Movies

An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Comment: Comic Book Superheros Unmasked (2003)

Comic Book Superheros Unmasked (CBSU) is a History Channel documentary that has aired numerous times over the last few months. Released in 2003, the film was directed by Steve Kroopnick and he takes us on a tour of the comic book industry from its Depression Era-beginnings through its modern-day multi-million dollar enterprises. Our guides are some of the industries greatest legends, and current innovators, names like Stan Lee, Frank Miller, Joe Quesada, Neil Gaiman, and Will Eisner. I've seen CBSU three times, and I'd watch it a fourth time if it were playing right now. What struck me the most…

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Paul Berman rips apart The Motorcycle Diaries, the cult of Che and so-called "American intellectuals" in a blistering article on Slate. The Cult of Che Don't applaud The Motorcycle Diaries. By Paul Berman The cult of Ernesto Che Guevara is an episode in the moral callousness of our time. Che was a totalitarian. He achieved nothing but disaster. Many of the early leaders of the Cuban Revolution favored a democratic or democratic-socialist direction for the new Cuba. But Che was a mainstay of the hardline pro-Soviet faction, and his faction won... I wonder if people who stand up to cheer…

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Comic Book Wednesday is like an oasis in the middle of the drudgery that is Monday-Friday. Picked up more than I expected to this week, including bags, and am nearly halfway to another Midtown Comics rebate! As it is, I need to pick up another longbox as the collection is nearing 1,000 comics. Damn Omar for rekindling this particular fire! Between what I spend on comics and D&D, it's a good thing I don't smoke anymore. Recent additions to my ever-evolving pull list include Ezra, Powers, Secret Skull, Ex Machina and Sleeper - the latter two with new issues out…

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

The Village: Better Than the Reviews

The Village, much-maligned for not living up to M. Night Shyamalan's media-manufactured reputation for shocking twists, was actually a pretty good movie when judged on its own merits. An interesting, well-told story - not quite the allegory of a post-9/11 world some critics have suggested - it features what is arguably one of the most amazing debut performances by a young actress in Bryce Dallas Howard. There is no way in the world Kirsten Dunst, the original actress cast in the role, could have handled the part as the movie would have sunk on her frail, one-note shoulders. The twists,…

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

On Saturday, I lost my glasses on Nitro (the roller coaster at Great Adventure), a fitting epilogue to the tough lesson that was Friday's watershed louder than words show. I had low expectations for the Friday slot to begin with, but twenty-one paid in the audience - the majority of whom were supportive friends/co-workers from outside of the poetry scene and much of the extended Acentos family - was even worse than I'd expected. Glaringly absent were many of the usual suspects from the scene, or as one person put it, those most likely to be on the receiving end…

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