff. Drove back, picked up the dog and went home.
Then, we went to Home Depot to buy all the things on the parts list for Cedric to upgrade our electrical service. Suffice it to say, I have never bought such an assortment of strange metal parts in my life - most of them conduit and channels. A solid copper pole about as tall as I am. I now know far more about electrical parts than I bargained for - but three of the parts turned into a treasure hunt on Sunday. Saturday, we fell into our bed dead-tired, and I really hated getting Jim up the next day. We were late to brunch with Sis, I admit it - and I really hate being late - we had to drive the truck over because she had a pair of end tables for us, plus the lawnmower. The truck no longer does highway speeds, sad to say, so I had to bail and take surface streets over, making us even later. BAH.
We did get there, we did get all the stuff and went did get to brunch, but I was released early to go find the remaining parts at Home Depot in Industry. I took advantage and bought additional things such as shovels, rakes and so forth - but it took me until 3:00 PM to get home. Sis and her family took Jim with them back to the house where they had enjoyed seeing the house in all its diamond-in-the-rough state, and it passed with flying colors.
But Jim went to work without a nap and I sat down to play with my Gameboy...and I woke up starving two hours later. Making myself get up and go to the market, then making myself dinner, doing dishes, laundry and then preparing a vegetarian dish for potluck the next day, I laid a ceramic bowl on top of the still-hot electric element and voila! Burned my hand when I picked it up. I have blisters on the inside of my middle finger on my left hand, with a bandage on top of them now. What a dork. Damn, that stung!
This morning, I'm working, keeping on top of contractors, after stopping by the house to feed the puppy, play with her a bit and try to reassure her I'm not going to disappear again. It'll be better when we are all home together again - and that still looks to be June 7th. Keep your fingers crossed.
I want some ice cream.
unclejimbo Friday night - should have known then I'd get little to no sleep all weekend. Wonderful movie. Will go see it again - and want on DVD ASAP.However.
Shoot me if you wish, but I just don't like X-Men comic books. Actually, my gripe with them is the same gripe I have with all of American comics - they are products of their market. The writing is often simple hackery with delusions of credibility and the backstories are doubletalk explaining doubletalk. Not always...but too often for my comfort level. This sort of thing often underscores my preference for manga and anime - in those markets, backstory is often simple, elegant and consistent - even if beyond the realm of believability (hey, if trees can fly and cabbits turn into spaceships, what else do you want me to swallow whole?).
Artwork? Okay. I love Alex Ross. Don't ask me about anyone else.
American comics often start with the barest of premises and then have to backfill - with predictable gaps of credibility, let alone a lack of just plain Good. Yes, I will read them, enjoy them and put them aside and likely never pick said book up again. Jim leaves them in the bathroom. That's plenty of time for me to get them read.
This X2 movie, though - the concept is working very well, as long as they don't overdo it. Since they are working with a well-established property, the backstory is more easily handled, ignored or just not used. The production values are outstanding, but not overpowering. The casting is equal parts inspired and anticipated; spot-on performances, masterfully directed. I never thought I'd be happy to see Magneto execute a perfect jailbreak - but I was...I loved Nightcrawler and as I think about the film, he's the one who gets most of my musing. Halle Berry got a whole lot more screen time. Well, that's clear - thumbs up, it was nice to see the work on Storm, thumbs down, Cyclops came off a total prick with little other screen time to balance it. Wolverine got just enough screen time...and the film had the best darn CAT I've seen in a long time.
Patrick Stewart was practically perfect in every way.
This is not the comic books. Think of this like you would a crazy anime TV spinoff from your favorite OAV - same names, same faces, different stories - and it goes down better. I like what Wolverine wears in the movies. Oh very yes.
Okay, I'll see the Matrix when I can. When I want to watch pretty pictures and so forth. I'm with
bigbigtruck. I don't need to be in the theater to chew the meaning behind it all - that's better spent with friends, warmed cognac and conversation.That was Friday night.
Saturday? We hit the road to get to Hemet by 10:00. Waking the dead, getting showers, fed and off the computer, we left the hotel about 9:15 and I was certain we were going to be major league late...but taking the 91 all the way through, we arrived only about twenty minutes behind schedule. It's a white-knuckler, but it worked - and we took Mom out for her Mother's Day, which was another 45 minutes further east to Cabazon, where we shopped. Ate. Bought stuff. Drove back, picked up the dog and went home.
Then, we went to Home Depot to buy all the things on the parts list for Cedric to upgrade our electrical service. Suffice it to say, I have never bought such an assortment of strange metal parts in my life - most of them conduit and channels. A solid copper pole about as tall as I am. I now know far more about electrical parts than I bargained for - but three of the parts turned into a treasure hunt on Sunday. Saturday, we fell into our bed dead-tired, and I really hated getting Jim up the next day. We were late to brunch with Sis, I admit it - and I really hate being late - we had to drive the truck over because she had a pair of end tables for us, plus the lawnmower. The truck no longer does highway speeds, sad to say, so I had to bail and take surface streets over, making us even later. BAH.
We did get there, we did get all the stuff and went did get to brunch, but I was released early to go find the remaining parts at Home Depot in Industry. I took advantage and bought additional things such as shovels, rakes and so forth - but it took me until 3:00 PM to get home. Sis and her family took Jim with them back to the house where they had enjoyed seeing the house in all its diamond-in-the-rough state, and it passed with flying colors.
But Jim went to work without a nap and I sat down to play with my Gameboy...and I woke up starving two hours later. Making myself get up and go to the market, then making myself dinner, doing dishes, laundry and then preparing a vegetarian dish for potluck the next day, I laid a ceramic bowl on top of the still-hot electric element and voila! Burned my hand when I picked it up. I have blisters on the inside of my middle finger on my left hand, with a bandage on top of them now. What a dork. Damn, that stung!
This morning, I'm working, keeping on top of contractors, after stopping by the house to feed the puppy, play with her a bit and try to reassure her I'm not going to disappear again. It'll be better when we are all home together again - and that still looks to be June 7th. Keep your fingers crossed.
I want some ice cream.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-05-19 01:44 pm (UTC)I have got to cut back on the caffeine!
no subject
Date: 2003-05-19 03:35 pm (UTC)How I Know I'm Real Old, pt. 2,200: I took one look at Jean's haircut and thought, "Honey, you do that yourself?"
no subject
Date: 2003-05-19 07:59 pm (UTC)X2 goodness
Date: 2003-05-19 08:30 pm (UTC)I'm not sure how he was originally written, since i've not been an X-men fan long or a regualar reader.
Re: X2 goodness
Date: 2003-05-20 04:47 pm (UTC)Needless to say, she was thrilled with the movie. She's also a Catholic convert - and if the movies plan to follow the comic book canon, Nightcrawler ends up a priest. Think that might work for you?