Breaking Radio Silence

Haven't flapped my yapper here in almost a week. What could I talk about? Hmm.

ITEM! I picked up issues 1 and 0 of Dynamite Entertainment's new Red Sonja series at the comic shop this weekend. I was very pleasantly surprised. Written by Bendis collaborator Michael Oeming, with pencils that are rendered with distinct homage to the late, great John Buscema and sporting digitally painted colors by Richard Isanove, both of these issues were well-crafted and had lots of those little character moments I love so much. Another title goes on my pull list. It was also slick enough to get me thinking about my incubating fantasy comic I want to do someday...

ITEM! Tried to watch "Constantine" Saturday. Managed to make it about 2/3 of the way through. Ah, well.

ITEM! Speaking of movies, if I hear one more word about Hollywood's Box Office "slump", I'm gonna puke in the nearest trash can. Are the 24-hour news networks that starved for content that the fact that Hollywood is only making billions of dollars instead of billions and billions of dollars is news-worthy? Listen up, you suits; Here is why people, myself included, don't go to the theater as often as they used to:
1) The quality of the movies are declining becuase the stories/scripts range from mediocre to non-existant. Pick one, perhaps two, writers to script a movie, maybe allowing for input from the director and then leave them alone, you no-talent bean counters! Does it surprise you that many (most?) successful movies are adapted from novels, comics or other works created by one individual? (Amadeus, Sideways, Wonder Boys, The Harry Potter series, LOTR, Batman Begins, etc.) It really shouldn't.
2) The goddamn commercials. Yeah, you heard me. Those goddamn commercials, you motherless sons-of-bitches.
3)People in the audience will. Not. Shut. Up. I don't know of one theater that actually enforces the "No Talking" rule. People just talk to themselves, the screen, the person next to them or whoever's on the cell phone as if they were sitting at home watching the movie on their couch. For the love of god, put an usher in the theater while the movie is playing, and empower them to throw out anyone who raises their voice above a whisper. If a cell phone goes off, that idiot is gone, too. Hell, I would eject anyone that illuminates their cell-phone screen just to check the time. They're annoying as hell, too.
4) Concession Prices. I sneak food into the theater all the time. Do I feel guilty? No, no, hell no. True story: Cost of a "Wonka" bar and a small coke for my 9-year-old nephew: $7.95. That's about $2 less than a new paperback of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" at Barnes & Noble.

ITEM! I read through Harry Potter 6 in about one week. One of the stronger books of the series, nice to see things finally start to wrap up after book 5 meandered about somwhat. Not really surprised by who died. Can't believe that there are so many people that angry about it.

ITEM! The Haley print is coming along much faster and nicer than I thought it would. Look for it on sale early next week.

Okay, off to the day job and then to see Bruce Springsteen tonight.