Thumbs up for The Futurist (review roundup)

The Futurist: The Life and Films of James Cameron by Rebecca Keegan is the type of book where you want to stop every other page and share a wild anecdote with everyone else in the room. For example, the time Cameron was stabbed in the face by a coworker after most of the staff working on the set of Titanic was poisoned by PCP. Or the time Cameron gave Guillermo del Toro money to pay the ransom on del Toro's abducted father. Or the time OJ Simpson was suggested to star in The Terminator. My only criticism, aside from the repulsive cover, is that the book is a little too-fawning, making creations like Strange Days and Dark Angel seem like triumphs. But all in all, if you're even vaguely interested in how movies get made, you should absolutely read The Futurist. It's currently 32% off at Amazon. Relatedly, /Film recently conducted a podcast interview with Keegan. (*I read a review copy.)

And a few more reviews:

1. The Time-Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger: 540 pages or so and I read it in four days. Best bittersweet romance I've read since Bel Canto, but it's very, very sad. The characters felt extremely real to me (aside from the time travel) and I had a lump in my throat for days whenever I thought of them. Don't read this if you're having fertility issues, and honestly, even if you're over any fertility issues you've had, it's still pretty devastating. If you're wondering what to get your loved one for Valentine's Day, I'd suggest that you read this - - it'll make you extra appreciative of the relationship you have, which is probably the best gift you could give. 43% off at Amazon.

2. The Goon Volumes 7 and 8 by Eric Powell: After loving Volume 9, I decided to try a few more volumes. Volume 7 is excellent. Volume 8 is just ok, primarily because half of the volume is fill-in, stand-alone stories by artists other than Powell. 32% off at Amazon.

3. Spellbound by Beauty: Alfred Hitchcock and His Leading Ladies by Donald Spoto (review copy): This is really the worst of all worlds. Most of the book is too cursory to be very interesting, with the exception being the chapters on Tippi Hedren. I'd vaguely heard that Hitchock was beastly to her, but I never realized just how beastly - - and the actors and behind the scenes people really did nothing to stop him. I don't think I'll ever be able to enjoy another Hitchcock movie, especially The Birds. So, lackluster book, and it ruined Hitchcock movies for me forever. 32% off at Amazon.

4. Conan Volume 7: Cimmeria: This is two books in one - - half is a tale of Conan drawn by Tomas Giorello, and is instantly forgettable. The other half is a tale of Conan's grandfather Connacht drawn by Richard Corben. I liked Corben's art enough to look for more work by him, but not enough to recommend the volume. 32% off at Amazon.

5. Wii Fit Plus: No improvements over Wii Fit worth mentioning and Nintendo didn't remove all of the obnoxious, intrusive advice screens. Hey Nintendo, I'm a busy adult and I want to use my time to exercise. Stop wasting my time forcing me to listen to irritating jokes told by an animated balance board. Buy EA Sports Active instead, which is 10% off at Amazon.

You can see more of my reviews here.

Avatar: Believe the hype (review roundup)

(Spoilers below)



Up until now, 3D has felt like a gimmick, nothing more than a way for Hollywood to steal a few extra bucks per ticket. But Avatar is special, an event. Great movie, notwithstanding the circle of life/running naked through the trees is wonderful nonsense. And I especially liked when Jake got in touch with the Force, flew his X-Wing, and blew up the Death Star at the end.

And a few more reviews:

1. Not coincidentally, I'm currently reading a review copy of The Futurist: The Life and Films of James Cameron. As a boy, he was the guy borrowing his friend's dad's camera to film movies, and convincing the kids in the neighborhood to build him a rocket ship and to pull him around in it. I can't get enough tales of Hollywood, especially when Roger Corman is involved, and so far this is a good one. 32% off at Amazon.

2. Makers by Cory Doctorow: People who don't really understand Boing Boing or Cory's views on copyright probably dismiss him as a lazy thief. But with this book especially, he cements himself as the internet generation's Horatio Alger. Wikipedia describes Alger's stories as, "illustrating how down-and-out boys might be able to achieve the American Dream of wealth and success through hard work, courage, determination, and concern for others." That's Makers in a nutshell. Almost every vice is forgiven in the tale, except for sloth, lack of imagination, and unwillingness to make money. Good book. Like Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, it's another look at amusement parks coupled with an effort to hypothesize a world without scarcity. Free to download and 34% off at Amazon.

3. Love and Rockets: New Stories by the Hernandez Brothers: Maybe I'm not sophisticated enough for this one? The middle stories are depressing to read and grotesque to look at. The super hero tale that bookends the volume features nice enough art, but a completely ho hum story. 43% off at Amazon.

*You can see more of my reviews here.

Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy hard cover (review roundup)

It's hard to believe, but once upon a time, Star Wars was essentially dead intellectual property. There had only been three movies (and various forgettable comics, novels, and radio plays), and we'd only seen three people who knew how to use a lightsaber. Along came Timothy Zahn and his Thrawn Trilogy, which reignited the franchise, adding Thrawn, Mara Jade, and Joruus C'baoth to the Star Wars universe. The trilogy was turned into a 18-issue series by Dark Horse, and has been recently collected for rerelease in hard cover. Aside from faithfully following the plot of the novels, each six-issue arc is drawn by a different, very capable artist. Olivier Vatine's version of Luke was the first time I ever thought Luke was cool. And the last third of the series features art by one of my favorites - - Eric Shanower. If you've never read the series, then I highly recommend this version. My only criticism is that there are no extras at all. 33% off at Amazon.

And a few more reviews:

1. Defenders by Giffen, DeMatteis, and Maguire: Not remotely as funny as their Justice League work. 22% off at Amazon.

2. Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil by Jeff Smith: It has a couple of very cute panels, but overall disappointing. I'd like to see Jeff Smith paired with a talented writer. His writing since the first three Bone trade paperbacks has been pretty lackluster. 34% off at Amazon.

3. Ghost Box by Warren Ellis and Simon Bianchi: Wow what a disappointment. Every character simply talks like they're reading lines from Ellis' emails or Tweets, and I don't care for Bianchi's art. On the other hand, the two-part Ghost Boxes is great. Those alternate reality tales are illustrated by Alan Davis, Adi Granov (steampunk X-Men), Clayton Crain, and Kaare Andrews (X-Men meets The Road). 34% off at Amazon.

4. Interworld by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves, with a cover by James Jean: Not Gaiman's best, but an entertaining sci-fi tale that could easily become a series. $7 at Amazon.

5. The Wild Things by Dave Eggers: Like too many McSweeney's products, the best thing about it was the cover. I read it through to the end mostly out of a sense of obligation. 34% off at Amazon.

*Previously: 2009 Gift Guide.

Thumbs up for Ace of Cakes the book (review roundup)

I watch very little television. Pretty much only NFL football, Fringe, Lost, and cooking shows - - Top Chef, Next Iron Chef, and Ace of Cakes. The new Ace of Cakes book is clearly a labor of love. It's 300 pages detailing the history of Charm City Cakes and the Ace of Cakes show, with everything from photos of Duff's mom and grandmother, diagrams explaining how the cakes are made, a list of the 49 flavors of cake available at the store, and the story of how Duff met Mary Alice. As you can see above, the book is set up like a yearbook with seemingly everyone who works at Charm City Cakes or behind the scenes at Ace of Cakes getting a few pages to share photos and tell anecdotes. It's a great book. You can see a few more interior pages here, and the book is currently 46% off at Amazon.

And a few more reviews:

1. We're lucky enough to have tennis courts on the property where we live, so I've started taking my oldest over there to learn. We've been using ProPenn T.I.P foam balls to play. They're oversized (so he has a better chance of making contact) and relatively soft (so the groin shots he's inflicted on me are painless). The only downside is that they get dirty very fast. Look for them at a Target or similar store near you. They're pretty expensive at Amazon.

2. A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire: I'd give Wicked an A, Son of a Witch a B-, and Lion Among Men is so boring that I stopped after 150 pages or so. Wicked is $8 at Amazon.

3. Thursday Next: First Among Sequels by Jasper Ffforde: Another disappointment. The first four Thursday Next novels are terrific. I read about 200 pages in this one before I finally accepted that it wasn't going to get better. But you should definitely try the first four books, which are all available at a discount at Amazon.

Martian Tripods by Tony Millionaire (review roundup)

Tripods and Ringwraiths from The Art of Tony Millionaire (blame the low quality images on me):

Prepare to set sail on a drunken fever dream of dollies, apes, and exotic mysteries that, once seen, can never be un-seen! The Art of Tony Millionaire collects illustrations, comics, stories, photographs, and anecdotes from the man once referred to as "Beefy McManus" by the late rock star "Rocky Stardomes". . . the one and only Tony Millionaire! Thrill to never-before-seen illustrations that have made women gasp and grown men gasp, too! Partake in the beautiful genius of the only cartoonist in the history of mankind to have won five Eisner Awards, three Harvey Awards, and an Ignatz! He also won Best Marksman at summer camp when he was twelve, but lost the Art Competition in high school to a girl who drew a lovely ear of corn! Stand in Awe that a 200-page book by the creator of the Cartoon Network's Drinky Crow Show will cost you only $39.95! Now, finally, more than ever . . . The Art of Tony Millionaire.

I enjoyed the book much more than I expected since I was never a big fan of his strips from the LA Weekly. Partly, that's because there's quite a bit of art in the book that has little to do with Maakies. But the best part of the book is actually the autobiographical photos and text. Tony's a very interesting guy (to the extent the text is truthful), and talks about being raised by hippies, selling prints in Rome by scamming tourists, begging for work, and drinking too much. Also, he wore an admiral's uniform, with sword, to his senior prom. The Art of Tony Millionaire is 34% off at Amazon.You'll have to buy the book to see a photo of Tony and his prom date.

And a few more reviews:

1. I've only read about thirty pages of SuperFreakonomics, and I've already learned that Indian women have an unusually high risk of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease because condoms are simply too big for the average Indian man. Also, there used to be so much excess horse manure that it would be piled sixty feet high in vacant lots. Now, it's a valuable commodity. This won't be a surprise to anyone who's familiar with Dubner and Leavitt, but the book is fascinating and easy to read. (However, the book's cover is possibly the ugliest in my home.) 46% off at Amazon.

2. All-Star Superman Volume 2: Well, I certainly give an A+ to the art by Frank Quitely and Jamie Grant. The writing's fine (although a little Bizarro speak goes a long way), but in light of how much I disliked the last few comics I read by Grant Morrison, I have to give most of the credit to the art team. 32% off at Amazon.


3. Fantastic Four World's Greatest: Best Fantastic Four story I've read in years, but that's not saying very much. Not as good as Millar and Hitch's run on Ultimates. For the record, my favorite FF story was when Reed and Sue journeyed through a black hole with the Silver Surfer in search of the Elders of the Universe. (Of course, that was really a Silver Surfer story...) 22% off at Amazon.

4. Real Heroes Firefighters for the Wii: The controls are a little unforgiving, and the mission objectives can be a tough to figure out, but all in all, at $30, it's a no-brainer purchase for anyone with a young boy. The missions are surprisingly varied (collapsing bridge, amusement park, museum, and more), and you get to use saws, the jaws of life, and various other tools in addition to your trusty hose. We've been playing daily for over a month and my four year old still begs for more - - sometimes I play and he watches, and sometimes I control the nunchuk (movement) and he controls the Wiimote (everything else). $30 at Amazon.It's part of the current buy two get one free promotion.

5. Belkin RockStar 5-Way Headphone Splitter: One of the heroes of my recent vacation - - use it to connect up to five headphones to a single device. Came in handy after I discovered that the splitter that came with the digiplayer I rented on the plane made the audio unintelligible. $13 at Amazon.

6. Duracell Instant Power Charger for USB Compatible Devices: You charge the rechargeable power charger by connecting it to a computer's USB port, and once it's charged, you can use it to instantly and repeatedly recharge a USB compatible device such as my three-year-old iPod and it's less-than-fifty-minute life span. 22% off at Amazon.

And on that last point, has anyone actually tried replacing a fifth generation iPod Classic's battery? Was it worth the cost and labor?

Umbrella Academy Dallas - - best comic of the year

The first volume of Umbrella Academy - - Apocalypse Suite was excellent. Volume 2, which is named Dallas, is even better. If you haven't tried Umbrella Academy yet, think of it as the X-Men plotted by Mignola. Or as Grant Morrison has said, "It's the X-Men for cool people." I don't want to say any more about the story because it would be a shame to ruin any of the surprises. But you can read the first five pages of the story here - - the team fights the Abraham Lincoln monument.

I have the limited edition hardcover, so let me tell you what that version includes. First, let me say that I'm generally not a big fan of limited edition hardcovers. In my experience most trade paperbacks hold up great through multiple readings. And I couldn't care less if what I own is "limited." In fact, I've only ever bought one limited edition that I was satisfied with - - Kingdom Come. (By comparison, the Earth X limited edition was a tremendous disappointment.)

So anyway, the Dallas limited edition. Here's what you get: it's oversized, so the pages are huge and really show off the art; the pages themselves are remarkably thick; and there's a relatively uninspiring special illustration with overlay by Gabriel Ba. None of that's probably worth the extra price. But you also get a long concept art section featuring character designs and rejected covers. And the real revelation is that Gerard Way is not only a gifted writer, but he's also a fantastic artist. Here's his design for one of the new characters featured in Dallas:



All in all, I'd say the limited edition is only for diehard Umbrella Academy fans. You can order it for 37% off at Amazon. But anyone else who likes comics should order the paperback immediately. It's 33% off at Amazon.

All of this gives me a good excuse to feature some Umbrella Academy oddities:


Umbrella Academy movie poster. (Part of a set of fake movie posters.)





Hazel and Cha Cha cosplay.






White Violin cosplay.




The Rumor cosplay.





Plush Hazel and Cha Cha and Seance.




Hazel and Cha Cha shoes.



Umbrella Academy paper toys.









Umbrella Academy custom action figures by Rust This World.




Umbrella Academy custom action figures by lemondrop.

And finally, did I mention that the author photograph of Gerard Way that graces the end of the book features him and his wife Lyn-Z reenacting JFK's assassination?



*Previously: Playmobil toys used to reenact JFK's assassination.

*Buy Umbrella Academy toys at eBay.