All of the things. From Worst to Best. Go.
WORST: WWE Raw episode 1,137: Wrestlemania is two weeks away, and the build-up for it is alarmingly underdone. The major problem is that for three of the top feuds one of the major stars is missing. Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar: Lesnar works limited dates, and when he does show up it's usually just to stand in the background and hop from foot to foot menacingly. Triple H vs. Sting - Sting has appeared maybe twice in the last six months, and otherwise communicates via monitor screen. Bray Wyatt vs. Undertaker: The Undertaker isn't appearing until Wrestlemania, and the entre build-up consists of Bray desperately calling him out, and Taker sending a mystical lightning bolt to blow up Bray's rocking chair (really). The only reason I'm excited for 'Mania is that I'm confident that all of those guys will deliver on the night.
The Walking Dead season 5, episode 13: This show has taken a definite upswing since Rick and co. found a safe place to live. They're telling a different kind of story now, and it's one I'm a bit more interested in than the relentlessly grim survivalist tale that was going on before.
Amazing X-Men (2014) #1-12, writing by Jason Aaron and Chris
Yost, art by Ed McGuinness: This run of issues features two stories: one
about the return of Nightcrawler from the dead, and the other about an
army of Wendigos. The first is a swashbuckling action romp, as
Nightcrawler summons the X-Men into the afterlife to stop pirates from
stealing souls from Heaven and Hell. It's exactly a absurd as it
sounds, but it gets away with it through sheer charm and exuberance. In
the second, the Wendigo curse is activated when a human corpse is fed
through a grinder in a meat-packing plant; hundreds of Canadians end up
eating human flesh, and all of them turn into the mythica Wendigo. Cue
the X-Men, and another story that hits a very similar tone to the
Nightcrawler one. It's a bit throwaway, and not quite as good, but it's
in the same ballpark.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle: This is a collection of the first twelve Sherlock Holmes short stories, and it's immediately apparent that the character works better in this format than in his first two novels. All of the fat is cut, and what is left is a dozen or so lean stories that give every chance for Holmes to display his genius without too much clunky exposition. Still entertaining over a century later.
Young Americans by David Bowie: Bowie's first post-glam
album may be one of his weaker efforts from the 1970s, but that still
makes it pretty damn good. He's in full-on Philly soul mode, and doing
it very well. It's an underlooked album. The only bad track is his
cover of The Beatles' 'Across the Universe', and even that pulls out a
surprisingly gutsy outtro.
Uncanny Avengers #1-17, writing by Rick Remender, art by John Cassaday and Daniel Acuna: In the wake of Avengers vs. X-Men, both teams have formed a squad together to promote mutant/human unity. It all goes pear-shaped when the Nazi Red Skull shows up wielding the brain of Charles Xavier as a weapon, and it gets even worse when the grand-kids of Apocalypse show up. Remender is drawing on plot threads from his amazing run on Uncanny X-Force, and weaving them together into a balls-out, high-stakes superhero magnum opus. It does get a little ham-handed when Remender starts moralising about race-relations and cultural identity, but the rest is solid gold. Plus, it has Kand the Conqueror, and I am a sucker for a good Kang story.
Station to Station by David Bowie: Right from the middle of Bowie's cocaine-addled peak, this album is masterful. He's shed the glam by this point, and is working more with funk and soul influences. There may only be six songs on the album, but every single one is a winner.
BEST: A Night at the Hip-Hopera by The Kleptones: Hip-hop classics meet Queen backing tracks, in what may be the greatest mash-up album of all time. This is probably my favourite album of the last decade. Check it out, if only for the amazing combination of the Beastie Boys with 'Radio Gaga/I Want to Break Free'. It's free if anyone wants to check it out here.
Showing posts with label X-Men. Show all posts
Showing posts with label X-Men. Show all posts
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Friday, February 13, 2015
All The Things I Did: 13th February 2015
Here it is, for the third week running: everything I read, watched, played and listened to in the last week ranked from worst to best. And here's a warning in advance: there are spoilers for The Walking Dead's latest episode.
The Wheel of Time: Winter Dragon TV Pilot: Okay. This may take some explaining.
The Wheel of Time is a series of fantasy novels/paving slabs by Robert Jordan. It's immensely popular, and in the wake of Game of Thrones there has apparently been some interest from TV and movie studios. Unfortunately, many years ago Jordan sold the licensing rights to a company called Red Eagle, which has done nothing but cock things up ever since. The rights were set to return to Jordan's estate on February 11th, but lo and behold, look what showed up at 1.30 am on the FXX channel, right in the middle of the infomercials: a completely unheralded TV pilot. In other words, a hastily slapped together bit of telly made so that Red Eagle can retain the rights to the series.
This show has to be seen to be believed. It's one of the worst things I've seen in years, and I watch wrestling. Billy Zane is in this, playing one of the major villains of the series. Billy freaking Zane! It's a delight watching him attempt to deliver dialogue about "the nine Rods of Dominion" and the "One Power", all while smiling affably. Here's a link: http://io9.com/watch-that-weird-wheel-of-time-tv-show-pilot-here-1685036791. Check it out, Wheel of Time fans, and see just how bad an adaptation can be. This may be the worst thing on my list, but to be honest it's one of the things I enjoyed the most.
A Beard of Stars by Tyrannosaurus Rex: Okay, so bear with me: I'm going to write about some music here. This is not something I know how to do, so forgive me if I make even less sense than usual. I'm in uncharted waters.
With that out of the way, can we all agree that A Beard of Stars is an amazing, incredible album name? Okay? Good, because understanding how radical that name is will help you to know how let down I felt by this album. A few years ago I went through David Bowie's entire catalogue, and that was a positive life decision. T Rex is a band that often gets mentioned in the same breath as Bowie, so long as we're talking about his glam albums, so I thought I'd check them out. I went with A Beard of Stars because it had the best title (it was a toss-up between that and Futuristic Dragon), and I think I may have gone a little too early in their chronology. Instead of glam I got psychedelic folk rock, which is a genre I have an affinity for, but I didn't exactly warm to this album. Most of the melodies felt awkward, and I found Bolan's voice grating. Don't hate me, Bolan fans, I'll probably give one of their later albums a spin at some point.
Resurrection season 2, episodes 2 to 6: I'm still not loving this show, but I am getting a little more invested in it. Some of this is the growing focus on the conspiracy angle, which is more interesting than how such-and-such or so-and-so is feeling about their emotions this week, but mostly it comes down to Michelle Fairley, and her portrayal of the newly revived family grandmother. She's the most heinous character I've seen on TV in a while (and yes, I do watch Game of Thrones). Basically, I'm sticking with this to see her get set on fire or something.
The Walking Dead season 5, episode 9: The Walking Dead is back from its mid-season break, and it's also back to its old trick of killing off all the black men. Seriously, it's absurd how many have pegged it at this point. Have the creators not noticed, or are they taking the piss? There are still two left in the cast, but one has a gammy leg and the other is a nervous priest. The odds don't look good for either of them.
As for the episode itself, it was decent enough, but it still feels like the show is treading water, and has been since half-way through season 4. Rick and co. have decided to go to Washington, and see what's there, which I guess is a direction, but it's not really a compelling one. I think I know what's in Washington, anyway. I'll give you a hint: more zombies.
All-New X-Men #18-21 by Brian Michael Bendis and various artists: In the aftermath of Battle of the Atom (which I reviewed last week) the original X-Men have defected, and are now living with Cyclops and his team of revolutionaries. It's a move that makes sense, as it gives the core cast a whole new set of characters to interact with, and that's what Bendis does well. That's not the focus here, though. Instead we have the introduction of X-23 to the team (she's a female clone of Wolverine. Don't ask.), and a battle with the Purifiers, a group of militant religious mutant-haters. Bendis gets good material out of X-23, and particularly her rapport with the young Scott Summers. Not so much the religious fanatics, but those stories tend to be pretty one-note anyway. The series is holding up quite well so far. (I hate the new costumes, though. So much uglier than the 1960s designs.)
Morning Phase by Beck: Like everyone I saw Kanye making a knob of himself at the Grammys, but it did have the positive effect of reminding me that Beck is a thing that exists. His latest album is a mellow acoustic affair, with a lot of heartfelt, slightly melancholy tracks. I can see why Kanye dissed it: it's an album for introspective middle-aged white people. I liked it a lot.
Daredevil (2011 series) #1-21 by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee: I'm revisiting this run of comics before I read Waid's final issues, and I feel pretty safe in saying that this is the best super-hero comic of the last five years. Waid took the character back to his swashbuckling roots after a decade of unrelenting noirish misery, while never ignoring the many terrible traumas that exist in Matt Murdock's backstory. The action is sharp and inventive, the emotional beats hit hard, and the art is crisp and sublime. If you want to read some Daredevil before the TV series begins, this is the one. (Oh, okay, there's also the Frank Miller runs. And the Bendis run. And Brubaker. But I like this one the best. It has Stilt-Man.)
The Wheel of Time: Winter Dragon TV Pilot: Okay. This may take some explaining.
The Wheel of Time is a series of fantasy novels/paving slabs by Robert Jordan. It's immensely popular, and in the wake of Game of Thrones there has apparently been some interest from TV and movie studios. Unfortunately, many years ago Jordan sold the licensing rights to a company called Red Eagle, which has done nothing but cock things up ever since. The rights were set to return to Jordan's estate on February 11th, but lo and behold, look what showed up at 1.30 am on the FXX channel, right in the middle of the infomercials: a completely unheralded TV pilot. In other words, a hastily slapped together bit of telly made so that Red Eagle can retain the rights to the series.
This show has to be seen to be believed. It's one of the worst things I've seen in years, and I watch wrestling. Billy Zane is in this, playing one of the major villains of the series. Billy freaking Zane! It's a delight watching him attempt to deliver dialogue about "the nine Rods of Dominion" and the "One Power", all while smiling affably. Here's a link: http://io9.com/watch-that-weird-wheel-of-time-tv-show-pilot-here-1685036791. Check it out, Wheel of Time fans, and see just how bad an adaptation can be. This may be the worst thing on my list, but to be honest it's one of the things I enjoyed the most.
A Beard of Stars by Tyrannosaurus Rex: Okay, so bear with me: I'm going to write about some music here. This is not something I know how to do, so forgive me if I make even less sense than usual. I'm in uncharted waters.
With that out of the way, can we all agree that A Beard of Stars is an amazing, incredible album name? Okay? Good, because understanding how radical that name is will help you to know how let down I felt by this album. A few years ago I went through David Bowie's entire catalogue, and that was a positive life decision. T Rex is a band that often gets mentioned in the same breath as Bowie, so long as we're talking about his glam albums, so I thought I'd check them out. I went with A Beard of Stars because it had the best title (it was a toss-up between that and Futuristic Dragon), and I think I may have gone a little too early in their chronology. Instead of glam I got psychedelic folk rock, which is a genre I have an affinity for, but I didn't exactly warm to this album. Most of the melodies felt awkward, and I found Bolan's voice grating. Don't hate me, Bolan fans, I'll probably give one of their later albums a spin at some point.
Resurrection season 2, episodes 2 to 6: I'm still not loving this show, but I am getting a little more invested in it. Some of this is the growing focus on the conspiracy angle, which is more interesting than how such-and-such or so-and-so is feeling about their emotions this week, but mostly it comes down to Michelle Fairley, and her portrayal of the newly revived family grandmother. She's the most heinous character I've seen on TV in a while (and yes, I do watch Game of Thrones). Basically, I'm sticking with this to see her get set on fire or something.
The Walking Dead season 5, episode 9: The Walking Dead is back from its mid-season break, and it's also back to its old trick of killing off all the black men. Seriously, it's absurd how many have pegged it at this point. Have the creators not noticed, or are they taking the piss? There are still two left in the cast, but one has a gammy leg and the other is a nervous priest. The odds don't look good for either of them.
As for the episode itself, it was decent enough, but it still feels like the show is treading water, and has been since half-way through season 4. Rick and co. have decided to go to Washington, and see what's there, which I guess is a direction, but it's not really a compelling one. I think I know what's in Washington, anyway. I'll give you a hint: more zombies.
All-New X-Men #18-21 by Brian Michael Bendis and various artists: In the aftermath of Battle of the Atom (which I reviewed last week) the original X-Men have defected, and are now living with Cyclops and his team of revolutionaries. It's a move that makes sense, as it gives the core cast a whole new set of characters to interact with, and that's what Bendis does well. That's not the focus here, though. Instead we have the introduction of X-23 to the team (she's a female clone of Wolverine. Don't ask.), and a battle with the Purifiers, a group of militant religious mutant-haters. Bendis gets good material out of X-23, and particularly her rapport with the young Scott Summers. Not so much the religious fanatics, but those stories tend to be pretty one-note anyway. The series is holding up quite well so far. (I hate the new costumes, though. So much uglier than the 1960s designs.)
Morning Phase by Beck: Like everyone I saw Kanye making a knob of himself at the Grammys, but it did have the positive effect of reminding me that Beck is a thing that exists. His latest album is a mellow acoustic affair, with a lot of heartfelt, slightly melancholy tracks. I can see why Kanye dissed it: it's an album for introspective middle-aged white people. I liked it a lot.
Daredevil (2011 series) #1-21 by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee: I'm revisiting this run of comics before I read Waid's final issues, and I feel pretty safe in saying that this is the best super-hero comic of the last five years. Waid took the character back to his swashbuckling roots after a decade of unrelenting noirish misery, while never ignoring the many terrible traumas that exist in Matt Murdock's backstory. The action is sharp and inventive, the emotional beats hit hard, and the art is crisp and sublime. If you want to read some Daredevil before the TV series begins, this is the one. (Oh, okay, there's also the Frank Miller runs. And the Bendis run. And Brubaker. But I like this one the best. It has Stilt-Man.)
Friday, February 6, 2015
All The Things I Did: 6th February 2015
Here we go again, with all of the media I finished in the last week, ranked from worst to best:
WORST: Resurrection season 2, episode 1: Now, technically this isn't a bad show. It's a perfectly well-executed mix of small-town drama and government conspiracy, revolving around the premise of dead people returning to life. It's decent, but it's exactly the sort of thing I dislike. Mostly it involves miserable people standing around and talking about their emotions, and let's just say that's not something I go to for entertainment. It's especially not something I ever wanted to see from Kurtwood Smith, aka That 70s Dad aka the villain from Robocop. Still, my wife likes it, and I don't find it offensively bad. For me, it's filler until Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead return.
Tarzan and the Golden Lion by Edgar Rice Burroughs: This is the ninth Tarzan book by Burroughs, and it doesn't bring anything new to the table. Like most of Burroughs' work it's plotted rather shambolically, though I must say it hangs together better than many of his other books. The main story involves a group of ruthless treasure seekers who come to Africa with a Tarzan impersonator. In typical Burroughs fashion there's a lengthy sequence in which Tarzan finds a hidden valley ruled by sentient gorillas and overthrows their society, and it has no bearing on the main storyline at all. Still, despite its shortcomings its a diverting adventure yarn that doesn't outstay its welcome. It's exactly the sort of unchallenging material that I find perfect for audiobooks.
X-Men: Battle of the Atom by Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Aaron, Brian Wood (writers) and Frank Cho, Stuart Immonen, Chris Bachalo (artists), among others: This story was created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the X-Men in 2013, but in many ways it's decided to celebrate the worst aspects of the franchise. The premise is pretty gonzo, but I'll try to outline it as simply as I can: the original X-Men have been brought forward from the past, which is causing damage to the timestream. Two rival X-Men teams come from the future with opposing views on how to solve the problem, while the X-Men from the present are caught in the middle. Not too hard to figure out the problem with this story, is it? Surprisingly there are quite a lot of good character moments, and it begins well with the original X-Men on the run, but by the end it gets swamped by the sheer number of characters, many of whom only exist for this story. The number of characters isn't the only problem, as the constant switching between writers and artists results in a jarring read at times. That said, this is exactly the kind of story I love. I didn't care for the execution so much, but the madcap scope of it is right in my wheelhouse.
WWE Raw episode 1,132: It's that rare gem, a really rather good episode of Raw. The matches were mostly high quality, the storyline segments made sense, and there was nothing that left me shaking my head in disbelief. It's a low bar to clear, but it's shocking how often the WWE fails to do just that. Special props to Damien Sandow, for making me laugh simply by standing still.
All-New X-Men #1-15 by Brian Michael Bendis, Stuart Immonen and others: These are the comics that set up the premise of Battle of the Atom (described above). With the X-Men in an ideological split, the Beast decides to bring the original team from the past to show Cyclops the error of his ways. What results is some quality interpersonal drama, as the original teenage X-Men react to all the terrible things that have happened to them over the course of five decades worth of comics, and everyone else reacts to having these kids around. Bendis excels at this kind of stuff, even if I do find his pacing a little too slow at times.
WORST: Resurrection season 2, episode 1: Now, technically this isn't a bad show. It's a perfectly well-executed mix of small-town drama and government conspiracy, revolving around the premise of dead people returning to life. It's decent, but it's exactly the sort of thing I dislike. Mostly it involves miserable people standing around and talking about their emotions, and let's just say that's not something I go to for entertainment. It's especially not something I ever wanted to see from Kurtwood Smith, aka That 70s Dad aka the villain from Robocop. Still, my wife likes it, and I don't find it offensively bad. For me, it's filler until Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead return.
Tarzan and the Golden Lion by Edgar Rice Burroughs: This is the ninth Tarzan book by Burroughs, and it doesn't bring anything new to the table. Like most of Burroughs' work it's plotted rather shambolically, though I must say it hangs together better than many of his other books. The main story involves a group of ruthless treasure seekers who come to Africa with a Tarzan impersonator. In typical Burroughs fashion there's a lengthy sequence in which Tarzan finds a hidden valley ruled by sentient gorillas and overthrows their society, and it has no bearing on the main storyline at all. Still, despite its shortcomings its a diverting adventure yarn that doesn't outstay its welcome. It's exactly the sort of unchallenging material that I find perfect for audiobooks.
X-Men: Battle of the Atom by Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Aaron, Brian Wood (writers) and Frank Cho, Stuart Immonen, Chris Bachalo (artists), among others: This story was created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the X-Men in 2013, but in many ways it's decided to celebrate the worst aspects of the franchise. The premise is pretty gonzo, but I'll try to outline it as simply as I can: the original X-Men have been brought forward from the past, which is causing damage to the timestream. Two rival X-Men teams come from the future with opposing views on how to solve the problem, while the X-Men from the present are caught in the middle. Not too hard to figure out the problem with this story, is it? Surprisingly there are quite a lot of good character moments, and it begins well with the original X-Men on the run, but by the end it gets swamped by the sheer number of characters, many of whom only exist for this story. The number of characters isn't the only problem, as the constant switching between writers and artists results in a jarring read at times. That said, this is exactly the kind of story I love. I didn't care for the execution so much, but the madcap scope of it is right in my wheelhouse.
WWE Raw episode 1,132: It's that rare gem, a really rather good episode of Raw. The matches were mostly high quality, the storyline segments made sense, and there was nothing that left me shaking my head in disbelief. It's a low bar to clear, but it's shocking how often the WWE fails to do just that. Special props to Damien Sandow, for making me laugh simply by standing still.
All-New X-Men #1-15 by Brian Michael Bendis, Stuart Immonen and others: These are the comics that set up the premise of Battle of the Atom (described above). With the X-Men in an ideological split, the Beast decides to bring the original team from the past to show Cyclops the error of his ways. What results is some quality interpersonal drama, as the original teenage X-Men react to all the terrible things that have happened to them over the course of five decades worth of comics, and everyone else reacts to having these kids around. Bendis excels at this kind of stuff, even if I do find his pacing a little too slow at times.
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