Monday, April 25, 2011

Gasp!  More mutants!


Isn’t Wolverine supposed to be like 5'2" tall?

So how long is his wingspan?  Apparently wide enough from elbow-to-elbow to go from one side of Iron Man to the other side of Spider-Woman while they are flying alongside one another.  One twitch of his arm and she’ll lose her armpit webbing.  (Click the image to see it full size.)

(Wolverine’s head is obviously bent forward here because Spider-Woman just kneed him in the back of the head.  Although that also means she must be only about 4' tall, if knee to armpit is only as long as Wolverine’s head to claw.)

The obvious explanation is that Wolverine has a new mutant power along the lines of Mr. Fantastic.
 

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Gasp!  Mutants!


Here’s a poster for X-Men: First Class.

Don’t tell anyone, but I think the guy second from the left is a mutant!  No, not because his head is the wrong size for his body, or because he emits fog from his armpits, but because his left hand is a vampire — it doesn't cast a reflection in the highly polished floor!

Yes, this has been submitted to Photoshop Disasters.
 

Butch Fun Cars IV


Scooter: Kymco Downtown 300i, nicknamed “Tula”.
Color: Burnt Orange (or “Galaxy Gold”, like the original color of the Space Needle)
Purchased: April 4, 2011 at Seattle Cycle Center
Location: April 17, 2011 at Snoqualmie Pass
 

Monday, April 18, 2011

What Were They Thinking?
    — To Preserve A Severed Extremity Until It Can Be Reattached, Pack It In Ice


“What Were They Thinking?” highlights products and presentations which just don’t make sense.

This ad for a contest at the Telus World Ski & Snowboard Festival was on bus shelters in Vancouver, BC in early April.  Take a peek at that leg’s position.  Poor guy: it got ripped clean off in the avalanche.  He must be in shock and numbed from the cold, since he’s not reacting to the amputation.

Aware of the sensitive nature of the image, they declined to show the severed leg on the contest’s Facebook page.

Yes, this has been submitted to Photoshop Disasters.
 

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Snackies


Found this at Safeway last night.

I guess that's one way to bypass any trademark issues!
 

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

What Were They Thinking?
    — Pull My Finger


“What Were They Thinking?” highlights products and presentations which just don’t make sense.

This poster is outside a computer repair businesses on Davie St. in Vancouver, BC.  It has been there for years, as long as I can remember (and I’ve been up to Vancouver at least once a year for years and years).  Sidestepping the question of what typo the white patch is covering up (and why they haven’t fixed it in a decade), the image itself always seems bizarre to me.  What is she pointing at?  What does her smile mean?
  • Is that what a computer looks like?
  • Windows 95?  You’ve gotta be kidding me!
  • If I stop smiling, I’ll cry because of all the viruses on this thing.
  • God damn this old junker is heavy.
  • Kittehs!
  • What do you know, you can beat Minesweeper after all!
  • I’m with stupid.
  • Come on, little guy.  Reach higher.  Pull my finger!

Monday, April 11, 2011

Movie Review
    — Scott Pilgrim vs. The World


Out of all the things I could say about Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, one sums them all up:
After watching this movie, I wanted to put the disc back in and watch it again.  Immediately.
That’s a pretty rare thing for me.  The only other movie that I can think of that gave me that urge was Memento, but that was because I wanted to see all the clues again know that I knew the outcome.  Mmm, and Mulholland Drive as well, again one of those films where all the threads change right at the end.  Scott Pilgrim isn’t one of those.

I’m still in the process of reading the comic book series that Scott Pilgrim is based on — I need to go pick up a reorder of vol. 5 that came in last week — but up through vol. 3, the movie is one of those ultra-close transfers from comic to film that only Watchmen and Sin City have managed thus far.  But with the comic itself a mash-up of slacker, music, and video game content, the movie version takes that a level further, mashing comics, music, and games into a whole which works amazingly.

Another of the great things I can say is that the last few minutes of the movie kept me guessing about what would happen.  That so seldom happens for me (unless there’s an intentional mystery in the film) that I was enthralled.  Of course, it’s also a plus that I haven’t read the end of the comics series yet, so it couldn’t be spoiled for me that way.

(Hmm, that’s an interesting thought for how to approach movies based on books and comics.  If you know too much of the original, you can’t enjoy the movie as a movie — you’re always picking at the inadequacies — but if you know too little, you can sometimes be lost or be aware that you are missing backstory [which is my complaint about all the Harry Potter movies after the first couple, that you could increasingly recognize the places where subplots and entire chapters were chopped out to make the content short enough to film].  For Scott Pilgrim, I knew a lot but not too much, so I could enjoy the first half due to the match ups to the source and I could enjoy the last half due to knowing enough to really be settled into the movie’s world.)

In some ways, the movie works better than the comics.  Smart screenwriters know when to avoid some of the diversions that a comic book indulges in, and when to play up things which are subtle in the original source material.  They succeed in both of these with Scott Pilgrim, for example amping up Wallace’s gay angle, while completely cutting the Stephen Stills “recording an album” plotline (with its own gay angle).

I heartily recommend this movie for anyone who has at least a passing interest in upcoming indie music, slacker culture, video games, and non-superhero comics.

Now someone explain to me: how does a film about a rock band and loaded with cool and way different special effects (unless you want to just call them updates of the 60’s Batman show) not even get one Oscar nomination in the pertinent categories?
 

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Dream Journal: March 27, 2011


I had this dream a couple weeks ago:
I was walking in a mid-size town waterfront area — the sort with boat slips and local shops, but also parking lots for a moderate amount of tourist activity — with either my mother or my ex-boyfriend.  We stopped by a green van, where an old Asian woman gave us a styrofoam ice chest.

Inside the ice chest were four or five puppies, each the size of a small loaf of bread.  They were asleep, and young enough that their eyes were barely able to be open.  We were told that they were Bhutanese Yak Hounds, and I was shown a picture of an adult one, which looked like a single-color St. Bernard with an Akita’s tail.

As we walked back to the car, me carrying the ice chest, my mother or my ex-boyfriend (I guess it wasn’t important which one) walked ahead, leaving me behind.  The ice chest started to get heavier, and puppies apparently woke up and started moving around.  Peeking in the ice chest, I saw that the puppies were larger than before.

As the dream continued, the puppies kept getting larger until they started to climb out of the ice chest and on my shoulders and head.  I tried to call out for my mother or ex-boyfriend to wait for me, but either I couldn’t or she/he couldn’t hear me.  Soon I had five puppies, each about the size of the original ice chest, clambering all over me as I stumbled along, trying to get to our parked car.
Most likely, I was tangled in the sheets and my head had slipped off and under the pillow as I slept.

There is no such thing as a “Bhutanese Yak Hound”, although the Bhutia Sheepdog, related to the Tibetan Mastiff, might fit the bill.