Where oh where can I get me one of these V “Hope” images? (Via Warren Ellis)

Speaking of V, yesterday being November the 5th meant it was Bonfire Night here in the UK, where we celebrate the death of failed “terrorist” Guy Fawkes (born here in York). How different things would have been if he’d have succeeded. To celebrate this fine occasion I did what all good British people do (or should) and watched V For Vendetta. I love Watchmen, but of the two I always preferred V, maybe because it’s all a bit closer to home and slightly more realistic. On first viewing the film in the cinema I enjoyed it despite the many changes. I purchased the DVD and still enjoyed it, but for some reason yesterday, on the day the film revolves around, I found the film to be lacking. Hugo Weaving pulls off a brilliant job, especially for an actor who’s face we never see. Stephen Rea, as Inspector Finch, also pulls off a great performance as one of the most realistic characters in the film. Most of the other actors do a reasonable job but tend to over-act a tad, spoiling parts of the film a little, But worst of all is Natalie Portman, whom I always thought was a bit weak in this film but never realised just how much until last night. Her terrible English accent is laughable and she puts all the nuances of the script in the wrong place. If they didn’t want to hire an English actress for the job then they should have let her speak in her normal accent which would have made the script seem less forced at least.

Oh, and Stephen Fry certainly doesn’t get enough screen time.

And speaking of Mr Fry, my new addiction to Twitter is party blame don him and his constant, yet great, updates on there.

And lastly, this past week or so has seen Lewis Hamilton win the Forumla One Grand Prix championshiop and seen Barack Obama become President Of The United States Of America, could we soon be seeing the first black Doctor Who? My hopes are on Sean Pertwee cos I think the guy is great, but Paterson Joseph would be a great choice as well. (Though part of me wants to see a combination of the following actors in the Tardis: Eddie Izzard, Bill Bailey, Stephen Fry and Jason Statham. One episode with Statham and the universe would have no more bad guys to worry about).

But not living on a prayer.

After months of living here I decided to finally get my office tidied up and have thrown out loads of crap I either no longer needed or forgot I even had. Soon I’ll actually be able to get at my drawing desk and not just my computer desk. It’s slowly getting me back in a creative mood but I’m still finding it hard to get motivated back into drawing daily. I needed more of a muse than just a picture of Audrey Tautou and a card advertising Marvel’s Civil War, so I’ve made my own little “mood board” of pictures and photos I like to help start motivate me further.

This afternoon I watched Two Days In Paris, which has also helped stir the creative juices within. Admittedly I bought the DVD purely because of my obsession with Paris, but I’m so glad I did. The synopsis on the back of the box really doesn’t do the film justice, but then I guess it’s a hard film to sell as nothing really happens, it simply follows a couple as they spend two days in Paris visiting “her” parents before they return to “his” home of New York. The cultural differences are played up a lot, often for laughs, but the main thing that impressed me was the script between the two main characters. They talk and argue like a real couple, it’s scarily realistic. The narration, from “her” point of view, is also spot on. This is certainly up there with Amelie and The Science Of Sleep for me.

So this has helped renew my faith in my own work and helped me steer some of my stories in a certain direction that before I was maybe a bit afraid of going in.

Now, just need to get the other half of the office cleaning finished and I’ll be ready to go!

*Spoilers ahoy*

I’ve purposefully left it a week or so before I wrote down my views on The Dark Knight. It’s easy to walk out of a film and say “wow, that was the best film ever”, and then forget about the film. But not this time. The Dark Knight truly does live up to the hype and more, and is one of few films that has truly stuck with me despite only one viewing.

Sure, other films have grabbed me but they don’t usually get their hooks in until a 2nd or 3rd viewing (Before seeing Bourne Identity: Matt Damon in an action film? Rubbish. After seeing Bourne Identity: Hey, Matt Damon kicks ass. After repeat viewings: Jason Bourne is the fucking man!!!.), but after one viewing The Dark Knight is still in the front of my concious mind. I’m still going through scenes in my head. Still cringing at the “disappearing pencil trick”. Still getting a chill from thinking of the Joker screaming at the guy tied to a chair in the video he records (and it’s not often a film can truly freak me out even for a few seconds).

I had no idea what to expect from Heath Ledger. Bale is a given. I’ll see any film he’s in, and I honestly think he’s the greatest actor currently around. Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman are all proven actors, so no worries there. But I don’t think I’d ever seen a film with Ledger in other than The Brothers Grimm. The pre-release images of the Joker looked awesome. He had the right manic look but the realism that we’d expect from Nolan’s vision for Batman. Then the trailer was released, and it was like watching part Johnny Depp, part Cesar Romero. Constantly licking his lips, fidgeting, playing with his hair. THIS was the Joker.

The Tim Burton films were enjoyable, good films. but they were never true “Batman” films. Nolan took the essence of the comics and put them into the real world. The Batmobile was built for real. The tech and gadgets were all based on real life plans for military equipment. Nothing seemed over the top and even the most hyper-real parts seemed grounded in reality. And Ledger’s Joker follows this. He doesn’t have loads of green gas to disfigure people, when he wants to do that he uses a knife! he’s not out to take over the world, or even Gotham, he just wants to have some chaotic fun. We don’t get an origin, we just get a fully formed, mad-as-a-hatter Joker from the start, ploughing his way through Gotham.

And Gotham itself is as fully realised as ever, without being as big a “part” of the film as Batman Begins. In “Begins” Gotham felt like another character, in this film Gotham becomes the backdrop, but no less well rounded. The inclusion of The Scarecrow again for just one scene shows that this is the same Gotham as before, living and breathing crime. Harvey Dent and his policies fit right in, right up until the moment of his “accident”. The police care for their fallen and the local news is often shown on the TVs in the background.

At just over 2 and a half hours long I feared that the film may drag, but there wasn’t one point when I was bored. The slower parts build up. The action scenes are fast and in your face. As tension mounts the music changes to fit the scene. In fact part of what makes this film so good is the soundtrack, which not only includes the usual orchestral score, but also simple noises. Taking a que from the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, tension is built by what sounds like a razor blade being scratched over a saw blade, the pitch getting higher and higher.

Batman Begins re-invented the Batman franchise for the real world, and films like Iron Man followed suit (no pun intended!), but the Dark Knight all that in the face, taking things to the next level. While only rated a 12A (which surprised my as it’s quite violent), The Dark Knight is one of the best psychological thrillers I’ve seen since Se7en.

I’ve really no idea how they would top this film if they made another one. But speaking of Se7en, I’d love to see Nolan tackle the Riddler, someone who leaves clues throughout Gotham but is sick and twisted, along the lines of Kevin Spacey’s character. But for now I’ll just wait for the DVD of The Dark Knight.

Watchmen. Trailer. Bloody amazing. Nuff said!

Been almost a month since I last posted anything, and I still haven’t got any comic stuff to post up! Been so busy with work, never had this much work on in one go. Working on about 10 websites all at the same time, starting to get a bit confusing!

Saw The Incredible Hulk the other day, never been a big fan of the comics but I liked Ang Lee’s films and enjoyed the TV series as a kid, but wow I was blown away by this film, so much better than I expected. Ed Norton was awesome, as expected, and Louis Leterrier’s direction was spot on. The action scenes were amazing, even though some of the CGI was a bit ropey. While not as interesting as Iron Man, I’d say this film was almost as good. All the easter eggs for the fanboys and hints at future films were brilliant, as were all the homages to the TV series. Something good is in the water at Marvel Studios, I just hope it carries on this way with Captain America and the Avengers films.

Something else has cropped up in life that will also slow down my comic creating. A new band. I was wanting to do something different to hardcore and metal but some friends convinced me to practice with them and tonight was the first time. And it was awesome. I think we can get away with calling ourselves NYHC, since our vocalist is from New York. Got one song written tonight, which isn’t bad going for a first practice, I’d say it mixes the speed and brutality of Terror with the experimentation of Most Precious Blood. Whatever it sounds like, it sounded good to me. I forgot what a kick I get from playing guitar, and the fact it was all with such close friends made it all the better. Can’t wait for next practice!

Yes, I’ve been lazy. Or busy. I’ll go with busy, cos it’s partly true.

Been on holiday to Paris (awesome time: Amelie pics here, street art pics here, holiday pics here, here, here, here and here. Yes i’m snap happy!). Weather was brilliant (apart from one day where it rained, hailstoned and then decided to thunder and lightning!!). Visited a few new places but spent half the time wandering round familiar places just taking in the atmosphere. Also spent a fair bit of time around Pere Lachaise taking LOTS of photos as research for one of my comics. Maybe one day I’ll actually finish writing it and draw the damn thing!

Went to see Iron Man. Bloody brilliant film! I can’t praise it enough. I was never a massive Iron Man fan (Spider-Man and Batman being my favourite comic characters), but this film was possibly the best comic adaptation I have seen. The casting was perfect, the special effects were spot on, the tone, pace and direction all brilliant. An all round brilliant film. Can’t wait for the next one! And it’s great to see Marvel setting up a line of continuity within their films, with Robert Downey Jr making a cameo in the new Hulk film. Oh, and the after credits scene in Iron Man? One of the best scenes in a film ever if you are a comic fan

Saw Amy MacDonald in Leeds (Photos here) last weekend, and she was amazing! Live she is just as good, if not better than she is on record. I love music and like to go to as many gigs as I can afford, but this was only the second time live music has ever made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. She’s wonderful. Marry me Amy! She also influenced me to get back into music and so I’ve advertised for a female singer/guitarist to write some songs with and see what we can come up with, will make a change from playing metal and hardcore.

One thing that has been taking up a lot of my time is my bike. Having moved close to the river in York I’ve discovered more and more bike paths leading out of the city and into the countryside. Not only is it fun but it has helped me lose weight (finally!), and I try to do 10 miles every night plus have been biking back to my parents house to visit (which is nearly 20 miles either way). Cycling gives a great sense of freedom.

I still love walking though, and spent last Sunday walking round the East Coast, going from Bridlington to Sewerby and Danes Dyke and then back, then driving out to Flamborough Head and having the cove to myself, listening to the sea, I didn’t want to leave. I then ventured on to Humnanby Gap as the sun was setting to see the old WW2 bunkers on the beach. It was a relaxing and peaceful day and sitting on the beach at Flamborough Head was an amazing moment, but the whole day also made me realise how lonely I am sometimes and that I really do need to get out and meet people and find a nice young lady who enjoys trips into the countryside and knows there is more to life than just drinking and going to crappy clubs (although sometimes that can be fun too!). Anyway, less of my whining, there’s some pics here, here, here, here and here.

Maybe soon I’ll post up some actual comic work, when I get the time between working and procrastinating.

Oh, and my cat had her 19th birthday! That’s 92 in cat years. Not only has she outlived her daughter (who would have been 18 earlier this month), but she’s lived for 3 or 4 winters longer than I thought she would, I fear this will be her last summer, although she may surprise me again!

It’s no secret to my friends (or anyone else willing to listen) that I hated the recent live action Transformers film. I didn’t hate it because I’m such a hardcore Transformers fan that I hate ANY change, I hated it because it was a bad film. Badly directed, bad robot designs, badly placed “humour”, bad plot choices, BIG plot holes, bad characterisation, bad inconsistent in-film science… the list goes on. It was a terrible film.

I’ve stayed of Transformers message boards of any description for a few years now, as it was getting boring watching fans argue amongst themselves about everything from Beast Wars to the colour of Optimus Prime’s wall paper. (for the record I love Beast Wars, intelligent plot and great characters, who cars if Prime is a monkey and not a truck? It’s heads above the old cartoon). Recently though I decided to sign up to the IDW boards, the publisher of the current TF comics. I’ve lurked on the site since they got the licence, and I’ve bought (and loved) all the comics that they have build into their own little universe. But I didn’t sign up to their boards until rumours started that they have got the GI Joe comic licence.

So, I’ve been posting a bit on there, chatting with other fans about the comic, and inevitably the movie. It’s probably the most sane TF board I have ever been on, although there are still some posters who act cocky or take it as a personal insult that you don’t like their favourite character.

Anyway, someone asked how those of us that hated the live action film would have done it differently, and I came up with a very rough, quick plot that I believe sticks to the core of what Transformers is about: 2 factions of warring robots who then crash on earth and become “Robots In Disguise”.

So, for no reason other than I can, I am posting up my quick, rough, Michael Bay beating idea for a TF movie:

I’d start out with the basic concept: two warring factions of alien beings. The film would start mid-civil war on Cybertron, a voice over explaining how it came to war (or even the easy way out: the war has been going that long no one can remember why it started). Some Autobots would then leave the planet for whatever reason (searching for energon perhaps) and would be followed by a bunch of Decepticons. Prime would be sent with the Autobots, he would be high ranking but not the highest (Xaaron being the highest). Megatron would stubbornly lead his troops after the Autobots, much against the wishes of his second in command, Shockwave, purely for the fact he wants Prime for himself (some personal history between the two).

A battle ensues in deep space, both ships get knocked off course and crash land on earth, far in the past.

Skip to present day and the Decepticons are already hidden amongst human society. They are covertly gathering resources to re-build their ship and to re-power those that are still deactivated. Elsewhere on the planet the Autobots are revived, but they too don’t have the power to rebuild their ship or re-power everyone on board.

The military (be it US, combined forces, whatever) get reports of shape changing robots and keep it covered up, but over the years reports of shape changing robots have been seen as urban-legends. The Autobots intercept transmissions about this and realise it must be the Decepticons. Prime naively decides to reveal the Autobots presence to the Military, who then attack the Autobots thinking they are a threat. The Autobots retreat, not wanting to harm the humans, somehow along the way Bumblebee gets lost from the rest and ends up meeting Spike and his dad, a mechanic.

The Decepticons, having seen the extent of the military’s fire power, now launch a full attack to take what they need to leave the planet. This will be the big reveal moment when vehicles already seen in the film will turn out to be Decepticons (such as jets the military already used against the Autobots, tanks, presidential vehicles, tanker trucks etc anything where the Decepticons could have hidden and gathered knowledge to their advantage). All over the world Decepticon cells reveal themselves, destroying military installations and taking what resources they need, re-powering their deactivated comrades. Outnumbered, the Autobots fight back, alongside the human military, and eventually defeat the Decepticons.

Leaving the war raging back on Cybertron would set up the next film to either have more Transformers reach earth, or to have Prime and crew return to find the war still raging worse than ever. Possibly even have Shockwave ruling Cybertron and the Autobots being a resistance.

That’s what I’d do anyway! Now I shall go do something more important like solve world hunger, bring about world peace, and open a donkey sanctuary!

While searching the web for ideas for a comic cover based on pulp novel/film noir/French New Wave film posters I came across the following:

Strange Sisters – A collection of covers from lesbian pulp novels, some brilliant tiles and great art work (as usual for pulp novels).

25 Best Movie Posters – Pretty much does what it says on the tin. Of course, any “top 10″, “top 25″ etc is pretty subjective, but there are some great choices in here. I especially love the Polish poster for The Birds.

When I do a Google image search for ideas I always end up spending too long browsing through sites like these. Still, it works cos I have finally done a first version of a comic cover idea I had, which I shall post a bit later.

Listening To: Nude – VAST
Reading: Mind numbing Action Script to get Flash to do things that won’t work!!!