Giant Sized Astonishing X-men

Finally got a chance to pick up and read "Giant Sized Astonishing X-men" and it was, by george, giant sized. Lots of redemption in this supersized issue and a significant farewell by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday. Just as badassedly did Whedon reintroduce Kitty Pryde into leading lady status did he say goodbye to her. I was thinking to myself, "no he's not. no he's not. no he's not." He didn't - but.. well, Kitty dope ass and Whedon really had a good time playing with her phasing power. It was a grand way to say goodbye to everyone - Agent Brand revealing that she's not all that she is (and more), Furball getting some potential love, Ord redeeming himself, and Kitty. KITTY!

Wall-E

I really had no interest in watching Wall-E. It never appealed to me in the trailers, but friends were going to see it so I watched it. Plus I wanted to see the bay area easter eggs. I thought it was a little dark to be a pixar movie. I think it was a good film in general, but something about it wasn't Pixarish. Most of the folks in the car felt underwhelmed by it. I think I may have walked away with the most pleasant experience. I mean, I didn't love it, but I thought the story was worth the visuals and the $10.

The Revolution

Okay. History nerd alert. I wanted to watch The Revolution when it first came out on History Channel a few years ago and with July 4th, History decided to run a marathon.

Now, the series itself is okay - pretty typical History Channel style. It wasn't too deep, but it was informative. It revealed sides of the main players: George Washington, Ben Franklin, Benedict Arnold, and various British Generals that were new, fresh, and surprising at times. I think, playing off of this would be enough, but the delivery of information and style really left much to be desired. Primarily, the narration wasn't terrible, but I was tired of the pre-commercial tease that I heard over and over: "and [enter historical figure/nation] was about to make a decision that WOULD CHANGE THE COURSE OF THE WAR". Seriously. It was repeated numerous times.

What was worse was the use of quotes and the reading of them. First, most of the voices seemed generic. Two, the use of accents is all nice but when some of the voices they used were so thick in an accent (like a French one) I couldn't understand what they were saying. But really, the worst parts were some of the quotes used and how they were introduced. it was very simple - like a high school essay. Okay. Fine, make it consumable. But what's up with shit like:

Narrator: "And george washington knew the winter would be rough"

Voice: "Winter is going to be a struggle. George Washington."

Many of the quotes were short and lacked impact. Most of the quotes didn't add to the emotions or depths of the situation. And almost ALL of them lost any of their meanings because the narration prior to the quote already said the same thing!

Okay. Fine. I watched the marathon the whole way through. Guess what?

It didn't finish! I'm sure those episodes of Gangland could've been superceeded with the last 1 or 2 episodes of the Revolution. And, if not, couldn't they clear out their retreads on Saturday, July 5th, to finish the series if they had an immense amount of episodes left? I don't get the programming History Channel! WTF?

Okay. Done.

posted by breakfast boy@ 2:21 PM