My wife thinks she is so funny

posted by Tygrrius @ 9:05 AM

So, my wife and I are fixing up a spare bedroom to become a "guest bedroom" for when her parents come here at Christmas. This means that for the last two or three days, we've been having the fun of painting. Home improvement projects and I don't always get along.

It's not that I'm a bad painter, I'm really not. I'm just an exceedingly mediocre one. When it comes to painting, I excel in my mediocrity. What I lack in skills, though, I more than make up for in enthusiasm.

That's why I grabbed a brush and started cutting paint around an electrical outlet on Friday. I thought I was doing pretty good, too. Until I realized that I was putting the wrong color on the wrong wall.

My wife, who is just the funniest person I have ever met, made the below reminder for me out of painter's tape as to which wall I was not supposed to be working on.

I suppose any woman that would marry me would have to have a sense of humor, though. Sorry, honey, I'm used to PhotoShop where I can just Undo when I paint in the wrong place.

Thanks for the reminder, though.

Superman's dark night

posted by Tygrrius @ 11:57 PM

Just when I was about to go to bed and get some sleep, I actually found something to post about. There is finally some news on the Superman movie front.

The Wall Street Journal, MTV, and more notably, the Superman Homepage, are all reporting that Warner Brothers has decided to reboot the Superman movie franchise. Here are the pertinent excerpts from The Wall Street Journal:

[T]he $215 million "Superman Returns," which had disappointing box-office returns, didn't please executives. "'Superman' didn't quite work as a film in the way that we wanted it to," says [Warner Bros. Pictures Group President Jeff] Robinov. "It didn't position the character the way he needed to be positioned." "Had 'Superman' worked in 2006, we would have had a movie for Christmas of this year or 2009," he adds. "But now the plan is just to reintroduce Superman [...]."

[...]

Mr. Robinov wants his next pack of superhero movies to be bathed in the same brooding tone as "The Dark Knight." Creatively, he sees exploring the evil side to characters as the key to unlocking some of Warner Bros.' DC properties. "We're going to try to go dark to the extent that the characters allow it," he says. That goes for the company's Superman franchise as well.

The studio is set to announce its plans for future DC movies in the next month. For now, though, it is focused on releasing four comic-book films in the next three years, including a third Batman film, a new film reintroducing Superman, and two movies focusing on other DC Comics characters.

I have mixed feelings. I loved Superman Returns. Despite the fact that it made just as much money as Batman Begins, some unfairly view it as a "box office failure." Unfortunately, Warner Brothers executives appear to be among those who see it this way, and they are the ones in control of the franchise.

On the other hand, I'm glad to see that at least there will likely be a Superman movie to look forward to without having to wait another twenty years. However, does it really need to be a "darker" or "evil" take on the character? This is Superman, not Batman. They can't be treated the same. Maybe it's the bright, optimistic Superman that people missed in Superman Returns.

Does Warner Brothers really think a gloomier Superman will bring more people to the theaters?

Brandon Routh did a fantastic job as both Clark Kent and Superman. It seems that someone else will be stepping into the roles now, as it would be hard to sell it as a reboot if the same actor was there.

Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I think I'm disappointed about this move from Warner Brothers. I'm sorry that Bryan Singer apparently won't get the chance to continue his storyline.

I'm trying not to go all fanboy here and write a whining post about how Warner Brothers has destroyed my childhood and otherwise let me down. Instead, I'm just going to assume that in Bryan Singer's universe, Superman turned out to be a great father and that he, Lois, and Jay-El all lived happily ever after.

This also probably means the earliest we'll get the next Superman movie is 2012, despite what the article above says. Well, at least I'll have something to write about in 2012, right?

By the way, there's no need to "reinvent" Superman.

Just do the character justice. He's already a legend. The stories are already there. Just tell them.

Checking in with a boring post

posted by Tygrrius @ 11:17 PM

It's funny how a song you don't normally like can suddenly sound good. Since my wife is asleep right now, I've got my headphones on and decided to play some Elvis music from the 1960s. The first song that came up is "A Little Bit Of Green," a track I normally skip. Yet, tonight, it sounds like a great song to me for some reason. Just a random thought to start out a random post.

Playing now is "Don't Cry, Daddy," always a favorite. Maybe it's the headphones, not that they're anything special. Even this one sounds better than normal, though.

Anyway, I can hardly believe that summer is nearly over. Oh sure, I guess there's another month or so, officially, but I'm back in school again starting Monday night, so that means summer is effectively over.

"Power Of My Love" is up now, another winner that sounds even better tonight. Maybe I'm just in an Elvis mood.

I've been taking one class a semester, but this semester I'll be taking two. Actually, one of my classes was canceled as of yesterday, so I had to pick another one at the last second. Even one class a semester was an awful lot of work, so I can only imagine how bad two classes are going to be.

I've liked my recent update routine for The Film Frontier, confining my work on the site to Friday through Sunday. I'll try to keep that up as best I can, though I'll no longer have every Friday off effective September. I should be able to sneak at least one post in per weekend, I would bet. I actually miss this place when I'm not able to post. This blogging thing can be quite addictive.

When it comes to movies, what a summer this has been. My favorite film this summer was The Dark Knight, putting me on the same page as most other bloggers out there - but sometimes the majority can be right, you know. My next favorite was Get Smart, which was actually the one I was looking forward to seeing the most. A fine movie it was, but not a masterpiece like The Dark Knight.

We even had a decent Indiana Jones movie after a 19-year wait, not to mention a minor league Star Wars movie. I wish they would just re-release one of the live action Star Wars movies every summer. They would make plenty of money, I guarantee it. Especially if they didn't tinker with them too much.

* * *

Ah, well, this post kind of turned into a dud. I got distracted reading some other web pages, not to mention listening to the music.

Until next time, try to enjoy your daylight. . . .

The eternal eight-year-old buys a new toy

posted by Tygrrius @ 7:05 PM

I was eight-years-old when Return of the Jedi first hit theaters back in 1983. That was probably the ideal age for experiencing the original Star Wars trilogy. For a variety of reasons, eight was also the best year of my childhood.

As you can tell from The Film Frontier, and as my wife would no doubt agree, I never did actually turn nine. I've been eight ever since. Return of the Jedi, of course, was the movie of 1983 in my elementary school. Star Wars meant action figures and for Christmas 1983, the toy to have was the "Luke Skywalker (Jedi Knight Outfit)" action figure.

I was one of the lucky few among my friends to actually snag one under the Christmas tree. To this day, it remains my favorite action figure of all time. One of my so-called playground "buddies" later stole his lightsaber, though. I still have him around here. I will dig him up someday and post pictures. (The action figure, that is, not the slimeball who took his Jedi weapon.)

Today, we were in Target where I made my usual quick browse of the Star Wars toys. I don't often buy a lot these days, but something caught my eye this time: a "Legacy Collection Luke Skywalker." For some reason, he was dressed in a grandma shawl. Underneath the shawl, though, he appeared to be a modern version of my old Jedi Knight Luke figure.

The text on the back of the box explains the shawl: "Luke's strength with the Force has helped him save the lives of his friends from Jabba the Hutt and avoid a gruesome death in the Sarlaac pit. Wrapped in a scarf to protect him from the blowing sand, he struggles through a Tatooine sandstorm with his friends to reach the waiting Millennium Falcon."

You don't remember a sandstorm scene in Return of the Jedi? That's because the scene was left on the cutting room floor. That's right, they even make Star Wars action figures for deleted scenes now. I didn't care, though, this one was mine.

On the ride home, like any eight-year-old, I tore into my new action figure. That's right, all you collectors out there, I opened it! (Don't complain, I just made your unopened, mint-in-box figure that much more valuable.) Opening it was the only way to get the silly shawl off and preserve Luke's dignity as a Jedi. That's the only reason I opened it. Really.

Below is a shot I took of Grandma Luke (note the goggles for further protection in the sandstorm).



And here's one I took of Jedi Knight Luke, with the shawl removed forever. All he's missing is a proper Jedi cloak and the blaster from one of Jabba's henchmen and he'd be the perfect modern version of my 1983 figure.



Nothing will ever top the 1983 version but, 25 years later, it's fun to finally re-experience the magic. Guess what movie I'll be watching tonight?