ON PREQUELS

PROMETHEUS is at the top of the list for movies I want to see this year. I've read a couple of things today that make me more excited and this quote from co-writer Damon Lindelof is one of them.

“The thing about a prequel is, as fascinating as it may to watch Anakin turn to the dark side of the Force, there’s an inevitability to it. You know when you go in the prequel can only cover A to Y and then Z is gonna be the preexisting material. You can’t end it in an exciting or surprising way. You can only end it in the inevitable way. When I went to go see The Thing prequel, for example, I’m assuming this movie is going to be the sequence of events that led up to a dog being infected by the Thing and then being chased by a helicopter across the frozen tundra — because I know then what happens next because I saw The Thing. And that’s exactly what it was. On a certain level, you’re satisfied because if you’re calling a movie a prequel, that’s what you’re expecting. On another level, you sort of walk out going, 'Boy I wish there was a little bit more room for me to not exactly know what I was walking into.' In my opinion, in order to define Prometheus as a prequel, Is it set in the Alien universe? If you just watch the teaser trailer, and you see how the word Prometheus reveals itself or look at the production design, you don’t need me to tell you anything. So then the next question is: Is it a prequel to Alien? To that, I can’t really answer the question because my definition of prequel, the A-to-Y definition, I hope it’s not. I hope that this movie can be surprising. The ending of this movie; the sequel to Prometheus is not Alien. The sequel to Prometheus, if it does well and people like it, would be another movie that goes off in its own direction, that runs tangential to Alien.”

This gives me more hope than it probably should, but I just have extremely high hopes here.

CAINE'S ARCADE

Sometimes you browse the Internet and you find things that just upset you. Other times, but far less often, you find something that just makes your day.

This is the latter.


Caine's Arcade from Nirvan Mullick on Vimeo.

50

Ian Mackaye has been punk as fuck for half a century and counting.

IT WAS A GOOD DAY

Finally, someone has gotten to the bottom of a mystery that's been haunting popular culture for twenty years.

We now know the exact date of Ice Cube's "good day."

This is what the Internet was invented for. So thank you for that, Al Gore.

Of course, someone actually asked Ice Cube about this and ruined the fun because he was forced to give an actual answer, but still. I'm glad someone took the time to get this done.

From Murk Avenue

CLUE 1: 
“went to short dogs house, they was watching Yo MTV RAPS”

Yo MTV RAPS first aired: Aug 6th 1988

CLUE 2: 
Ice Cubes single “today was a good day” released on: Feb 23 1993

CLUE 3:
"The Lakers beat the Super Sonics”
Dates between Yo MTV Raps air date AUGUST 6, 1988 and the release of the single FEBRUARY 23, 1993 where the Lakers beat the Super Sonics:

Nov 11 1988 114-103
Nov 30 1988 110-106
Apr 4 1989 115-97
Apr 23 1989 121-117
Jan 17 1990 100-90
Feb 28 1990 112-107
Mar 25 1990 116-94
Apr 17 1990 102-101
Jan 18 1991 105-96
Mar 24 1991 113-96
Apr 21 1991 103-100
Jan 20 1992 116-110

CLUE 4: 
Dates of Laker wins over SuperSonics where it was a clear day with no Smog:
Nov 30 1988
Apr 4 1989
Jan 18 1991
Jan 20 1992

CLUE 5: 
“Got a beep from Kim, and she can fuck all night”

Beepers weren’t adopted by mobile phone companies until the 1990s. Dates left where mobile beepers were availible to public:
Jan 18 1991
Jan 20 1992

CLUE 6: 
Ice Cube starred in the film “Boyz in the Hood” that released late Summer of 1991, but was being filmed mid/late 1990 to early 1991. Ice Cube was busy/on set filming the movie Jan 18 1991, too busy to be lounging around the streets with no plans.

Ladies and Gentlemen...

The ONLY day where: Yo MTV Raps was on air, it was a clear and smogless day, beepers were commercially sold, the Lakers beat the SuperSonics and Ice Cube had no events to attend was…

JANUARY 20 1992
National Good Day Day

-Donovan

MY FRIENDS OVER YOU - BLOOM IN SATURATION

I know very, very little about fashion and I know absolutely nothing about makeup. Neither of those things speak to me the way they do to others and it usually sounds like someone mumbling gibberish in a foreign language when I overhear a conversation about it.

What I do know a bit about is passion. I love when someone has a passion for something and puts all their heart and soul into it. I may not be able to relate to the exact thing they're referring to, but I love that they get so into it. It makes me happy.

That's how my friend Stephanie feels about both makeup and fashion. She has a passion for it that is almost unparalleled.  We met when I started working at Happy Sumo back in 2006 and we immediately hit it off talking about movies, comic books and other stuff. What mostly struck me was her knowledge of comics, though. As silly as it sounds, when a girl knows about comics, reads them and can actually carry on a conversation about them, they immediately become one of my favorite people.  Stephanie is no exception. She uprooted her life in Salt Lake City last year and moved away to Arizona and sounds like she's doing okay for herself.

Before she left, when she was working the MAC counter at Nordstrom, she started a blog. It took her a little while to figure out what she wanted to do with it, but once she did, it turned into a fantastic mix of tutorials, tips and everything else you could want from a fashion blog.

She also knows a thing or two about baking and is an excellent photographer which make her blog a lot of fun to search through even if you're not all about her primary influence. And I won't lie, it doesn't hurt that she's pretty easy on the eyes, either.

So, ladies, do yourself a favor and head over to her blog, Bloom in Saturation, and pick up a few tips from a professional. And gentlemen, just head over and look around. Maybe you'll find a gift for your GF's birthday or you might even learn a few things about your wardrobe from a female perspective.

Just don't ask me for her phone number. Not gonna happen.

B L O O M  IN  S A T U R A T I O N

WEDNESDAY WARRIOR

I used to have a problem. It wasn't a bad problem to have because I loved it. Still do, but the older I get the more I realize that it is a bit of a hassle.

Comic books.

I love them. They're fun, exciting, oftentimes brilliant and many other things. They're also horrible. Horrible in the fact that they take up so much room. I was housesitting for my parents a few weeks ago, walked down to the basement and it all came back to me. There they were, 27 boxes full of comics stacked off to the side against a wall. Most of them in order, but a few boxes that had yet to be organized.

I made the decision that it was time for some of them to go. I don't plan on giving up on comics all together, but I'm making the switch to reading more digitally and buying more collected editions. I'll still hit the comic shop every wednesday, but my weekly buy pile is down from $30 (which it was when I started) to about $10. And that's on a big week. I've stepped away from the big superhero stuff because of too many tie-ins, events, crossovers and what not to buying a lot more creator-owned stuff. No real reason than it's gotten to the point where I want to read what a writer has to say with their own creation as opposed to using Thor or Green Lantern.

The occasional superhero book still works its way into my hold every so often, so I'm not condemning the genre or anything, it's just that I'm bored with what's going on in them. There's always the chance that something will catch my interest and I'll be back in at any point, but hopefully by then the big two of Marvel and DC will have figured out a better system for digital, because as it stands now, buying a book on my iPad costs the same as buying a physical copy in the store, and if that's the case, I'd rather support the guys at Dr. Volt's and Black Cat rather than ComiXology.

My plan is to buy a lot of creator-owned books that need the support from actual shops, but that's not a great many. Occasionally, I'll double dip and buy single issues and the collected editions, provided they look as good as they can. CRIMINAL is the perfect example. I love reading the individual issues, but Brubaker and Phillips have made it a point to put out a collection that's just too awesome to pass up. More things like that, and I'll be buying a lot more hardcovers.

But I digress. This post is supposed to be about how I went through all my long and short boxes and catalogued every comic I own. The decision that I came to is that I'm trying to get rid of most of them. There are a few runs that I probably won't be able to part with because they're not collected as well as I'd like and I may want to re-read them someday (i.e. Geoff Johns' FLASH run). Other than a select few, pretty much everything is available.

And by 'available' I mean, I'm selling them. I can't just give these to you. That would be ridiculous. But if you're interested, hit the jump and check out the full list of what I've got. If there's anything of interest to you, drop me an email and we'll talk.

It's not the greatest collection ever, but it's pretty good. It's kept me entertained for the better part of ten years.

ONE DAY AS A LION

My mom used to know a guy that kept a lion as a pet. He lived up in the Midway/Heber/Park City area and he used to put it in the back of his pick-up truck and take it with him to the grocery store. I would have loved to see that.

He also had a huge farm with lots of hired hands helping him maintain it. Then something happened, he went crazy, started killing the workers and burying them on his land. I think he's still in prison. I can't remember his name or what happened to the lion. I watched a 20/20 special about him that my uncle had taped (VHS style), but I don't remember the details.

That's what I think about when I see these photos.

But this isn't him or his family. It's someone else that kept a lion as a pet, which would be amazing but completely and utterly stressful.

The rest of the photoset is here.