Comics.

Captain Britain and MI:13, Batman:RIP, 100 Bullets, and Casanova. Good week for comics.

Sean= really happy that Casanova #14 includes no time travel. Still kind of pissed someone pulled off the mixtape headings like that so well.

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FD update.05.14.08.

5 pages to go and #21 is in the can. I think the next issue’s epigraph will be a quote from Avon Barksdale. #21’s was from Chow Yun-Fat. When it’s finished I’m going to write something up for the FD Essay series.

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Music.

Ladytron’s Velocifero, Hot Chip’s Made in the Dark, NIN’s The Slip, J Dilla’s Donuts. And random T-Pain tracks.

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Sorry if the posting is (will be) light lately, this week has been shit. I’m not going to go into it. But that’s why.

I didn’t watch it on the first run, but I’ve got to tell you I dig the hell out of Burn Notice.

I don’t really think I need to sell it - but imagine the child of Desolation Jones, Miami Vice, and the Rockford Files. It’s got a cast with amazing chemistry, great writing, brilliant premise, constantly shifting dynamics, and kickass action sequences. It feels real too, despite being highly stylized.

Oh and Bruce Campbell is in it.

There are a lot of factors. Old Indiana Jones isn’t something I’m at all interested. It sounds like Roger Moore’s later Bond films to me. I don’t want Indy with a fucking kid and wife. Fuck that noise. There’s Spielberg’s turn toward more “adult” and”serious” movies which consistently shown diminishing returns. There’s George Lucas’ involvement. The man who’s dedicated his life toward destroying the work of his younger, more idealistic and creative self. There’s the awful CGI. There’s the moronic way it’s being sold. There’s the rumor that there was a Frank Darabont script about Roswell and hunting Nazis in South America that was completely scrapped at Lucas’ say so (which probably was amazing). And then theres fucking Jar Jar. There’s the creeping tone of “cash grab” lurking throughout every leaked shot, every press conference, every photo. It all screams desperation.

But I think I’m going to see it anyway. And I hate myself for it.

Because Cate Blanchett is the best actor alive. And to top that, she’s doing a sexy accent. And she’s playing my favorite kind of pulp villain.

“Fuck you, Steven Spielberg!”

In a bizarre attempt to follow Iron Man’s success, HBO is following Sex+ the City’s credits w/ a scene where Marlo Stanfield kills Miranda

Cracked the halfway point on #21 while I was over @ Jared’s. It’s completely without a middle ground between asinine physical comedy and reprehensible violence. Like Arrested Development scenes cut into Shinya Tsukamoto’s Snake of June. But not as good as that sounds. Actually I should do that. That sounds pretty kick ass. Anyway page 12.

listening: Sea and Cake, SFA, RAC’s Nintendo vs. Sega ep, My Morning Jacket, Hanna-Barbera sound effects records

Listening to David Milch give a series of lectures about writing. Fuck yeah.

I believe this is the first music video to include ILM special effects.

yoink.

Got some suction w/ this story now. Things I’ve learned 2) I’m better at writing melee fight scenes than writing anything else. Just piles of dead guys. And I’m doing some interesting stuff with chronology thats more subtle than the book has been so far. Locked the title “WORRY ABOUT IT LATER” in too, because a joke hinges on it. HEROIC BLOODSHED was a better title for it, but the joke wins.

Got a ton of ideas for the next issue (SUPERKILLER!), none of which help while writing this one. Should be badass, though. It’s a solo story for a character that hasn’t appeared in the book for a while. And out of the characters still alive, she’s probably my favorite.

Incidentally, I’m writing these daily to ensure that I keep making progress and not excuses. Transparency as auto-blackmail.

Page 8 then.

listening: Spiritualized, Super Furry Animals

- 3-part Grant Morrison interview. 1. 2. 3.

- Real life supervillain shit (via the Factual Opinion)

- If Anchorman is the modern Caddyshack, then… oh god no.

- An in-depth retrospective on True Romance at Maxim. Wait, Maxim?

- My shop was sold out of the Hellboy FCBD, so seeing this had me dying.

- The most political image Marvel will publish this decade.

EDIT: VIDEO FIXED

Found a way into #21. Rewrote the really stale opening I had in the script that I lost. Now instead of meandering it starts with a fairly vicious joke. Things I’ve learned: 1) It’s kind of a pain in the ass to rewrite from memory. But it’s a start. It’s definitely better though. The deal is to cut back and forth between two sequences for the whole issue. In theory anyway.

3 pages in. Just gotta keep working at it.

Listening: Sea and Cake, Crystal Castles, NIN

(via Stereogum, click through to get the mp3)

“Woke up afraid of my own shadow/Like genuinely afraid” = one hell of a great lyric.