What is it about Alan Rickman that rocks? Well, for starters I think I’ve liked nearly every movie he’s in (or at minimum, his part in it). Despite being ‘genetically predisposed’ to like Galaxy Quest in being a big nerd – I could only put up with the first half hour or so. However, Alan Rickman’s bit as an alien with the catch phrase (‘By Grapthor’s Hammer’) uttered both at critical plot points – and at the grand openings of car lots – is TOO classic.

Who else goes from German terrorist (Die Hard) to guardian angel (Dogma) to sarcastic, doomsayer robot (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) to Professor Snape (not all the HP movies have near enough of him in them, but most have a good amount )?

I think it’s the combination of subtle, voiced exasperation, sarcasm without even trying, and just his mannerisms that do it for me. The guy just cracks me up!

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Well, it’s over for another year. And it was a big success (again). Not only did we have more games on the video side – we had several more vendors on the pinball side, a great series of seminars, and seemingly lots more word of mouth (definitely more social media and related online promotion/podcasts/etc. too).

Here’s some of the results – take a gander!

Video from the show floor;

Additional video walk-thru’s during the show;

Review from the ‘Seattlest‘ blog;

The Stranger’s SLOG review;

Seattle Weekly slideshow;

Seattle Times article;

Seattle Times show video;

Online photo galleries: here and here;

Dave Okert’s SMAC photo gallery (mostly video side of show);

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The 3rd annual NW Pinball Show is next weekend, June 11-13, in the NW corner of The Seattle Center in Seattle, WA (by Key Arena). All machines and seminars are included with paid daily admission. All-weekend passes are available too.

Schedule and Seminars/Speakers;

Online Ticket sales available through Monday, June 7;

Recent Podcast about the show on The Mixtape;

Bottom Line? Come on out and PLAY.

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Picked up an old arcade game for my buddy – Wizard of Wor. This game dates back from the latter arcade classic era, 1981. It shares the same robotic speech as Gorf from the same era (both of us actually have one of those machines, although mine currently languishes in my dad’s barn in OR). Basically the game consists of either one/two people in what seem like land-going spacesuits in a maze, zapping weird creatures, some of which are invisible at times (you can see them on the radar screen below the maze, though).

Once you clear the maze, other bad guys appear you have to zap of course (e.g. Warlock) – and then the Wizard himself may or may not appear. The game also has organ-style music at the start and end of each maze-zapping session, in addition to the weird voice.

Good stuff. This is also a convenient moment to shamelessly plug the upcoming 3rd annual pinball/arcade show here in Seattle next month, weekend of June 11-13. Come one, come all!

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Being a huge newspaper/anime comics fan (also ‘traditional’ e.g. Marvel/DC too but not quite as much) it was a sad day many years ago when Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson hung up his drawing tools seemingly for good. Barring some nice compilation(s), there hasn’t nary been a peep out of him since the end of 1995, when he ended the strip.

Last October, a self-described ‘diehard fan’ published a biography of sorts on Watterson and most prominently, Calvin and Hobbes itself. I was finally able to read a copy of this book at the end of last week. My impressions are thus:

a) I liked the book. I liked the extent to which the author (Nevin Martell) goes all out to find every source and potential lead he can about C&H, its elusive author, and any other history, talkative peer cartoonist, diehard celebrity fan or supporting information he can find to tell the story at its most effective. I also appreciated the respect paid to Watterson’s privacy (especially considering what’s happened to privacy as a general matter since Watterson retired – going kablooie as we speak! ) even if it meant some information could simply not be obtained in the end. Good for Mr. Martell.

b) I was also glad to see this book come out because while the strip isn’t coming back, this country (and perhaps world?) needs Calvin’s biting commentary (and Hobbes’ sage wisdom, often looking at humanity from the outside with more than a small puzzled expression) more than ever. Not that C&H ever needed any help with growing their fan base, but this book helps remind us they are still out there when we need them, even if Watterson himself has long since moved on.

c) Finally – even after having read this book, i’m left with more than a little puzzlement myself – do I have a better sense of Bill Watterson the person? Do I better understand the sources of his enormous talent and special sensitivity as expressed in C&H? I have to say in both cases, possibly no. Despite reading a work as detailed as this one, i’m still wondering about Watterson’s fundamental abhorrence of his own success. I remember reading the Tenth Anniversary book some time ago and thinking BW came across as more than a little sanctimonious in the surrounding notes and essays included – Sure, he’s more than earned the right to have strong opinions about his own industry and his own/others’ place in it, but at times it came across like ‘most cartoonists are sellouts and I’m not, even though I’m way more successful than most of them!’ – not really the most convincing argument when examined in the bigger scheme.

I think Mr. Martell tries to strike a better balance on this particular point, and does take pains to point out the effect of BW’s stance on his peers and even his employers. While no one will be particularly sympathetic to a large publishing syndicate missing out on (yet another) big cartoonist cash-in – Watterson sets the bar higher than anyone before (and likely anyone else will, ever) in his ‘leave me alone’ stance. It is to his syndicate’s credit that they let him get away with it and not haul in the lawyers to get rid of him and keep the strip going with unknown writers and artists behind the scenes. Definitely adding to the allure of C&H – but still not completely explaining why BW felt so strongly about those issues.

Sidebar: The research done in this book paid off for me in two other neat ways – Martell interviews several cartoonists I had never heard of (and now can check out), and, he took a trip to the Cartoon Library and Museum at Ohio State University in Columbus. Bill Watterson contributed a very impressive amount of artwork, materials and personal items in and around C&H to this museum, meaning it’s going to be a ‘must visit’ next time I’m in Ohio, definitely!

I guess in the end, C&H is apparently one of those rare art creations we are simply meant to enjoy on any level we can, and not bother the creator for the ‘how’ beyond anything he cares to offer. And I can definitely live with that. Thanks to Mr. Martell for writing this book and for reminding us how great a creation C&H truly is, and how much Watterson really sweated the details to make it that way during its run.

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So a lifelong friend and I connected for some old-school gaming this weekend. And when i say ‘old school’ while not quite as old as say, Frisbee, Monopoly, or Go – these were still pretty old videogames. He has an extensive collection of old (mostly 70s-80s but a few are even older) videogame consoles – the same ones we used to play on the big ol’ 25″ tv in his basement back in the day. We actually had an Atari ‘flashback’ console for those – it has a ton of games built into it instead of plugging cartridges in and out all day – and it even has a few previously-unreleased and prototype Atari 2600 games as a bonus, which is pretty cool (and I’m sure doesn’t hurt sales ).

So after some Atari, we hauled out the Bally Arcade, then sidetracked to a couple (real) arcade games – we both have several of these – a couple of mine are at his house) – then off for pizza. Then back for more Atari, followed by Colecovision (played through nearly all the cart’s he had, although the controllers on that system haven’t stood the test of time well – they were all but impossible to use) and then back to Atari with a brief sojourn in C64-land. We also surveyed several other systems he has around, but ultimately forgot to get around to hooking them up.

Then of course the required pilgrimage to Fry’s in Wilsonville, followed by a quick dinner and then to Ground Kontrol (an actual arcade in Oldtown Portland with 80s-90s videogames and about 20 pinballs – great stuff!).

We got done around 945 pm. And the good thing is, there are plenty more games for NEXT time We need to get back to more C64 – and then some older PC and Amiga games we used to play for hours on end.

Ah, memories…..

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So I finally watched Akira recently. This is one of the anime movies that started it all, way back in 1988. It shares many (now) typical anime plot devices (angry head cop going-it-alone against the system, devil-may-care central characters that live (and often die) completely in the moment, a post-apocalpytic Neo-Tokyo that has more than one section of the city living in all but anarchy, subtle yet pervasive technology throughout everything the characters see and experience, etc.) – many of these themes, however, originated in *this* movie, so small wonder these influences persist to this day – Akira is by far among the best anime I’ve seen to date.

Like the first Ghost In The Shell movie, this one doesn’t seem to have any CGI in it – given that TRON and The Last Starfighter weren’t too many years before this movie, the lack of CGI (or, CGI integrated into anime) isn’t very surprising. The scenery and drawings are fairly impressive with a meticulous attention to detail, and the characters are drawn with a wide range of emotion throughout.

There are definite external inspirations within Akira in turn. The super-bikes all the main biker gang characters own are obviously influenced by the TRON light-cycles (and 80s ‘crotch rocket’ street bikes from the real world of the same era). And there has to be a shout-out given to Escape From New York (and similar but far cheesier early 70s post-apocalyptic sci-fi) as influential upon the burned-out city in Neo-Tokyo.

Without revealing very much – essentially one of the main biker-gang members, Tetsuo, is inadvertently exposed to a mutant on the run from a secret army agency. This exposure (of course) begins to create powers in this kid and one can begin to predict what happens next – although it’s still not near as predictable as you might think, and just when you think the movie is ending, another plot twist moves in another direction – nice!

To repeat, definitely one of the best anime I’ve seen yet – others have amazing animation/CGI but largely flat characters (Appleseed); interesting stories that sadly create inherent plot contradictions over time that aren’t resolved (Witch Hunter Robin); or very simplistic (but fairly entertaining) plots in a completely fantastical setting (Mars Daybreak – all hail talking Belugas!). Akira stands way above all of those – if you only ever see one anime – make it this one.

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Haven’t blabbed about music in some time, so here goes. What are people listening to? Of late, I’ve actually tried some new(er) bands out – since I never listen to the radio, and don’t drive very much – I tend to rely on album reviews from The Stranger, The Weekly, occasionally Willamette Week, or random articles from the ‘Net as they come along. Some good stuff of late includes

People Eating People (seattleite too!);
Fruit Bats
Le Loup
Blue Scholars

and for the old school, have been getting back into Saga (sorry, Kirk ) and even good ol’ Wall of Voodoo. gotta love Stan Ridgway!

tried (and failed) – Owl City – but this review is way harsher than I would have been – I just thought he was too derivative of the original synth bands first time around.

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So in anticipating the new Clash of the Titans movie about to come out – I got the old one (1981 vintage) from the library. The last (and only) time I saw this movie was around 1984 while staying with friends in Nicoya, Costa Rica – the town had a small theater and we saw the movie there one night (with english subtitles).

So….on the one hand, this probably was an impressive movie for its time (given the varied Ray Harryhausen animation throughout if for no other reason) – I was about 15-16 at the time and remember there being sound issues in that theater, don’t really remember much of the movie. I think I remember the Kraken, who is essentially a cross between Godzilla (size), Creature from the Black Lagoon (appearance) and the silly big multi-armed Goro from the also ridiculous Mortal Kombat movie (multiple arms). And yes, I saw at least half of THAT movie, and let’s just say it doesn’t merit its own review – play the video game instead.

Rumbling forth to modern times, ‘COTT 1981′ looks pretty dated. Like other journey + monster(s) + hero/heroine movies, there are several tedious sequences where they are just riding around. This was my main complaint about the The Two Towers (theatrical version, anyway – the extended Two Towers DVD version is much better on that score). Too much running around with obviously a camera plane tracking them from above (thankfully never saw a shadow – an Orc probably got the camera plane with a flaming arrow at some point – that’ll learn ‘em!).

Neither hero nor heroine are very good actors – Harry Hamlin (Perseus) does a lot of staring into space with a half-frown and his mouth hanging open and the heroine isn’t given many lines or much to do at all. Burgess Meredith (Perseus’ helper guy Ammon) isn’t bad, but he was better playing a flightless bird earlier in life (or when he trained Italians). Zeus gets all the best lines (but considering the actor playing him, pretty unsurprising).

As to other silliness – most of the men run around in non-existent pants that would even embarass Richard Simmons – and I don’t want to know how it is to ride horses (flying or no) in effectively a medieval jockstrap for miles on end – there is a reason they invented chariots and rickshaws, guys!

Perseus’ sword is pretty cheesy – I think i’ve either seen that thing before at Brookstone or that nerd store in The Market. The matte painting backgrounds are a bit too easily spotted as such. and as for Bubo, the mechanical owl given to Perseus by Athena – I didn’t mind him but at least they open with him breaking a dead tree branch by landing on it (because as a metal owl, he’s too f’ing heavy? )

Let’s sum up by saying there was a lot of fast-forwarding (the magic of DVDs!) and hope that the new version is decent – although if the story is the same, i’ll wait to see reviews before getting in line. Hopefully The Kraken will get a shot at eating Liam Neeson or something cool

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Finally popped up on my hold list at the library, and was able to watch the original Ghost in the Shell movie (again – saw it several years ago once before) tonight.

While the first two GITS movies have the same characters but an almost completely different storyline than the two series and much later 3rd movie, it’s interesting now to go back and watch this one again, having seen all the rest. It’s obviously older – there isn’t any CGI in this one, all classic animation (although I guess it has since been remade itself and incorporated some CGI). The characters, excepting Aramaki, all seem somehow ‘younger’ – almost as if you are seeing The Major in her late 20s or something. It’s not impossible to believe that her merger with The Puppetmaster program by the end of this movie made her into the arguably colder, more calculating/mature and ‘older’ Major of the later series? Interesting to think about at any rate. Batou seems younger too, as if he’s all but ready to *tell* The Major he loves her, but as per usual, seems torn up about it? Hard to say. He’s definitely a colder fish in the first TV series, if not the second.

As the story here (and in the second original movie) are again, not part of the rest – seeing them before/after everything else is fine, you aren’t losing out – there are only really five characters here from the later series – The Major, Batou, Togusa, Chief Aramaki, and Ishikawa. Saito gets mentioned but they never show him, and Borma/Paz don’t exist here.

I think of the three movies, I like this one best. Its story can stand alone, even though of course it was easy to build a sequel and later series from it. Of the two series, the first one was better for me (see earlier post on this). Great stuff, definitely top-tier anime, for sure.

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