Posts tagged “Batman”

Link of the Month:

Sweet dreams and goals and objectives and demands
I don’t know why, but for some reason things like this make me laugh harder than almost anything else. I’m talking side-holding, tears-streaming-down-my-face laughter. This website uses a predictive text program (like what phones use to try to predict the next word you’ll want to use when you’re texting) to create original compositions. Things like phony quotes from Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson:

There are also some great phony Yelp reviews and some absolutely awesome IMDB violence advisory warnings, like:

The main character is shot pointblank in the face with a very intense violence of language such as “damn”, “goddamn”, “hell”, “bastard”, “nuts” and “jesus christ jesus thank god holy pudding” and then we see the aftermath of the dinosaur attack.

I think my favorite of them all, though, is the phony synopsis for a non-existent episode of Batman: The Animated Series, which includes such gems as:

Batman isn’t paid to destroy crime corners. He is actually attracted to the crimes and also The Penguin. The Penguin begins to fall in love with guns and with gangs all over Gotham. Batman is destroyed. Batman must join The Penguin. He loves him a criminal.

And:

The Penguin makes things worse by killing Batman. He has happened to Batman and he is visibly criminal. Batman isn’t still around. Batman is in a cloud. The Penguin finds that he is astounded by killing the man who loves him most. He feels responsible for the death of Gotham’s prominent Batman. He loves the man that Batman isn’t.

The Joker also receives an award for outstanding music and combat.

Seriously. You can’t believe how hard this stuff, all of it, makes me laugh. Unbelievable.

Book of the Month:

Warlock Holmes: A Study in Brimstone by G.S. Denning
I’m shocked that I’ve never heard this premise before: Sherlock Holmes is not a good detective. He solves crimes because he’s a wizard. And if you’ve ever read any of the original Holmes oeuvre, you’ll know that sometimes Holmes seems to pull the solutions right out of his ass. This book explains how: Magic. Dark magic, usually. Watson, narrating as always, has the job of trying to justify Holmes’s feats of magic as feats of detective work. It’s very confidently written, and though some anachronisms slip through now and again, the feeling is all vintage Holmes, stirred liberally with the supernatural (Scotland Yard’s Inspector Lestrade is actually a Nosferatu-style vampire, for example). Bonus: it’s funny. The mix of proper Victorian behavior with Holmes’s evident madness and overall (excluding magic) incompetence is delightful. It’s a fun, fast read.

TV Show of the Month:

Voltron: Legendary Defender
A reimagining of the original Voltron anime series, Legendary Defender is done by the same team that created Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. And it feels like it. Voltron has the same uncanny way as those shows to be able to mix high drama and suspense with wacky, slapsticky comedy… and somehow have it all work, and work well, without undercutting either the comedy or the drama. I honestly don’t know how they do it. This Voltron has sharply-drawn, iconic (if not particularly deep) characters, exciting visuals, and builds a really solid heart so that come the (cliffhanger) end of the 1st season, you really do care about this team and their mission. It’s good, though it seems like it ends just as it’s really getting started. Thankfully a 2nd season should not be too far behind.

Good Ol’ Terry ‘n’ Bruce.

As sort of a follow-up to last week’s post (“The Bruce Timm Batman is Back… Kinda”), here is another video that was just released in celebration of Batman’s 75th Anniversary.

This time it’s revisiting the Batman Beyond universe, and it is directed by acclaimed comic bookist Darwyn Cooke! Take a look-see:

This one isn’t quite as successful I think as Bruce Timm’s short, but mostly because of the much-shorter running time. The story feels compressed and rushed; edits are too fast and the pacing is kinda jumbled. It’s almost more like it’s a trailer than an actual short.

That said, it’s a clever (if un-resolved) little short, and the pan at the end is pretty epic. Can you name them all?

He is old-timey vengeance… he is the old-timey night…

Bruce Timm, the man who was the impetus for the 1990s Batman: The Animated Series and much of the rest of the DC Animated Universe, has returned to the Dark Knight for his 75th Anniversary, directing a brand-new animated short: Batman: Strange Days.

Rather than taking place in the B:TAS universe, Timm has taken the Caped Crusader back to his roots, imagining him in a pulp serial from 1939 (the year Batman debuted in Detective Comics) going up against Dr. Hugo Strange and Solomony Grundy (at least I’m pretty sure that’s Grundy) to rescue a blonde bombshell. It’s good fun, and really makes me miss B:TAS.

Just Tryin’ ta Get a Rise Outta Ya…

This is a movie that feels right while you’re watching it, but doesn’t hold up well to any sort of scrutiny, and has way more problems than Nolan’s previous two movies in this trilogy. Spoilers abound! Also, for no reason other than it amuses me, I’m only ever going to refer to Batman as B’man for the remainder of this review… [Read my full reviews]

About ten years ago artist Cliff Chiang whipped up, just for fun, a bunch of pastiches of DC superheroes and classic Anime.

The results are pretty durned awexome:

I love Science Ninja Hero Batman, Superman as a Gaiking-style Giant Robot piloted by a young boy’s wristwatch (with Clark Kent as the scientist who invented the robot), and the crazy Wonder Woman/Captain Harlock mashup.

DC actually briefly considered greenlighting this, but eventually passed. It’s too bad.
I would absolutely read this comic.

via Project Rooftop

Link of the Month:
Unintentional Housewife
A very funny blog from a professional woman who suddenly found herself career-less and decided to make a go of this whole “housewife” thing. It manages to be personal and universal at the same time. And, bonus: I TOTALLY KNOW HER IN REAL LIFE!

DVD & Album of the Month:
Daft Punk: Tron Legacy Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
An incredibly effective soundtrack that is intense and strong, and moves surprisingly between the expected electronic music and traditional orchestral-style soundtrack music. It would be a bad idea to play this soundtrack while you’re driving because it really just makes you want to go. It’s very driven, and one of the best movie soundtracks since Trent Reznor’s The Social Network and Michael Giacchino’s Up.

DVD of the Month:
Batman: Under the Red Hood
This is a surprisingly good Batman movie, near the very top of the list. It’s an intensely personal story about Batman’s greatest failure and some unexpected consequences. Great vocal performances by Bruce Greenwood as Batman, Jensen Ackles as the titular Red Hood, and the ubiquitous John DiMaggio (best known as Bender on Futurama) as the Joker. It’s heart-wrenching and action-packed.