Friday
The sun and a few traces of blue sky made an appearance today. There were a lot of high clouds, but the inversion wasn’t around. You could actually see all the way across the valley. It was a beautiful sight and a much-needed change of pace.


This evening, and I headed to Park City to see a screening of

(click the ticket to go to the Mirrormask Official Site)

Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, along with Jim Henson Productions, have created a wonderful family film. During the Q&A session that followed the movie, Neil Gaiman noted (of movies that fall in the “family film” genre): “…if you were to water them down, they would taste like slightly-sweet cardboard. We wanted to make a movie with taste. He also said that ‘family films’ are also assumed “…to have no content. We wanted to make a movie with content.”

They succeeded on both counts.

It was a great mixture of “real life” and fantasy that was reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz, Labyrinth, Time Bandits and the like… but with a dark edge. I am not sure if most younger children will be able to appreciate it (dark, scary imagery), but there is, otherwise, something for the whole family. It even included a very interesting rendition of one of my favorite songs, Close to You. I highly recommend seeing it when it opens in wide release.

After the movie, Nox and I met the usual suspects for coffee; and joined us, as well. We sat, chatted, drank our assorted beverages and had an all-around good time.

News
Morning Edition: First Combat Psychologist Recognized
Morning Edition: Your Ad Here: Tattoo as Living Billboard
Day to Day: The Hidden World of Aliens of the Deep
Day to Day: Slate’s Teachings: Musicians Learn to Improvise
All Things Considered: Mixed Results for Cities’ Efforts to Cut Murder Rate
All Things Considered: Nazi Camp Survivors Deliver Their Take on Modern Threats

BBC News: Debut for unknown Beethoven work
BBC News: Actors hail quirky Sundance roles

Stray Toasters

  • I had a chat with Rana for a bit tonight. All’s well on that side of the IDL.
  • Alex Ross will be doing a new Justice League of America series, called “Justice,” starting this July. And, for the villains, he’s creating a new Legion of Doom. While the group will feature many of the same familiar faces as the Challenge of the Superfriends animated series, these characters will be different. Led by Lex Luthor and Brainiac, they will be villains who will definitely be… um… “a challenge” for the JLA. You can check out some of the character designs here.
  • : Click here, then click on the second picture.
  • Arthur and Vogons and Ford! Oh, my!
  • “Did you just say ‘Ahoy?'” –
  • Songs from the 80s That Have Been in Commercials
  • “…said the Actress to the Bishop.”
  • For : Everything You Need to Know about Cirque du Soleil

Quote of the Day
Newsarama has an interview with DC Comics Vice President Dan Didio. In it, they talk about the recent “Identity Crisis” series and the upcoming “DC Countdown” series and how they will change the DCU (that’s “DC Universe,” :P ) Didio went on to discuss his views of DC’s “trinity:” Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman:

Dan Didio: Absolutely. Honestly, when I looked at that, I felt that was an attitude that we had to bring to our heroes. There should be two reactions when a superhero walks into a room. The first reaction is, “Oh shit, they’re here for something,” and the second reaction is, “Oh shit, I hope they’re not here for me.” No one should be taking a step forward to pat them on the back – they should be taking a step backward, thinking, “Something bad is about to happen here.”

Newsarama: This is kinda of along the lines of what Howard Chaykin said when I spoke with him about Legend he’s doing for WildStorm with Russ Heath – that, as a species, humans don’t normally treat the special or the different as something to be cherished. They’re usually pushed into isolation by society out of fear…

DD: Absolutely. So what happens is that when you look at it that way, from the “outsider” approach, they band together as a group because they share a common goal – to make the world a better place. When you peel that away, though, what’s everybody’s definition of “a better place?” what are they going out and trying to achieve? Now what we’ve done is brought in a level of conflict in how our heroes go out to do their business. That aspect makes up a lot of what we’re going to be exploring over the next year – what might be good for one might not be good for another…or for a third.

We’ve broken up the trinity – Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are no longer standing shoulder to shoulder. And now they’re the focal points of everything that’s about to happen, because they should be.

NRAMA: Let’s go into those three, and how the other heroes seem to fall under one of them in terms of their respective approaches. How do you see them as being different?

DD: If you want to break it down into the simplest terms: Batman is the policeman; he goes out on patrol and tries to prevent crime. If a crime happens, he finds the person, apprehends them, and brings them in. Superman is the fireman – he goes out and is waiting for a problem. When something does happen, he’s the first responder. He’s there to help; he’s there to save people. He’s not there to affect change or pass judgment; he’s there to help whoever is in trouble.

NRAMA: And Wonder Woman? Don’t say postman…

DD: [Laughs] No, no – Wonder Woman is the activist of the DC Universe. She has a social purpose, a social cause, a direction, and an opinion. She is going out to affect change to make a better world through her social beliefs.

Each one of these three – if you look at them individually, they’re all working to make the world better, but they’re approaching it in different ways. It’s only natural that those approaches might bring them into conflict in how they help people, and work to make the world better.

That’s it.
I’m tapped.

Namaste.