A Torrent Of Blood And Awesomeness: The Movie 300

March 10, 2007 | 4 Comments

300-4

I sat packed in the front corner of a theater last night with no popcorn, no candy, no soda; surrounded by excited teenage males, eager to see boobs and blood. My neck was arched and my body contorted in positions I didn’t know were possible just to watch a distorted view of the new movie, 300. My eyes rolled around like a steer before the slaughter as I waited for the movie to start…but previews first. Whoop-dee-doo. They were so-so…well…the Spider Man III trailer did rock my world but still didn’t drive away my discomfort.

The screen goes black.

I shift uncomfortably and moan.

The the title splatters across the screen in large, bloody letters. The theater squeals with delight, yet I sigh in my irritation at not having arrived sooner. I’m going to have the movie spoiled by my discomfort, I thought. And then the movie started and my mind was sucked away to ancient Sparta.

The movie was stunning visually, the artistry of the cinematography was truly amazing even at my front-of-the-theater vantage point. During combat scenes (and there are a lot of them), the stop-and-go effects of thrusts, bashes, blood flow, and gore really added a lot to the movie. Having not read the 300 comic I’ve nothing to compare the movie to, however, the story seemed solid…primary vocals from the characters on screen were battle cries and very eloquent “bravery” speeches, however, the movie was heavily narrated giving the viewers the feel they were watching a story rather than just a movie. Very well done.

300-3

Effects were sweet, although I have some issues with the various views presented in the scene where Xerxes and Leonidas parley. From the beginning of that scene, we see that Xerxes towers comically huge over Leonidas, yet the camera views during their conversation changed that perception. Darby O’Gill and the Little People did a better job of this effect.

And that was my only real complaint.

So good was the movie that my discomfort and irritation at my position within the theater dissolved into nothingness. One thing was quite funny about that theater room, however. The movie showed plenty of breasts and a very brief, non-graphic sex scene…As I mentioned before, I was surrounded by teenagers. That became readily obvious any time a boob flashed on screen as a ripple of snickers and jibes swept across the room. That was more humorous that annoying…was I ever that way?

I will definitely be seeing this movie again. When next I see the movie, I’ll make sure to secure a better position within the theater so I can experience the full effect in all its glory. If you have a chance to see this movie in the theater…do so. You won’t be disappointed.

For a little background on the movie, here’s some info pulled from Wikipedia:

The film is a close adaptation of the graphic novel 300 by Frank Miller in which Spartan King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and 300 Spartans fight to the last man against Persian King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and his massive army of one million soldiers. Facing insurmountable odds, the Spartans’ sacrifice inspires all of Greece to unite against the Persian invaders. The story is loosely based on the Battle of Thermopylae which took place in 480 BC.

I want to read the Graphic Novel now. :) I sure hope the other comic book/hero movies coming out this year are as good! This month is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Then of course, Spider Man III and Transformers!

Posted by Matt | Filed Under Art, Gaming, & Fun, Blog 

MyComic WordPress Plugin v0.5 Released!

March 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Last night I went into plugin fixing mode and have updated and released the latest version of the MyComic WordPress Plugin (download it here)! This new version is compatible with the latest version of WordPress (2.1.2) and it fixes/adds/changes a few things:

Bug Fixes:

  • Error on plugin activation is fixed
  • Fixed some inefficiencies with the comic nav display code
  • Fixed some incompatibility errors with the new version of WordPress
  • Correctly linked to the example MyComic CSS file

New Features/Updates:

  • MyComic options menu has been relocated from the WordPress Options Tab to the WordPress Plugins Tab
  • Users can choose to sort comic navigation by post_id or by comic id

Special thanks to all the people that left comments to poke/prod me to update the plugin. Thanks to Mosey for being my Beta Testing Guinea Pig.

Posted by Matt | Filed Under Blog, Technology 

Marvel Civil War Reading Order

September 29, 2006 | 10 Comments

Contents:

  1. Checklist
  2. Reading Order

Civil War As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’m a fan of Marvel’s Civil War comics. Like many, I’ve been buying up the comics and reading them as they come out, which gives an approximate reading order. When looking back at the Civil War comics released thus far, its difficult to remember the order that Marvel has intended. Checklists exist out there but are difficult for me to find (and I’ve had a number of searches come to BorkWeb looking for a reading order).

Checklist

Febuary 2006
Amazing Spider-Man #529

March 2006
Amazing Spider-Man #530
Fantastic Four #536
New Avengers: Illuminati Special

April 2006
Amazing Spider-Man #531
Civil War Opening Shot Sketchbook
Fantastic Four #537

May 2006
Civil War #1
Marvel Spotlight: Millar/McNiven
Amazing Spider-Man #532
She-Hulk #8
Wolverine #42

June 2006
Civil War #2
Civil War Front Line #1
Civil War Front Line #2
Amazing Spider-Man #533
Fantastic Four #538
New Avengers #21
Thunderbolts #103
Wolverine #43
X-Factor #8

July 2006
Civil War #3
Civil War Front Line #3
Civil War Front Line #4
Civil War: X-Men #1
Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways#1
Amazing Spider-Man #534
Black Panther #18
Cable & Deadpool #30
Fantastic Four #539
New Avengers #22
Thunderbolts #104
Wolverine #44
X-Factor #9

August 2006
Civil War #4
Civil War Front Line #5
Civil War Front Line #6
Civil War: X-Men #2
Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways #2
Amazing Spider-Man #535
Cable & Deadpool #31
Fantastic Four #540
Heroes For Hire #1
MS. MARVEL #6
New Avengers #23
Thunderbolts #105
Wolverine #45

September 2006
Civil War #4
Civil War Files
Civil War Front Line #6
Civil War: X-Men #3
Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways #3
Amazing Spider-Man #535
Cable & Deadpool #32
Captain America #22
Fantastic Four #540
Heroes For Hire #2
Ms. Marvel #7
New Avengers #24
Wolverine #46

October 2006
Civil War: Choosing Sides (One Shot)
Civil War Front Line #7
Civil War: X-Men #4
Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways #4
Captain America #23
Heroes For Hire #3
Iron Man #13
Ms. Marvel #8
New Avengers #25
Wolverine #47

November 2006
Civil War #5
Civil War Front Line #8
Amazing Spider-Man #536
Captain America #24
Fantastic Four #541
Iron Man #14
Moon Knight #7 (Casualties of War)
Punisher: War Journal #1
Wolverine #48

December 2006
Civil War #6
Civil War Front Line #9
Black Panther #23
Civil War: WAR CRIMES (One Shot)
Iron Man/Captain America Special(Casualties of War)
Moon Knight #8 (Casualties of War)
Punisher: War Journal #2
Winter Soldier: Winter Kills (Casualties of War)

January 2007
Civil War #7
Amazing Spider-Man #537
Amazing Spider-Man #538
Black Panther #24
BLADE #5 (Casualties of War)
Civil War Front Line #10
Fantastic Four #542
Fantastic Four #543
Moon Knight #10 (Casualties of War)
Punisher: War Journal #3

February 2007
Civil War Front Line #11
Civil War: Battle Damage Report
Black Panther #25

Reading Order

Here’s a reading order that I found from 606Studios…if you follow that link, you’ll get spoilers:

  1. Thor 80-85: Ragnarok
  2. Avengers 500-503: Disassembled, Avengers Finale
  3. Pulse 1-5
  4. Wolverine 20-31: Enemy Of The State
  5. Captain America 1-14: The Winter Soldier
  6. New Avengers 1-3: Breakout
  7. Secret War 1-5/The Pulse 6-9
  8. New Avengers 4-6
  9. Iron Man 1-6: Extremis
  10. Captain America 16
  11. Captain America 17
  12. Amazing Spider-Man 515-518: Skin Deep
  13. Amazing Spider-Man 519-524
  14. New Avengers 7-10: The Sentry
  15. House Of M 1-8
  16. New Avengers 11-13
  17. New Avemgers 14
  18. New Avengers 15
  19. The Pulse 11-14
  20. The Sentry 1-8
  21. Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man 1-4, Marvel Knights Spider-Man 19-22, Amazing Spider-Man 525: The Other
  22. Amazing Spider-Man 529-531
  23. New Avengers 16-20: The Collective
  24. New Avengers Annual #1
  25. Fantastic Four 533-535
  26. New Avengers: The Illuminati
  27. Fantastic Four 536-537
  28. The Incredible Hulk 88-91
  29. The Incredible Hulk 92-present
  30. Iron Man 7-12: Execute Program
  31. Civil War 1
  32. Civil War Frontline 1
  33. New Avengers 21
  34. Amazing Spider-Man 532
  35. Civil War 2
  36. New Avengers 22
  37. Amazing Spider-Man 533
  38. Civil War Young Avengers/Runaways 1-3
  39. Civil War Frontline 2
  40. Thunderbolts 103
  41. X-Factor 8-9
  42. Civil War Frontline 3
  43. Civil War Frontline 4
  44. Thunderbolts 104
  45. Ms. Marvel 6-7
  46. Civil War Frontline 5
  47. Black Panther 18
  48. Thunderbolts 105
  49. Heroes For Hire 1
  50. New Avengers 23
  51. Fantastic Four 538
  52. Civil War 3
  53. Cable/Deadpool 30
  54. Civil War X-Men 1
  55. Civil War 4
  56. Civil War X-Men 2
  57. Fantastic Four 539
  58. Amazing Spider-Man 534
  59. Cable/Deadpool 31
  60. Eternals 1-3
  61. Wolverine 42-45: Vendetta
  62. Captain America 22
  63. Amazing Spider-Man 535

Oh, an if you’re in the Central New Hampshire area, you should get your comics from: Geeks and Gamers in Meredith, NH. w00t.

Posted by Matt | Filed Under Art, Gaming, & Fun, Blog 

Marvel: Civil War

June 27, 2006 | 2 Comments

Civil War Zach over at NoSheep! recently brought me into the comic book fold with Marvel’s Civil War. For weeks his posts have been piquing my interest. It wasn’t until his post on Spider-Man’s identity being revealed that I broke down and read something.

I used Wikipedia as my source for the immediate chronological order of the comics leading up to and entering in to the Marvel Universe’s Civil War. If you haven’t been blessed by hearing what Marvel is doing this summer, then I’ll enlighten you with the overall plot (compliments of Wikipedia)

The series centers around a newly enacted Super-human Registration Act, which, when passed into law, would require all persons in the United States with superhuman abilities who wish to use those abilities to fight crime to register with the federal government and receive proper training as law enforcement officials. Such persons would not only be subject to U.S. law (including the prohibition of minors from participating in such activities), but would, according to the law, reap the full benefits of civil servants, including pensions, and so forth. Because the forced registration of persons would spark a civil liberties controversy, the Act splits notable superheroes within the Marvel Universe, resulting in two super-powered factions forming, one advocating registration as the responsible obligation of the super-powered living in society, and the other opposed to the law on the grounds that it violates civil rights. This conflict builds into the titular Civil War, into which themes from current events will be woven. Writer Mark Millar has noted “The political allegory is only for those that are politically aware. Kids are going to read it and just see a big superhero fight.” Some see this as a reflection of real world views on such things as Gun Control or the Patriot Act.

I’m officially hooked. I now have a pull list at a local comic-book shop.

If you are looking for a reading order, I’ve posted one here

Posted by Matt | Filed Under Art, Gaming, & Fun, Blog 

WTF? Dinosaurs?

August 16, 2005 | 20 Comments

Wow. I came across this over at Qwantz. It seems this guy has a comic that uses the same image for each edition…all with different text. The one below is by far my favorite.



Posted by Matt | Filed Under Blog, Random News