Originally published in 1996 and 1997, Batman: The Long Halloween, is a 13 part limited series written by Jeph Loeb and illustrated by Tim Sale. The story takes place early in Batman's career (Harvey Dent has not yet become Two-Face) and features a great noir style murder mystery featuring the Holiday killer.
While Batman, Gordon and Dent try to solve the enigmatic Holiday killings we are also treated to scenes from Gotham's two biggest competing mob families and Bruce Wayne's life. Each of the 13 books takes place on a different holiday and features a different villain from batman's rogues gallery. We get to see appearances from Catwoman, Solomon Grundy, Joker, Mad Hatter, Calendar Man, Penguin, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy and Two-Face.
Jeph Loeb's story is tight and engrossing and Tim Sales art is original and cinematic, making great use of black and white, colour and shadows. I would not hesitate to suggest this series to any comic fan and give it a 9/10.
Last night I watched Lucas Brunelle's film Line Of Sight. The documentary (directed and edited by Benny Zenga) shows a first person view of underground bike messenger street racing in cities such as New York, London, and Tokyo. The film also visits the bottom of the ocean, the streets of Mexico City, the jungles of Guatemala, and the Great Wall Of China.
The video is often exhilarating and entertaining at the same time with tons of traffic and pedestrian dodging footage. However, I can't help but see these riders as a danger on the road. They ride the wrong way down one way streets, cut off cars, blow through busy red light intersections and break pretty much every rule of the road that exists. At one point Brunelle is being interviewed and he explains that he feels safe riding the way he does around New York. He believes that if you stay where you are he'll take care of everything else. However, no matter how good you are, you can never predict the actions of pedestrians, drivers or other riders.
Within the first minute of the film a rider smashes the side view mirror of a car and almost gets doored. In another scene Lucas himself rides directly into a pedestrian who is trying to get away from the rush of oncoming cyclists. And in yet another scene a rider is hit by a car driven by an elderly woman. On one hand Brunelle is trying to tell us that this type of reckless riding is no danger to the public, yet he shows us footage of property damage, and collisions with pedestrians and cars.
For me Line Of Sight is at its best when we get to see the scenes in Guatemala and in China. The footage is beautiful and there is a short action scene filmed in Guatemala that while showing irresponsible riding is staged so there is no danger to the public. As for the music I enjoyed the soundtrack which featured bands such as Van Halen, Guns N Roses, Motorhead, M.I.A, White Zombie, Neurosis, Lightning Bolt and Holy Fuck. If this were a choreographed action film I would give the movie a 9/10 for the stunt riding but since this is a documentary and the riding is simply dangerous I give Line Of Sight a 3/10.
This morning I met with some friends for brunch at The Drake Hotel. Brunch starts at 9:00AM and we lined up at about 10:00. The place was almost full but we got a table on the inside of the diner.
The menu is short but everything sounds good. One of my friends and I ordered the Southern Fried Chicken and Waffles (herb waffle, maple syrup, creme fraiche, fried chicken and Niagara cherry jam) and my other friend ordered the Drake Breakfast (3 eggs, Perth bacon and Cumbrae's sausage, home fries and marble rye toast).
As we waited for our food we could see plates being delivered to the other tables and everything looked delicious. The Southern Fried Chicken and Waffles were great. I was expecting the chicken to be on the bone but instead I received 3 moist, breaded and crispy fried chicken breast strips. The waffle was absolutely huge and took up most of the plate. A reasonable amount of maple syrup (not too much or too little) covered the entire dish and it was all topped with the Niagara cherry jam and creme fraiche.
After eating the dish I was completely stuffed so I didn't feel like any desert but that was fine because the meal was both savoury and sweet so I got my sugar for the morning. My friend and I were very happy with our chicken and waffles and my other friend said that he also enjoyed his Drake Breakfast. I would totally go back to The Drake Hotel for brunch again. Next time I might consider ordering the Eggs Caleb (2 poached eggs, smoked salmon, arugula, toasted english muffin, hollandaise sauce and home fries) but the Southern Fried Chicken and Waffles were so good it would be hard not to order them again. After we left the hotel we noticed that Julianne Moore was waiting in the brunch lineup. Not only do you get a delicious meal at The Drake Hotel but you may also see a celebrity! I give brunch at The Drake Hotel a 9/10.
I am a naturally warm person so I absolutely love cool days. I also like to wear jeans and black t-shirts so the extreme heat that Toronto (and most of North America) has been experiencing this summer has been fucking brutal on me. Add on the fact that the second floor of my apartment is not air conditioned and I'm dreaming of a white winter.
Today was around 29 C° and it was a pure joy compared to recent weather. Looking at the upcoming forecast it looks like another hot week on the horizon. Pity me.
This NJ Series BC Rich Bich was my first electric guitar and for that reason alone I'll never sell it. However, that doesn't mean that I won't mod the hell out of it. I liked the way the guitar played, the funky bastardised strat headstock, and the wacky body but I was never a fan of the lipstick red colour. I originally tried to change the appearance of the Bich by using electrical tape. I applied black and white tape in a Van Halen style but the tape started to peel off after a while where my hand would rest.
My next design was a white tiger stripe but once again it didn't stick for very long.
So... about a decade ago I decided to do a complete body refinish. I dismantled the guitar, purchased some chemical paint stripper and several different grits of sandpaper. I tried to use the paint stripper in the garage but it wouldn't eat through whatever BC Rich used to coat the paint. I was forced to take the body into the backyard and start sanding away.
It was some HARD work (two or three evenings) as the sandpaper didn't even want to go through the paint but I eventually got it done. I was expecting the body to be made of several pieces of wood but was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be a fairly nice single slab.
Once sanded and completely smooth I attached a plank of wood to the neck pocket (using the existing screw holes) so the guitar would be easy to handle. I picked up some walnut coloured stain from Home Depot and applied it according to instructions. I used a think layer on the front and back and went much thicker on the bevels and sides.
After the guitar was stained to my satisfaction I taped off the pickup cavities and neck pocket then used spray lacquer to seal and protect the body. It took about eight thin coats to get it where I wanted it.
I then installed some GFS Power Rails humbuckers, the rest of the original wiring and some chicken head knobs on the controlls.
I don't use the guitar often because I prefer many of my other guitars and the Power Rails are a bit more overdriven and darker than I prefer but I am very happy with the way the refinishing project came out. I give the guitar itself a 6/10 but the refinishing that I did a 9/10.
I got this guitar in a trade ( I think it was for my Dillion Firebird but I can't quite remember). When I got the guitar it sounded and played great but the pickguard was a mess. It was white and looked like it had been shattered and glued back together. I decided to replace all of the electronics and ordered a Superstrat Wiring Kit and a set of grey bottom single coil pickups from Guitar Fetish. The Supertrat Wiring Kit allows for 13 different pickup configurations:
1) Bridge Pickup In Phase
2) Middle Pickup In Phase
3) Neck Pickup In Phase
4) Bridge/Middle Pickups In Phase
5) Middle/Neck Pickups In Phase
6) Bridge/Neck Pickups In Phase
7) All Three Pickups In Phase
8) Bridge/Middle Pickups Out Of Phase
9) Middle/Neck Pickups Out Of Phase
10) Bridge/Neck Pickups Out Of Phase
11) Neck/Middle Pickups In Phase, Bridge Out Of Phase
12) Bridge/Middle Pickups In Phase, Neck Out Of Phase
13) Bridge/Neck Pickups In Phase, Middle Out Of Phase
The kit came with some nice and clear instructions and after about an hour worth of soldering everything was installed and working properly. Unfortunately, I did not like the new pickups or dealing with all the toggle switches (too many options to play with). I put the pre-wired pickguard up for sale at my cost and it sold in a day.
I used the money from the pickguard sale to order a standard black H/S/S pickguard, a Crunchy Pat high output humbucker for the bridge and some black single coil pickup covers. I salvaged the neck and middle pickup from busted up white pickguard that originally came with the guitar and wired everything together. The guitar is set up with 9 gauge strings and plays like a dream. The MIM neck and middle pickups are nice and smooth and the bridge humbucker has some great crunch. I also love the black on red look. It reminds me of Brad Gillis of Night Ranger lol. I give the guitar a 9/10.
For years I have been making my hamburgers by mixing in bread crumbs, egg, seasoning and some vegetables (onion, jalapeno...) into my meat before forming it into a patty and frying in a pan. Today I decided to try out the smash method. I bought some regular ground beef from the local butcher and simply scooped a handfull into a hot frying pan. I then flattened the meat out with a spatula and let it cook. Once it was ready I flipped it over and let it cook some more. That's it! Done! The burger was awesome and reminded me of The Burger's Priest which is my favourite burger place in the city. This will now be my burger cooking method of choice. I would have taken pictures but I ate all three burgers before I could get my camera out. Here's a video of Wimpy from Popeye making a smash burger in 1933! I would probably cook it a little longer than he does though.
DC's Earth One series takes place in an alternate reality where the heroes are just starting out. The characters have no continuity with the regular DC universe so it's easy for new readers to jump into the story. The first Earth One comic released was Superman: Earth One in 2010 and now DC has just released Batman: Earth One in July of 2012.
This graphic novel written by Geoff Johns is a retelling of the classic batman origin story with some original character development and design. The book offers gritty new takes on an unprepared Batman, a reluctant Alfred, a downtrodden James Gordon, a famous Harvey Bullock and a successful Penguin.
The thing that really grabbed me about the graphic novel was the art. Artist Gary Frank did a wonderful job of bringing the characters to life. The world displays a gritty realism and the characters' faces express graphic pain, fear and anger.
While the art is great and the story is well written it is still a slightly updated version of the same Batman origin that has been endlessly reprinted. Batman: Earth One was a good read but because it still produces a sense of deja-vu I give it a 7/10.
This past weekend on July 7th I attended the Skull Fist, Diemonds, Fatality, Call Of The Wild and Old James show at the Hard Luck Bar. 5 Awesome bands for 10 bucks! It would take me forever to review the whole concert so I'll just point out my highlights from the night.
- I got to hang out with a friend I haven't seen in a while.
- Old James played a Skynyrd cover and as they put it, "we play some fucking good BBQ music."
- Call Of The Wild were sloppy at first but had it together by about the third song. They played a very competent cover of Street Lethal by Racer X! Bitchin'!
- The female lead from Diemonds has a good dirty rock voice and they have the enthusiasm of a band playing to a sold out arena.
- Fatality play some good old school thrash and the lead singer's banter between songs is funny enough that he could do stand up comedy. I was laughing my ass off with his jokes about long hair.
- Skull Fist is consistently awesome. Their showmanship and musicianship are as tight as you can get!
I give the whole night a 9/10. I would have given it a 10 but I'm getting old and it was a looooong night.
My next trip to The Hard Luck Bar will most likely be on July 21'st, 2012 to see Barn Burner and Skeletonwitch. It's sure to be an awesome show so if you're in Toronto go support the bands!
On Wednesday July 11th, the Toronto After Dark Film Festival presented a summer screening and the Canadian premier of the horror film V/H/S. The movie was a sellout and it received a great reception from the audience. As of right now there is no Canadian theatrical release planned but it is scheduled for a limited release in the USA on October 5th, 2012, and on VOD in late August.
The movie is made up completely from found footage, which after the Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity 1, 2 & 3, Cloverfield, Super 8, The Zombie Diaries, [REC] 1 & 2, Diary Of The Dead, Quarantine, The Last Exorcism, Apollo 18, The Troll Hunter, Chronicle and Project X some people may be getting tired of. However, unlike some of the previously mentioned films, the found footage concept is integral to the story of this movie.
The concept of the film (without revealing any spoilers) revolves around a bunch of scummy hipster d-bags who are hired to steal a VHS tape from an old man's house. While in the house the group finds a bunch of tapes and plays several of them to find the one they were sent to steal. Each tape played is a separate film from a different director who was instructed to make a short (roughly 20 minute) horror movie using the found film genre. During the course of the anthology there are 5 tapes played in addition to the wraparound story that features the home invasion.
The film works well because unlike many horror films where you sit around for an hour and a half waiting for something scary to happen for 3 minutes, the various directors of the V/H/S anthology only have about 20 minutes each to create their story and deliver the horror resulting in a nice fast pace. Some of the stories are better than others but they are all very good. I won't describe the short films for fear of spoiling some of the movie. The features have a nice mix of horror and some genuinely funny moments to break up the tension.
I'm not convinced that the film is one that needs to be seen in a theatre as I believe it would be just as effective on the small screen. However, if you are a horror fan I would definitely suggest seeing this movie in some form. I give V/H/S a 9/10
