tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65554882012-01-31T08:46:30.821-05:00Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.comBlogger10351100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-39414929563586945552011-05-03T02:02:00.002-04:002011-05-03T02:05:49.409-04:00

It's been a long time since a post, but I've been busy, busy with projects. Like a lot of bloggers, the blog led to other things that unfortunately took time away from blogging. One of those has been production of Warren Ellis: Captured Ghosts, my forthcoming film on comic book writer Warren Ellis. We're currently running a Kickstarter campaign to help finance the film, and I'd love your support!

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-70746215143649429482011-01-03T20:08:00.002-05:002011-02-10T01:07:59.247-05:00

I saw a lot of movies this year, thanks to my membership in the WGA and the flood of screeners that arrived at the end of the year. So, I caught almost all the big Oscar movies, and, ironically, few of them actually made it to the list. But, some did in what I'd consider over all a fantastic year for movies. 10. The FighterThere were a bunch of movies in contention for this tenth spot on the list

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-52460829639598547972011-01-02T18:38:00.002-05:002011-01-02T18:40:00.999-05:00

10. Breaking BadHere's a show that is beyond a lot of others on the list in terms of visual artistry and narrative intensity, it's a show I feel like I should absolutely love, but still hasn't one hundred percent clicked for me. I always enjoy it when I'm watching it, but, despite having had the episodes on DVR since they aired, I still haven't finished the third season. I'm getting there, and

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-65643678670630313202010-12-31T17:44:00.000-05:002010-12-31T17:45:41.238-05:00

10. Chromeo – Business CasualThis album marks an embrace of the implicit 70s pop elements that had always been present in their sound. While previous albums were mostly 80s dance inspired, this one is a bit more Hall and Oates style, and it generally works really well. It's a bit less kitschy and ironic than previous albums, and the best songs here really showcase Chromeo's strength as song

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-27862325339176601582010-12-25T21:35:00.002-05:002010-12-26T11:42:27.747-05:00

10. Rihanna – Only Girl in the WorldA huge radio hit for a reason, this song features a colossal beat and fantastic production, just like most of Rihanna's songs. What separates it from her previous work is the strength of the vocal, which is a lot more raw and forceful than on something like “Umbrella.” There were a lot of big synth pop songs this year, but none was as huge as this one.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-77732988637927460382010-11-30T13:39:00.009-05:002010-11-30T13:45:16.781-05:00

If you haven't already had a chance to check it out, my film Grant Morrison: Talking With Gods has been released and is now available for purchase all over. I've had a great time screening the film all around the country, and have been thrilled by the really positive response the film has been received. You can see some of the reviews here, and for a quick sampling, here's some pull quotes..."A

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-22933247633640493832010-11-17T14:54:00.003-05:002010-11-17T14:56:47.093-05:00

I did one of these a while back, but I figured it was time for an update. 2009: Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix2008: Cut Copy- In Ghost Colours2007: Arcade Fire - Neon Bible2006: Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit2005: Junior Senior - Hey Hey My My Yo Yo2004: Phoenix - Alphabetical2003: Belle and Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress2002: The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-37191421328556753702010-10-29T20:35:00.001-04:002010-10-29T20:35:23.622-04:00

I've been a big Kanye fan for a while, his concert at the Nokia Theater is one of the best I've been to, and I've always enjoyed his blend of pop, accessible songs with more avant garde art and high culture influences. 808s and Heartbreaks is one of my favorite recent albums, but I still was not prepared for what he'd bring as director of the Runaway short film.The thing about cinema is that so

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-9999693859527098032010-10-05T14:27:00.004-04:002010-10-05T14:40:30.327-04:00

It's been crazy times over here as I get ready for the theatrical release of Grant Morrison: Talking With Gods. The film will be screening nationwide in the next few weeks, here's a brief rundown of the schedule...New York - October 9th at Cinema Village with Director/Producer Q&A (Ticket Info Here) New York - October 10th at New York Comicon 20 Minute Film Preview and Director/Producer Q&A San

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-7992658058661029042010-09-09T15:10:00.001-04:002010-09-09T15:11:17.975-04:00

I just read this new interview with Alan Moore. According to Moore, the medium was dying before he wrote Watchmen and he revived it, but everything since has been terrible, and now there's not even any "bottom-flight talent" in the industry. And even though the Watchmen film was a financial failure, DC is scheming to get the rights to make sequels and prequels across all media because the Batman

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-55414896420139347642010-09-04T14:54:00.002-04:002010-09-04T21:29:26.312-04:00

Sorry for the slacking on blogging. I've been busy wrapping up editing on the Grant film, which you can pre-order from Amazon now. Here's a couple of very quick rundowns of some stuff I've been reading/watching lately...- Mad Men's current season is the best to date, and has me really excited to see where the show goes in the late 60s, when the culture becomes even more tumultuous. The series'

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-55069216244515331122010-08-04T01:37:00.005-04:002010-08-04T01:49:22.165-04:00

It's been a while since I've had a chance to blog. I've seen a few things that piqued my interest, Inception, the most recent episode of Mad Men and reading the last volume of Scott Pilgrim, but it's been mostly business these past few weeks. The big event was my trip to San Diego Comicon, an amazing time for a variety of reasons. I was there for two main reasons, first was the panel for Grant

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-75118745443294578892010-07-23T05:35:00.000-04:002010-07-23T05:36:19.506-04:00

I haven't posted in a while, mainly because I've been hard at work bringing the Grant Morrison documentary to a finish. We're having one of our biggest events yet today, a panel at San Diego Comicon! I'm out here already and had a great day today in Hall H and all around the con, then tomorrow it's down to business. Here's all the panel info, I hope to see you there.Get a first look at the

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-84897603974789654372010-05-31T22:56:00.001-04:002010-05-31T22:56:45.194-04:00

It's interesting to write about Rebuild of Evangelion as an American viewer since, what I'd consider one of the biggest film events of the year happens in a weird sort of vacuum. There's no hype for the film coming out, it just shows up online and you roll from there. Normally with a big franchise film, you have that collective rush of anticipation, but not for this one! As longtime blog readers

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-55160552289437923542010-05-27T22:06:00.000-04:002010-05-27T22:07:51.222-04:00

In the tradition of my recent film director rankings, here's a similar list, this time for bands! You'll notice it's tilted more towards older bands, that's because I only did bands with at least four or five albums in their catalogue. One day the best current bands will be part of a similar list, but not yet!Abba1.The Album2.Abba3.Super Trouper4.The Visitors5.Arrival6.Voulez-Vous7.WaterlooAimee

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-52631929292531712482010-05-24T12:28:00.001-04:002010-05-24T12:28:57.991-04:00

Let me start off by saying that just because the series finale was somewhere between weak and a total debacle, that doesn't invalidate the greatness of many moments throughout the history of Lost. I wrote up my ten favorite episodes, and the troubles in the finale, and the final season in general, don't invalidate the amazing things about those episodes. But, it also doesn't redeem the many

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-66124912957569780282010-05-24T01:56:00.001-04:002010-05-24T01:58:06.744-04:00

It had a few moments, but on the whole, one of the weakest finales of a sometimes great show I've ever seen. Full review tomorrow!

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-87744112863700948802010-05-18T22:58:00.001-04:002010-05-18T22:58:43.348-04:00

Tonight's Lost was definitely one of the better episodes of the season, and particularly during the opening sequences with Ben and Widmore, I was reminded of the show at its peak, with all kinds of machinations and scheming from two of the show's most exciting characters. After that, it was a mix of mythology payoffs and frustratingly slow moving alt-verse stuff that made for a great episode, but

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-56360386785841027942010-05-16T19:33:00.001-04:002010-05-16T19:33:17.258-04:00

Since I've been pretty harsh on Lost this year, I wanted to go back and write about my ten favorite episodes of the series, going into the end. Since I watched it in a pretty compressed time frame, it can sometimes be tough to remember what happened in specific episodes, but I did my best to break them out and find my ten favorites.10. Orientation (2x03) - This episode finally resolved the three

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-47918927695421296502010-05-15T17:32:00.001-04:002010-05-15T17:32:44.838-04:00

I'm a bit late on this one, been traveling this week, but I just saw the episode and while it's quite interesting on its own terms, I think it's also symptomatic of a lot of the problems of the show throughout its entire run. The discussion surrounding the show has often been consumed by questions and answers, the need for people to find out the answer to the various mysteries set up over the

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-60875714364628565672010-05-04T22:55:00.000-04:002010-05-04T22:56:10.989-04:00

After a fantastic episode a couple of weeks ago, which built a lot of forward momentum, an ill timed week off and a generally week hour has slowed everything back down. This episode will probably get some big reaction for the deaths and ending, but it's a pretty terrible episode, with perhaps the most pointless flash-sideways of the season, and a plodding island story that kills a couple of

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-68764395555055926842010-05-04T21:09:00.000-04:002010-05-04T21:10:17.395-04:00

It amazes me sometimes that major corporations can make choices that seem so obviously misguided, yet they pass through the many layers of approval needed to get a project greenlit. Here's a couple of things that have baffled me recently.The first would be the just announced X-Men: First Class project. Of all the comics properties, X-Men is my favorite, but I've been generally unmoved by the four

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-80126658433077929132010-04-20T22:47:00.001-04:002010-04-20T22:47:54.361-04:00

It's amazing to watch an episode like “The Last Recruit” and see the show all of a sudden jump from meandering hit and miss episodes to an urgent, action packed, but emotionally focused hour that serviced all the characters well and was wall to wall great scenes and excitement. It's great to see that the creators finally decided that things happening and people doing stuff can result in an

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-4496598314279259042010-04-20T19:41:00.001-04:002010-04-20T19:41:22.276-04:00

I'm a bit behind on this week's Doctor Who, thanks to my trip to C2E2, but I'm caught up on it now, and it was quite an enjoyable episode, but as with seemingly every TV review I've been writing recently, I've got a couple of overarching concerns. My major concern has nothing to do with the quality of the episode itself, so much as the use of the daleks, who have always been positioned as the

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-61209190681541765852010-04-15T12:56:00.004-04:002010-04-15T13:06:35.675-04:00

This weekend, I'm making the leap from comicon attendee to comicon panelist, when my Respect Films colleagues and I do a panel/preview of our upcoming Grant Morrison documentary at Chicago's C2E2 Comicon. The panel will be taking place on Saturday from 1:45 to 2:45 in Room E271A. We're going to be screening about 15 minutes of material from the film, the first time any material will be publicly

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-73169306515022463372010-04-13T23:11:00.001-04:002010-04-13T23:11:46.064-04:00

Tonight's Lost does a good job of keeping up the momentum and intrigue of last week's great Desmond episode, even as it raises some potentially troubling issues, both going forward and in retrospect about the direction of the season as a whole. But, the Desmond/Locke stuff alone was fantastic, and I'm eager to see where everything winds up going.Let me start with what worked best about this

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-66847441171662939542010-04-11T13:29:00.001-04:002010-04-11T13:29:51.331-04:00

'The Beast Below' is a pretty solid episode of Doctor Who, but one that does raise some questions about what the show will be like under Moffat, and whether or not he'll ever match up to the heights of the Davies era. It's definitely too early to tell, but this episode definitely raises some warning signs about the future.The biggest difficulty with this season so far versus the Davies era is the

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-5259919922159927022010-04-10T22:08:00.004-04:002010-04-10T22:17:08.153-04:00

I decided to rank some directors' films in order of preference. Read on, and let me know if there's any big names that I may have missed and should rank, or any major works I haven't seen yet. Paul Thomas Anderson1.Magnolia2.Boogie Nights3.Punch Drunk Love4.There Will Be Blood5.Hard Eight Stanely Kubrick1.2001: A Space Odyssey2. Eyes Wide Shut3. Barry Lyndon4. The Shining5. Dr. Strangelove6. A

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-28470558688623463392010-04-07T00:28:00.000-04:002010-04-07T00:29:58.760-04:00

This week's Lost brought back perhaps the series' most beloved character, Desmond, and with him, the promise of some kind of major reveal about the time screwiness that's been going on in the alternate universe. As the episode ends, it seems like the nature of the alternate universe has finally been revealed, though questions certainly still linger. The final reveal is great, and fits with a lot

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-4102956212940964462010-04-03T23:05:00.001-04:002010-04-03T23:05:28.760-04:00

After a while where I didn't have any shows I was really excited to watch week to week, it's getting to be an embarrasment of riches with Lost, Breaking Bad (which I'm still working on catching up on, but will be weekly soon), soon Treme and today the new season of Doctor Who, featuring a new Doctor and new producer. I didn't enjoy the first episode quite as much as the rest of the internet, but

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-52913681531805648922010-04-03T18:26:00.001-04:002010-04-03T18:26:52.742-04:00

Kick-Ass the movie is getting some pretty strong heat media wise, to the point that the actual comic seems like a foot note. Thanks to the movie being optioned and produced before the series was even complete, it's easy to feel like the source material is superfluous at this point, and that's increasingly how I was feeling before reading the comic. After reading it, I found a strange, flawed, but

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-18882000738456802592010-03-30T22:29:00.001-04:002010-03-30T22:29:40.124-04:00

Another week of Lost, another episode that exemplifies most of my issues with the previous season six episodes. There's some really great scenes in here, and the final reveal is very satisfying, but both the on island and particularly the alt-verse stuff is a lot of wheel spinning with not too much payoff.First, let me deal with the downside of the episode. With any long running work, a looming

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-55985713457702363342010-03-29T20:00:00.000-04:002010-03-29T20:01:11.887-04:00

I was traveling, and then sick, so I haven't been able to post reviews of the last few Lost episodes. So, I want to do a post to sum up some of my feelings about the series at this point, and my hopes and fears about the rest of the season. Lost, like a lot of other works that have a fanatically devoted fanbase (think Star Wars or Evangelion), has a lot written about it, but very little objective

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-27322020241320873032010-03-14T17:28:00.006-04:002010-03-14T17:36:09.035-04:00

If you're wondering why there was no Lost post this week, or any posts at all, the short answer is that I've been in the UK doing more shooting for the Grant Morrison documentary! It's been a while time, and if you want a glimpse of some of the adventure, head over here to see some images from the trip. It's been pretty surreal to get to interview Grant in the first place, but to then get to

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-55777865200333771682010-03-03T01:18:00.000-05:002010-03-03T01:19:06.233-05:00

This week's Lost has many of the same issues that have plagued the season as a whole, but also finally kickstarts the story a bit and ends on a major high note that will hopefully propel us forward to bigger and better things as the season goes on. But, as in the first three seasons, the structure prevents the episode from being entirely satisfying.I know a lot of people criticized the flashbacks

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-38274286081178376722010-02-24T19:19:00.003-05:002010-02-24T19:50:18.806-05:00

With this post, the blog hits its 1,000th post! It's taken six years to get here, and over the course of that time, I've gone from a college student to a business owner, an amateur writer to a published author, a fan of comics to a professional documentarian who's met many of the people I wrote about over the years. It's been a great run, and I wish that I had more time recently to write up more

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-4590150694518132742010-02-23T23:21:00.001-05:002010-02-23T23:21:34.000-05:00

Another extremely flawed episode has me increasingly worried about the direction of the final season, and still unconvinced about the effectiveness of the alt-verse flash sideways structure. This episode is just like a season one episode, a pointless off island story, a lot of leisurely scenes not doing much, one great scene and a solid cliffhanger. Sadly, that's not enough to make a great show,

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-54744256797760441972010-02-16T23:22:00.000-05:002010-02-16T23:24:28.420-05:00

This week's Lost in an improvement over last week's very troubled episode, but still suffers from a lot of the same problems as the season to date, most notably the remoteness of the alt-verse sections from the central narrative, and the lack of any actual story on the island. All the main island stuff so far has been about raising questions, and answering a few. There's very few points of actual

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-62040581371183390362010-02-11T23:52:00.001-05:002010-02-11T23:52:42.941-05:00

I just watched the season finale of the fourth season of Friday Night Lights, a season that rivals the series' first for emotional power and directness. The show has performed an astonishing course correct, after plummeting terribly in the second season, the third brought together a lot of elements successfully, and paved the way for the series' impressive full on rebirth in this fourth season.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-31431609842097105502010-02-09T22:32:00.001-05:002010-02-09T22:32:42.957-05:00

Last week's Lost had me feeling some uncertainties about the season's direction, and this week's only enhances that with an episode that feels right out of the problematic characters in cages era of the third season, backing it up with an alt-verse storyline that felt tacked on and inessential at best, outright illogical at worst. The cliffhanger ending and teaser for next week look great, but

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-47760744375690366762010-02-09T16:32:00.003-05:002010-02-09T16:36:01.475-05:00

Here's the last episode of Volume One! Zinone mulls an intriguing proposal from Jerrod Woolf, and makes a decision that will irrevocably change his world. The apocalypse begins here! I'm really proud of this episode, and the series as a whole. Thanks to everyone who's been watching, and I'm eager to hear your thoughts on the season finale. And, if you aren't caught up, head over to http://

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-4000791334813629402010-02-02T23:41:00.002-05:002010-02-03T00:17:27.904-05:00

Six months after I wrapped up my viewing of the entire Lost series to date, it’s time to check out the Lost season premiere, the first Lost episode I’ve watched as it aired since the first season finale. LA X is a strong episode in a lot of ways, but features a central narrative conceit that seems expressly designed to bring back everything I dislike about the show, creating for a fractured

Patricknoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-857602680665392372010-02-02T12:54:00.002-05:002010-02-02T12:56:44.342-05:00

Check out the latest episode of my psychedelic webseries, The Third Age! With one episode to the finale, Zinone finds himself wondering whether he's a prisoner or a guest at Woolf Pharmaceutical!In other news, check back later today for a post about the Lost premiere.

Patricknoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-12133849205749176472010-01-31T17:17:00.001-05:002010-01-31T17:17:23.543-05:00

I’ve been reading a whole bunch of new comics lately, mostly stuff I’ve been getting out of the library. So, I’ve read a wide variety of stories, and been straying outside of the safe zone a bit and trying to read some new stuff. Two of the big ones I read recently were Warren Ellis’s Nextwave and Geoff Johns’ recent Green Lantern run, up through Secret Origin so far. The two works are polar

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-7152963389480697092010-01-26T01:34:00.002-05:002010-01-26T01:38:07.621-05:00

Here's the new episode of my webseries, The Third Age. This week, Holly, Zinone and Morning are on the run and facing a crossroads! Not all will make it 'In Exile.'Sorry for the lack of posts of late, I was on vacation last week, but I'm back in the game this week and will have some new words for you shortly. In other news, I'm doing the final run through of my Invisibles book, Our Sentence is Up

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-34996632306352596182010-01-22T23:26:00.002-05:002010-01-22T23:27:42.292-05:00

A bit late on this one, but here's episode nine! Check it out and let me know what you think. Look for some more posts shortly.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-43360871228276982772010-01-12T12:42:00.002-05:002010-01-12T12:45:11.876-05:00

This week, The Third Age kicks into high gear. After completing her ritual with Morning, Holly knows what she has to do, but can she do it? And, Jerrod Woolf's vision reaches a critical point, thirty years of work and it's all lead to this! If you're just joining us, The Third Age is a fantasy/sci-fi webseries that I produce/execute, you can check out all previous episodes here: http://

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-13119897109942162172010-01-10T16:47:00.000-05:002010-01-10T16:48:19.992-05:00

I guess I’m the only person left watching Dollhouse who doesn’t love it because every review or discussion I’m seeing about it seems to ignore the gaping illogical flaws in the back half of the second season, and the arbitrary plot twists and developments that the show tries to cover up with fast paced storytelling and a just keep moving forward attitude. Even though the second season is better

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-45841096152824250982010-01-09T20:53:00.002-05:002010-01-09T21:04:13.188-05:00

2009 is over. The 00s are over. It’s time for a new decade and an exciting new year of movies. Some years, I’ve had to scrounge around to find enough movies to fill out this list, but this year I’ve got an overflow. Of course, three of them are the same films that topped last year’s list, but hopefully they’ll all make it out this year, and hopefully this will be a great bunch of films. First off

Patricknoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-58813809369502495782010-01-05T12:12:00.003-05:002010-01-05T12:14:44.584-05:00

If you watch one episode of The Third Age, make it this one! This week, Holly leads a ritual to find out the truth about Morning, and is shocked by what she discovers! It's a more experimental episode than usual, and is my personal favorite of the series to date. I'd love to hear what you think.In other news, after the epic posting frenzy of best of time, things will probably slow up for a bit.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-78461416394495526262010-01-03T01:45:00.003-05:002010-01-03T01:49:27.586-05:00

Here’s the last of the best of lists. Just a quick note, I haven’t been able to see all the films I’d like to see, here’s some of the key gaps in my viewing: Antichrist, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call: New Orelans, A Single Man and a couple that didn’t make it over here, but will likely be part of next year’s list are Enter the Void and Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0.10. Observe and Report - A dark

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-72008796464611976122010-01-03T01:01:00.001-05:002010-01-03T01:02:09.079-05:00

2009 was a great year for TV, with some long running shows having their best season yet, and a lot of great shows staying strong. It’s a wealth of riches on the list here, let’s check it out…10. True BloodBest Episode: ‘Timebomb’ The show improved on its first season by refining its campy appeal and upping the stakes. The season peaked early, at the end of the Fellowship of the Sun arc, and kind

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-31793235685674859552010-01-01T22:52:00.001-05:002010-01-01T22:52:30.230-05:00

“The End of Time” is exemplary of all the virtues and flaws that made Russell Davies’ Doctor Who a unique work in sci-fi history. It’s got some muddled storytelling and weird deus ex machina elements that make it hard to even explain what’s going on, but it’s also intensely emotional and character focused, particularly during the final half hour of the episode, a lengthy, totally earned farewell

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-51142040902619838112010-01-01T18:32:00.001-05:002010-01-01T18:32:58.302-05:00

10. U2 – No Line on the Horizon - U2 in the 90s is one of my all time favorite bands, crafting inventive, experimental rock songs that evolved the band’s sound while still maintaining a distinct U2-ness. Their output this decade has been more conservative, and this album is no exception. There’s some good songs on here, but nothing as insistently great as their best work. Still, I love the

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-81812444526449792142010-01-01T18:30:00.000-05:002010-01-01T18:32:30.827-05:00

10. Tiga – Love Don’t Dance Here Anymore - A dance epic in the best tradition of disco 12 inch singles, an insistent bass riff anchors the song throughout its run time, as the vocals swell and ebb crossing from the opening sincere verses to the killer “Tables are turning” riff breakdown. When the cowbell comes in to bring it all home, it crosses over to another level. It’s a modern day Moroder

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-8192031381295949742009-12-31T19:45:00.001-05:002009-12-31T19:45:50.271-05:00

There’s a bunch of catching up to do with best of lists. Look for the best film and TV of 2009 tomorrow, but for now, here’s the best albums of the decade…10. Justice – Cross - I like a lot of things about Daft Punk’s Human After All, but Cross seems a lot more like the second best Daft Punk album of the decade. Of course, Justice do have their own slightly harder aesthetic, crafting some of the

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-70599067824546196242009-12-31T19:22:00.002-05:002009-12-31T19:45:02.451-05:00

10. Annie – Heartbeat - A perfect example of the way that pop music crossed over to the indie crowd, this song has the impeccable production of the best 80s synth pop, and a great vocal performance cooed by Annie. The song’s hook is infectious, but its greatest coup is using the ever more intense drum line to mimic the heartbeat of the title. An 00s pop classic! 9. Phoenix – Too Young - Another

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-15832367499559030402009-12-24T21:32:00.003-05:002009-12-24T21:40:08.586-05:00

Here’s the ten best TV shows of the decade. This was by far the best decade for TV in the medium’s history, and this list is pretty close to my best series all time list. There's a lot of great shows that didn't make it, these are the elite. 10. AngelBest Season: FiveBest Episode: ‘A Hole in the World’ The most uneven show on the list, Angel veered from the boring standalones of season one and

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-50299256929389769712009-12-22T12:25:00.004-05:002009-12-22T12:29:03.099-05:00

In this week's episode, Holly and Zinone catch up, while Jerrod meets some new friends. This episode is one of my favorites we've done so far, so give it a look, and let me know what you think of how things are developing.And, if you haven't heard, The Third Age is a webseries I created and produce. It's been called "A combination of mad mythology and gritty verite," and takes a magical realist

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-89206271568403031042009-12-20T16:36:00.001-05:002009-12-20T16:36:12.247-05:00

Avatar was discussed before its release primarily in the context of it being a ‘game changer’ for 3-D and CG world construction, with very little discussion of the story itself. As I walked into the theater, I’d read some advance reviews, but wasn’t sure what to expect from the film. Leaving the theater, I knew I’d seen a film that was at times extremely powerful, but also didn’t quite work on

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-75904603451853219002009-12-16T04:05:00.002-05:002009-12-16T04:10:03.531-05:00

Here's Episode Five of my webseries, The Third Age! In this episode, Christopher Zinone seeks the help of an old friend, and Jerrod Woolf continues his quest for the divine. There's a lot of interesting elements in this episode, and it sets up a new character dynamic for the series. Exciting stuff.And, stay tuned for more best of the decade stuff later in the week.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-48722428060162456862009-12-16T03:58:00.002-05:002009-12-16T04:05:30.834-05:00

It’s been a pretty wild ten years, I already discussed some of the larger trends in cinema, but now it’s time to discuss the ten best films of the decade. Yes, there’s still a few more key films to see, but I’m going to go ahead and put the list out now. Read on to find out the best on 00s cinema.10. Ghost World - This film is the best kind of cross media adaptation. Most movies fail for not

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-73469396556769641892009-12-09T13:18:00.002-05:002009-12-09T13:23:52.969-05:00

Stay tuned this week on the blog for the first best of the decade lists dropping. Hopefully I'll be able to write up Best of songs, albums, TV episodes, TV shows, Comics and Films for both year and decade before we hit 2010. We shall see. In the meantime, here's a couple new videos from me and Respect Films.First up, episode 4 of The Third Age...In this episode, Jerrod Woolf receives a mysterious

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-19538289749168566982009-12-04T23:13:00.001-05:002009-12-04T23:14:36.005-05:00

I’ve been reading a lot of Geoff Johns comics over the past few months. At this point, I’ve gotten through the first six volumes of his Teen Titans run, the first two volumes of his recent Superman run and the first four volumes of his Green Lantern, with the Sinestro Corps War waiting next. The success of Blackest Night has brought John even more to the fore of comics discussion than ever before

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-84931982250730325772009-12-02T02:49:00.003-05:002009-12-02T02:56:18.259-05:00

Sorry for not posting much substantive content in the past few weeks. I've got a bunch of Decade and Year wrap up stuff in the works, but for now, it's time for more about the projects I'm working on. First off, the third episode of The Third Age...This is my favorite of the first three, and if you haven't checked it out at all yet, this is the perfect time to go back and watch from the start,

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-34297757973085389372009-11-25T00:35:00.002-05:002009-11-25T00:36:47.095-05:00

As in the previous media I discussed, this has been a tumultuous decade for cinema. For one, film has lost its position as the preeminent visual medium in culture. Through a variety of forces, TV rose up to take the lead role in discussing societal issues and telling the most artistically ambitious and challenging stories of the decade. But, where did that leave cinema on an artistic, and

Patricknoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-40580164381777889572009-11-25T00:05:00.003-05:002009-11-25T00:43:01.205-05:00

Thanks to everyone who checked out the first episode of the show last week. If you liked that one, press on with the exciting second episode! And, as always, I'd love to hear what you think. And, if you like the episode, please post on your blog/Facebook/Twitter/tell your friends. We're trying to build an audience and every little bit helps!And, if you didn't see the last post, The Third Age is a

Patricknoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-85233621856364871642009-11-17T14:48:00.004-05:002009-11-17T14:52:47.260-05:00

The webseries I've been working on for a while is finally live! Check out Episode One of The Third Age, embedded below.The show has been called "An acid trip in web video form" by Tubefilter, so give it a look, and let me know what you think!

Patricknoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-2585804948057113482009-11-16T00:07:00.000-05:002009-11-16T00:08:05.198-05:00

Watching “The Waters of Mars,” it’s hard to believe that it’s been eighteen months since “The Stolen Earth” aired because this episode gets you right back to the mental space of being totally wrapped up in the show. It’s a hard episode, one that gets darker and more intense than most Who episodes to date, and one that does a fantastic job of setting up the themes and conflicts that will

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-26776610002111007672009-11-09T01:14:00.000-05:002009-11-09T01:15:21.543-05:00

With a few new shows having premiered, and one on the way out, it seems like an opportune time to do another TV power ranking. 1. Mad Men – By far the best show on TV, it’ll be a long wait until next season. I didn’t love the backhalf of the season as much as I liked the first half, but it closed on a great note, with a vast array of possibilities for next season. 2. Parks and Recreation - The

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-59381887240449275742009-11-09T00:48:00.001-05:002009-11-09T00:49:41.980-05:00

Another Mad Men season is in the books, with a season finale that opens the door to a wildly changed status quo for the fourth season, with the two foundational elements of the show, Sterling Cooper and Don’s marriage both destroyed, and Don faced with the question of finding out who is Don Draper when the reason he was created is no longer around.The episode reminded me a lot of last year’s

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-3978351711752320642009-10-28T19:44:00.002-04:002009-10-28T19:45:34.433-04:00

Previously, I discussed the way that the internet caused vast changes in the distribution and consumption habits of music. But, did it really change the way the artistic quality of music itself? A little bit, but not in the way that the internet, and a number of other factors, contributed to a radical shift in the artistic quality of television. Ten years ago, it was common to praise a TV show

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-60394422368396373202009-10-28T13:02:00.006-04:002009-10-30T00:24:40.112-04:00

A long time ago, I mentioned that I was working on a magical realist webseries project called The Third Age, and now, after two long years in production, it's finally being released. The debut date is November 17th, new episodes will be released weekly after that. So, if you're wondering, what will I think about now that Mad Men is ending, well you're in luck because T3A will be dropping upon you

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-57180611712879772552009-10-10T23:41:00.001-04:002009-10-10T23:43:26.764-04:00

I’ve seen a couple of other people doing a ‘Power Ranking’ for TV shows, and I’m going to start doing that every couple of weeks, as the schedule allows. It’ll be a good chance for me to write up a bit about all the shows I’m watching without having to review every episode. Right now, I’m watching a whole bunch of shows, mostly comedies. I think there’s a lot of good stuff on, but I would love to

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-23435231151723597652009-10-07T01:12:00.001-04:002009-10-07T01:12:42.122-04:00

To wrap up the decade, I’m going to do the standard top ten lists, but I also want to go a bit more in depth into the trends and changes that have happened in all the major art forms over the past ten years. Perhaps more than any ten year period in recent history prior, the 2000s were a time of major shifts in the way we consume and experience virtually every major art form. I’m going to start

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-55516907687935554002009-10-03T14:06:00.000-04:002009-10-03T14:07:04.523-04:00

I was pretty forgiving of the weaknesses of the early episodes of Dollhouse, I made it through the Beyonce episode or the cult episode, trying to appreciate what worked, and sticking with it mainly because of the promise of something better. The behind the scenes narrative of the series was that the first five episodes were compromised by the needs of Fox, and starting with episode six, Joss

Patricknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-15704196805718374442009-09-28T23:18:00.001-04:002009-09-28T23:18:59.259-04:00

I’m watching a bunch of shows in the new TV season, almost all of them half hour comedies for whatever reason. There’s some good stuff, I’m liking Bored to Death and Community, but nothing else on TV currently comes even close to what Mad Men is doing with its third season, easily the show’s best to date. The show is going deeper and deeper every episode, imbuing everyday events with deep

Patricknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-31474113269641086722009-09-25T23:26:00.001-04:002009-09-25T23:26:19.665-04:00

I’d argue, and have multiple times, that the biggest story in cinema this decade is the change in production standards and quality on TV. The buzz word is always “it’s more like a movie than a TV show,” which raises the question, what is a TV show anyway? Well, if you go back and watch shows from before shows like The Sopranos and 24 redefined what a TV show looked and felt like, you can find out

Patricknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-41675070149402195592009-09-20T19:51:00.001-04:002009-09-20T19:51:33.579-04:00

Actor (Comedy):Alec Baldwin – Jack on “30 Rock”Stephen Colbert – Stephen Colbert on “The Colbert Report”Rhys Darby – Murray on “Flight of the Conchords”Neil Patrick Harris – Barney on “How I Met Your Mother”Tracy Morgan – Tracy on “30 Rock”Neil Patrick Harris did a great job of pushing Barney into more emotional situations without compromising the inherent appeal of the character. He and the

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-52914238768733757502009-09-18T02:13:00.002-04:002009-09-18T02:14:26.477-04:00

The new issue of Batman and Robin features the predicted drop off in art quality, as Philip Tan’s murky, sketchy pencils replace the pop dynamism of Quitely. The story generally works though, the series remains very straight ahead and accessible, without the convoluted psychological insanity of Batman RIP, which most people seem to like, but I’m finding a bit frustrating on some levels.I’m

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-91367397756270419992009-09-14T21:21:00.003-04:002009-09-14T21:23:50.194-04:00

I haven’t had too much time to post here in a while, things have been a bit crazy on many fronts. But, I should mention that my book about The Invisibles, Our Sentence is Up, is going to be coming out in November and is available for pre-order now through Diamond. Check out the Sequart site for more info on how to order.If you already read all the blog posts I did here, there’s still plenty worth

Patricknoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-81050804032478297942009-08-31T00:50:00.001-04:002009-08-31T00:50:40.707-04:00

I didn’t have a chance to write about the first two episodes of Mad Men’s third season, but I’ve been watching and enjoying so far. I don’t think the show has matched any of the sublime stuff from the end of season two, but this week’s episode takes a big step forward, decentralizing the narrative and lending huge gravity to small moments and actions that transpire between the characters. Little

Patricknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-70338296408192873042009-08-27T02:12:00.001-04:002009-08-27T02:12:57.251-04:00

The first Batman and Robin arc wrapped up with another great issue, that again spotlights Frank Quitely as the best visual storyteller in comics history. The overall Morrison Batman story makes some progress, and some great groundwork is laid for future storylines, but this whole arc feels kind of like Morrison and Quitely cutting loose after the very structured, for the ages perfection of All

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-4745250458726294482009-08-22T14:01:00.001-04:002009-08-22T14:01:35.611-04:00

When history looks back on the history of film in the 2000s, the defining narrative is going to be the ascension of TV as the primary visual artistic medium, and mainstream film’s increasing polarization between micro-budget indies and creative dead end rehashed blockbusters. But, even as TV has become a better medium for conveying narrative, cinema maintains its unparalleled ability to create

Patricknoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-43548183816361135802009-08-16T02:25:00.002-04:002009-08-16T12:58:30.375-04:00

The “And What Now?” series continues with the film that inspired it, a look at Judd Apatow’s Funny People. I think there’s a wide gap in the media discourse about the film and the film itself. The big story about the film was the idea that this was Apatow’s most serious project yet, a film that brought him to a crossroads between the goofy comedies of the past, and a serious meditation on life

Patricknoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-22314777504562731392009-08-15T17:41:00.001-04:002009-08-15T17:41:34.570-04:00

It’s time now for the first ever weekend blog series here. The theme for this bunch of posts will be an exploration of creators struggling to maintain their spark after the onset of success and fame. What do you do when the story you set out to tell is told? Where do you go from there? The title of the series is “And Now What?”First off, a discussion of a film I watched yesterday, Coraline. Henry

Patricknoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-78961813328397580152009-08-08T12:57:00.000-04:002009-08-08T12:58:12.678-04:00

It’s time for one last post on San Diego Comicon. I’ve read a bunch of great coverage about the con, a lot of which centers on the idea of what places do comics actually have at the event. With the big Hollywood presentations drawing all the press attention, and everyone talking about Twilight fans ‘ruining’ the con, where’s the discussion of comics themselves? People seem indignant that ‘their’

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-48670021794841222342009-08-03T23:09:00.001-04:002009-08-03T23:09:19.736-04:00

Over the past two days, I watched all the films of Kenneth Anger Volume II. I got the DVD from Netflix, and I’ll admit it sat on the sidelines for a few weeks, but after checking it out I was shocked by just how good all these films were. I’d previously been familiar with Anger’s work from seeing “Scorpio Rising” in Intro to Film Part II in my days at Wesleyan, and I really liked it, but it

Patricknoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-9427241089976257352009-07-28T15:08:00.001-04:002009-07-28T15:08:52.483-04:00

After roughly ten days out on the West Coast, I’m back in New York, and have successfully made it through my first comicon experience. San Diego was pretty much what everyone said it would be, jam packed with people, a grueling trip and also a lot of fun. We were out there shooting stuff for the Grant Morrison project, and wound up doing twenty six interviews over four days, which is a lot

Patricknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-63707545766090596862009-07-19T03:32:00.002-04:002009-07-19T03:33:10.259-04:00

Yesterday, I finally went to see Michael Mann’s latest film, Public Enemies. Mann has made some of my favorite films, going back to Heat and The Insider, but it wasn’t until I saw Miami Vice in 2006 that he became one of my favorite directors. The Insider is still probably the stronger film on the whole, but Vice was so perfectly atmospheric and inventive in the way it told its story. It’s the

Patricknoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-75407279707977974642009-07-19T03:32:00.001-04:002009-07-19T03:32:39.528-04:00

Appropriately, I’m writing the post for the last piece of Lost season five on a plane. This season finale was the show’s best episode since the season two finale, “Live Together, Die Alone,” combining pretty much all the elements that make the show work, the weird scientific elements, the religious power of the island and its mysterious history into a relentless episode that resolved very little,

Patricknoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-48073541887479328962009-07-18T11:41:00.001-04:002009-07-18T11:41:59.056-04:00

Today, I’m leaving the East coast to head out to California to do some filming for our Grant Morrison documentary at the San Diego Comicon. As a long time comics/film/TV fan, this is essentially the biggest event I could ever attend. I’d always wanted to get to San Diego at some point, and this year it just happened.I’ve got a pretty busy schedule of interviews set up, with some really cool

Patricknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-68525302251941986432009-07-17T02:13:00.000-04:002009-07-17T02:14:05.368-04:00

This batch of Lost episodes takes us through some of my favorite material the show has ever done, as well as some slightly frustrating stuff. But, in general I’m loving the 70s era stuff, and the turns that the show has taken in this season. There’s two primary threads in this batch of episodes, one is the tracking of how the Oceanic Six make it back to the island, and the other follows the

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-64319416943315158862009-07-13T01:48:00.001-04:002009-07-13T01:48:49.647-04:00

Lost’s fifth season throws off the last shackles of the series’ strictly divided flashback or flashforward structure and establishes a two pronged narrative, partially on the mainland, partially on the island, with the island half doing its own journey through time, sending the characters backwards and forward through the island’s own history. It’s a fantastic device, giving us the opportunity to

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-90895595102350914242009-07-10T23:16:00.001-04:002009-07-10T23:16:16.200-04:00

The fourth season of Lost was by far the series’ most consistent, so it stands to reason that where other seasons fluctuated wildly between drawn out, boring middle patches, and brilliant finales, the gap between regular episode and finale would be less in this season. The finale is still strong, with a couple of great moments, but in general, feels more like just putting together a bunch of

Patricknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-74742422007194270612009-07-10T17:03:00.002-04:002009-07-10T17:03:38.028-04:00

Matt Fraction is a comics writer who I’d heard about for a while, and always seemed like the kind of writer I’d be into should I read his stuff. I read the first volume of Casanova a while back, and enjoyed a lot of it, but also found it a bit convoluted, full of great ideas, but without the emotional grounding to make them meaningful. The reason I’d argue Morrison is the greatest comics writer,

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-2050526309663015982009-07-06T23:03:00.002-04:002009-07-06T23:05:05.638-04:00

As I mentioned, I’ve been rolling along through Lost’s fourth season. A Fourth of July weekend spent watching many episodes has me backlogged for blogging, just writing about it as I’m approaching the end of another season already. When I started rewatching Lost, I was fine with revisiting episodes I’d already seen, but it’s this territory of the show that I was really curious about, the moment

Patricknoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-22420124299811740392009-07-05T02:14:00.001-04:002009-07-05T02:14:42.303-04:00

This batch of episodes features answers to some of the major ongoing questions surrounding the series, as well as a format changing event that promises a much better show in future seasons. I’ve seen the first four of the fourth season, but I’ll stick primarily to the end of season three, because there’s a lot of stuff to talk about there, and then I’ll probably do another post exploring the

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-15443361743647359512009-07-02T01:22:00.002-04:002009-07-02T01:22:52.278-04:00

Batman and Robin #2 is a lot like the first issue, in that much of the first half is spent on a fight scene seemingly designed to show off Quitely’s unparalleled storytelling abilities, and outré design sense, and then spends the second half picking apart the emotional impact of recent events in the characters’ lives. I like the way that Grant doesn’t do the story as a strictly continuous series

Patricknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555488.post-32119645877491658512009-07-01T16:44:00.000-04:002009-07-01T16:45:16.292-04:00

Dusk is nothing if not timely. Written by David Doub and drawn by several artists, it’s an independent graphic novel about Vampires, and with the success of Twilight and True Blood, there’s clearly an appetite for this kind of material. But, with the plethora of vampire stories already available, what distinguishes Dusk? After checking out this first volume, of which there’s still more to come,

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702965396185870813noreply@blogger.com0