So it begins...

This is the teaser poster for Spider-Man 3, which comes out May 4, 2007. We already know that Thomas Haden Church is playing Sandman in Spider-Man 3, and we know that Topher Grace is playing another villain. Rumors of that villain being Venom run rampant throughout the internet, and Sony is perpetuating the story that Spider-Man wears a black costume in the third movie, which is strong evidence that Venom may be the other villain. However, this image looks like the red and blue costume in the rain and dark lighting to me. Not only does it still look red and blue, it also doesn't fit the design of the black costume from the comics. So, while Sony is pushing that this is a black costume, they could just be playing games. Also, the appearance of a black costume is NOT definitive evidence of Venom. It certainly leans toward Venom being a villain in a future installment, but they could spend all of Spider-Man 3 building up the subplot of the costume so that Venom can make an appearance in a fourth film. Electro is also rumored to be the other villain played by Topher Grace, but I'm really hoping it's Venom. I think the Venom story is more dramatic and Venom's powers lend themselves to really cool special effects.

Regardless, that is a really good poster.

posted by Travis at 11:27 PM

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Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Throughout the course of my travels, I am continuously faced with people who have not seen movies that fall into the category of "required viewing for cultural awareness". One of these movies is Apocalypse Now. The last time I held an Apocalypse Now screening was several years ago at my house in Kentucky. A friend of mine decided to show up unexpected and brought a college football team with him. What was a small gathering of friends turned into a party of strangers, and as the volume of the people increased so did the volume of the movie. By the time Brando appeared on-screen many of the people watching the movie were bleeding from the ears. So, that was not the most successful screening I've ever done.

When the opportunity presented itself to screen Apocalypse Now for more people who had not seen it, I was hesitant. However, the screening went off without any problems and now Pajaro and Miles are both inducted into the Grand Hall of AN Viewership. Viewings of AN are usually accompanied by a Test of Will designed by myself. This was no exception. I instructed Pajaro not to arrive without a steak of significant weight (I believe I told him, "About the size of a toilet seat should do it.") Being a good sport, he arrived with a single cut weighing in at 1.7 lbs. Kim and I did not make a special trip to the store for steak so I had to cobble together several cuts for my own meal. Here are the steaks on the grill where you can see that Pajaro is a clear winner with a superior steak.

However, the eating of the steak broke down like this.

It's not a contest, though, so no one should think less of Pajaro for his steak-eating performance or lack there-of. This is probably why he weighs 50 lbs less than I do.

posted by Travis at 10:52 AM

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Monday, February 13, 2006

One of the bosses at work decided that our department would benefit from an Xbox 360 and some games, so we have it hooked up to an HDTV in a conference room numbered 1802. It has become quite the lunch and after-work attraction, so much so that the "eating" part of lunch is sometimes replaced by "fragging". The game of choice is four-way deathmatch on Call of Duty 2. The competition is getting pretty fierce and I received my first pre-game taunting today via email. I post it here for your enjoyment.

For further clarification, I ask that you click this link.

posted by Travis at 4:21 PM

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Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Over the weekend I watched Last Days. It's an artsy film about a succussful rock star descending into suicide. While watching it, I thought it sucked, but when I think back to the movie as a whole, I think I enjoyed it. I really liked certain scenes, but they stand alone because the movie is not telling a story in the conventional sense. It's not really about Kurt Cobain (his name is never mentioned nor is Nirvana), but it IS about him. There are lots of long takes with very little happening, so if that isn't your thing just skip it. I did like that there are other people in the house with him that only talk to him when they want something, and the only real interaction he has with someone is the Yellow Pages door-to-door salesman. There's also a good scene, and you can see it in the trailer, where he sits alone in a drum set and plays and sings a song. I don't know, I just really liked the scene. It's all done in one take and the camera never moves, but it just stood out to me.

Gus Van Sant also directed Elephant, which is worth seeing although also borders on artsy arrogance. Elephant is about the events leading up to and including a school shooting not unlike Columbine. It has some really striking scenes in it that are scary in a this-really-happened-to-someone kind of way. My problem with Gus movies is that he always has to sneak in the homosexuality. I have no problem with it if it works in the story, and I guess a case can be made for Elephant that those two kids have no one else to relate to and are bonding before their rampage, but it still feels out of place in the movie. In Last Days, it just doesn't fit at all. It comes out of nowhere and doesn't affect the story.

I saw a news item today that Gendy Tartakovsky (Samurai Jack, Star Wars Clone Wars) is going to direct the sequel to The Dark Crystal titled The Power of the Dark Crystal. He plans on using puppets with CGI backgrounds and new designs by Brian Froud. This is something I'll be keeping an eye on.

posted by Travis at 11:19 AM

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