Trailer Park

Honestly, at least the summer movie season is so crowded that anything is possible, but once Winter roles around, we stop caring about movies.
My clairvoyant look into the next few months: Future Golden Globe nominees shamelessly clamor for an Oscar-loss, Holiday family movies about family holidays stuff the cineplex, and every Biopic from a Barnes and Nobles bestseller gets rewritten and neutered for the big screen. Everything will be about the triumph of the human spirit.
According to the movie season, human history rarely happened outside of the "Greatest Generation."
Well, like the dieter's tea said to the constipated, "let's push forward, shall we?"
Erase the memory of that lackluster James Bond (get off my nuts, a review is coming soon) with some guaranteed entertainment...next year.

wolverine origin [trailer]
Video
Envoyé par vegeta5 sur wat.tv

Okay, Okay. Winter season isn't all bad (there was Lord of the Rings after all).
Case in point, Director David Fincher and and, man's role model, Brad Pitt (two guys who will probably only win an Oscar posthumously) are putting their own unique spin on the Holiday film. It's based on an F. Scott FItzgerald novel (ugh, high school memories of having to read THE GREAT GATSBY just struck me), but Fincher isn't some cookie-cutter director. So, expect a strong adaptation and a great seasonal entry...

The Bamn Crew Signs On For A War Anthology

The big news this week comes via, the Washingtonian comic book community, DC Conspiracy...
DCC has asked us to contribute a mini-story to their regular Dr. Dremo's Anthology series. The book is just one of an ongoing series of 1-shot anthology titles from the DCC. Each book will contain a different theme (Horror, Sci-Fi, etc...) The books are brought to us by (the soon to be closing) Dr. Dremo's Tap House. Dr. Dremo himself will present every issue in the old school EC Comics tradition.
Jay seems excited at the chance to do a War story (he loves SAVING PRIVATE RYAN).
Our segment will be about the Iraq War. Lacking creativity, I'm using a good buddy of mine, Pvt. Sergio Estavia, to recount some of the darker moments of his time in the military.
Jay Payne (BAMN) will be doing the art and, Evan Keeling (CRUMBSNATCHERS, TALES FROM THE DISTRICT, TRICKSTER) will be doing the editing.
As we speak, I'm punching up the script, trying my best to respect what Serg' has told me over phone calls and e-mails, as well as give proper tribute to a guy I've known since Junior High School.
More updates are abound...
-Troy

What The...?!

Ugo.com published a great list of WTF moments in comics. Good or bad, these are the (many) things that give fanboys pause...

I wish I could write something cleverer (more clever?) but I got a headache!

Go!: http://www.ugo.com/comics/wtf-moments-in-comics/

Wait. We have a Black President?!

Nobody told me...

Seriously (okay, not too seriously), the website Obama2008 did a collage of newspapers from November 5th 2008.

It's kinda neat. It goes to show that the world was just waiting for America to catch up to them.

Anywho, laugh at what passes for attention grabbing headlines, such as the orgasmic "Oh-Bama." (What happen to such wonderfully unbias front pages like "BASTARDS!?") and take in the moment...again.

CLICKITY-CLICK:

http://obama2008.s3.amazonaws.com/headlines.html

Bamn Updates!

I'm running out of updates, seeing how alot of what is going on is me writng a Jay drawing. Doesn't make for interesting bloggery.
Figured I'd throw some sciptwork at you, kids. Let you see the process upclose.
Below is a sample of Issue #2. The scene in question involves (one of) our antagonist, Brent.
For those of you who didn't purchase issue #1. Brent was the main bully/opposition. The wedgie-giving, fear-mongering high schooler who Bamn is going to help the kids defeat. Here, we catch up with him an issue after he doled out some punishment and got squished in return. Enjoy...

EXT. SCHOOL – DAY
PANEL 1
Just a nice establishing shot of the school. I’m assuming since this takes place after school hours, there is no need to draw kids around the place.

CAPTION/COACH
“Sorry?!” Sorry only counts in bull $#!+ and prayers! It does not count in championships, Brent!


INT. SCHOOL – COACH’S OFFICE - CONTINUED
PANEL 2
We cut in on the coach’s ass-chewing conversation with Brent.
BRENT
Coach Buttermaker, I...

COACH
There ain’t a damn thing to explain!
Instead of getting ready for your dual meet, you decide to go backyard wrestling?!

PANEL 3
Brent can’t get a word in edge-wise. The Coach is pissed!

BRENT
I wasn’t…

COACH
What meet physician is going to let you wrestle with a broken arm? Huh?!

You’re lucky you’re about to graduate. It’s too late for disciplinary action!

BRENT
You’re gonna keep me on as captain?


PANEL 4
Brent is already out the door. He knows this ain’t going nowhere.

COACH
Hell no! I’m replacing you with Cody. Make you watch the meets from the sidelines!
And you better show up!

INT. SCHOOL - HALLWAY - CONTINUED
PANEL 5
Brent walks out the Coach’s office.

COACH
I didn’t tell you to leave…!

SFX/DOOR
Click!

BRENT (under his breath)
C@ck-Mongrel.

Punisher: War Zone Trailer

I was waiting for a real PUNISHER WAR ZONE trailer. The first one was a tease for the NRA and the second one was all hyberbole and torture porn. This most recent trailer isn't going to put (Non-fanboy) @$$es in the seat, but the plot is more clear and specific.
Still, I can't help but think that a December 5th release will be the death of the film. It's December, guys! People want to watch fantasy films turned into novels and actors clamor for Oscar nods!
Ah, well...

Obama The Destroyer

No, this is not some Anti-Obama rant.

Telegraph.co.uk released a Top 50 list of "Things you may not know about Obama." Fortunatley, it's not some anti-Zionist conspiracy theorist list but a happy attempt to get to know the President-Elect better.

Number 1 on the list? He collects Spider-Man and Conan: the Barbarian comics! His reading habits in the 3-color medium are quite ironic when you think of what the characters represent:

- Spider-Man, a personal favorite, is the quintessential underdog. Always coming back at the final hour fueled entirely by an unending sense of responsibility.

- Conan, is the unstoppable Cimmerian. An ambitious rabblerouser and natural leader (Okay, a selfish one).

Here is more from the list:

• He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics
• He was known as "O'Bomber" at high school for his skill at basketball
• His name means "one who is blessed" in Swahili
• His favourite meal is wife Michelle's shrimp linguini
• He won a Grammy in 2006 for the audio version of his memoir, Dreams From My Father
• He is left-handed – the sixth post-war president to be left-handed
• He has read every Harry Potter book
• He owns a set of red boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali
• He worked in a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop as a teenager and now can't stand ice cream
• His favourite snacks are chocolate-peanut protein bars
• He ate dog meat, snake meat, and roasted grasshopper while living in Indonesia
• He can speak Spanish
• While on the campaign trail he refused to watch CNN and had sports channels on instead
• His favourite drink is black forest berry iced tea
• He promised Michelle he would quit smoking before running for president – he didn't
• He kept a pet ape called Tata while in Indonesia
• He can bench press an impressive 200lbs
• He was known as Barry until university when he asked to be addressed by his full name
• His favourite book is Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
• He visited Wokingham, Berks, in 1996 for the stag party of his half-sister's fiancé, but left when a stripper arrived
• His desk in his Senate office once belonged to Robert Kennedy
• He and Michelle made $4.2 million (£2.7 million) last year, with much coming from sales of his books
• His favourite films are Casablanca and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
• He carries a tiny Madonna and child statue and a bracelet belonging to a soldier in Iraq for good luck
• He applied to appear in a black pin-up calendar while at Harvard but was rejected by the all-female committee.
• His favourite music includes Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Bach and The Fugees
• He took Michelle to see the Spike Lee film Do The Right Thing on their first date
• He enjoys playing Scrabble and poker
• He doesn't drink coffee and rarely drinks alcohol
• He would have liked to have been an architect if he were not a politician
• As a teenager he took drugs including marijuana and cocaine
• His daughters' ambitions are to go to Yale before becoming an actress (Malia, 10) and to sing and dance (Sasha, 7)
• He hates the youth trend for trousers which sag beneath the backside
• He repaid his student loan only four years ago after signing his book deal
• His house in Chicago has four fire places
• Daughter Malia's godmother is Jesse Jackson's daughter Santita
• He says his worst habit is constantly checking his BlackBerry
• He uses an Apple Mac laptop
• He drives a Ford Escape Hybrid, having ditched his gas-guzzling Chrysler 300
• He wears $1,500 (£952) Hart Schaffner Marx suits
• He owns four identical pairs of black size 11 shoes
• He has his hair cut once a week by his Chicago barber, Zariff, who charges $21 (£13)
• His favourite fictional television programmes are Mash and The Wire
• He was given the code name "Renegade" by his Secret Service handlers
• He was nicknamed "Bar" by his late grandmother
• He plans to install a basketball court in the White House grounds
• His favourite artist is Pablo Picasso
• His speciality as a cook is chilli
• He has said many of his friends in Indonesia were "street urchins"
• He keeps on his desk a carving of a wooden hand holding an egg, a Kenyan symbol of the fragility of life
• His late father was a senior economist for the Kenyan government

Rocky Balboa

Rocky Balboa
Directed by Sylvester Stallone
Starring Sylvester Stallone
I always wondered what happened to the writer inside Sylvester Stallone. Ultimately settling into the shoutgun shells and sequels of the 80s, Stallone had seemed to leave the credit of writer behind. But apparently, the fading action star/Academy Award-winning writer, had something "still in the basement."
Undeafted heavyweight, Mason Dixon, has had 32 wins and little respect in the boxing community. With his credibility in question, a computer-simulated boxing match sparks an interest in a cross-genertional mathup. Dixon's opponent? Rocky Balboa, the "Italian Stallion," Philadelphia's golden boy turned restaurant owner.
Balboa has settled into his retirement due, largely, to his old age. But he's a workhorse, and nothing (despite family and friends hinting at public embarrassment) is going to keep him away from Dixon's offer to match-up for real.
The film's concluding story shadow boxes it's very production. It takes one of film's central underdogs and one of film's real-life Cinderalla stories (Stallone's) and shows them for their relevance and prominence.
Directing, writing, and acting, Stallone takes a steady but agressive stance with ROCKY BALBOA, creating an appropriate come back for Rocky's final filmmaking round.

Zack and Miri Make A Porno

Zack and Miri Make A Porno
Directed by Kevin Smith
Starring Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Trace Lords, Brandon Routh, and Jason Mewes

Director/Writer Kevin Smith (CHASING AMY, JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKES BACK, DOGMA) is a clever guy, but his carreer has been marred by fan-service instead of invoking the independent spirit that got him to make the original CLERKS. ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO isn't the money shot that CLERKS was, but it's my belief that this is the type of film he should have been making years ago. Gone is the over-extended, pot-smoking "hetero lifemates," Jay and Silent Bob (although Jason Mewes does deliver some nice comedy here). Instead, Smith tells a story of awkward romance amidst the stained sheets of the porn industry.
Seth Rogen (Zack) and Parker Posey --- uh, Elizabeth Banks (Miri) play a pair of longtime friends/roomates who have the misfortune of attending their high school reunion. Zack has accepted his status as a human stain and Miri has a reputation for getting drunk and sleeping with anyone. The reunion sparks some harsh self-reflection that is made worse when the two return to their apartment utility-less. As Miri appropriately points out, "this is when people start having sex for money." In that moment, you can practically see the light bulb over Zack's head.
The two pool their resources and attempt to make a sci-fi/blue film epic called "Star Whores." Where they get the money for a film production is irrelevant, what is worth mentioning is Kevin Smith's noticable improvement as a writer. He's visually sharper, his story more cohesive, and seems more willing to trust actors who aren't his friends.
The end result isn't overwhelmingly hilarious but it mirrors the level of potential that Smith showed almost a decade ago.

Movie Review: W.

W.
Directed by Oliver Stone
Starring by Josh Brolin, James Cromwell, Richard Dreyfuss, Thandie Newton, and Elizabeth Banks.

There are alot of angles you can take when making a biopic about George W. Bush. Is he Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld's lapdog? Or is he the recipient of Bush Senior's puppeteer strings? Is he a vengeance-driven war-mongerer, his eyes set on Saddam Hussein? Is he a loyalist of the Skull and Bones-variety? Truth isn't always, necessarily, stranger than fiction. Usually the simplest answer is the correct one.
That's the approach that, director, Oliver Stone takes with "W." Stone ("JFK," "Platoon" "Nixon," "Natural Born Killers") can be pretty overwrought from time to time. Here, he opts out of the readily available choice of making a scandalous period piece (though there is a plenty of finger-pointing). Honestly, "Junior" is given the most fairest of shakes here. Imagine a man who has been misled and misguided his whole life. Now imagine him becoming President of the free world. Now imagine if it was just your imagination.
Amazingly at home, Josh Brolin ("No Country for Old Men") and his supporting ensemble don't veer wildly into caricature instead of character. As a matter of fact, the only person who didn't seem to get the memo is actress Thandie Newton. Playing Condie Rice, Newton seems quite awkward in her fake moles and teeth --- but then again, maybe that was the point.
Overall, "W." is an average film, but Brolin's presence makes the movie an Oscar-level acknowledgement. Brolin doesn't so much impersonate as he envokes George W. Bush (with little in the way of prosthetics). It's almost uncanny how well he has the man down. He could give Frank Caliendo a run for his money.
Despite Stone's surprisingly middle ground aproach, I do believe it's the subject matter that may have required a bit of breathing room before it was time for a biopic. A bit of reflection may have benefited the movie.
Stone (who makes adequate use of that "Forest Gump" technology) wants to connect dots, which is sensible, but I honestly found the scenes of character motivation more interesting. The stuff between George Sr. (played straight by Cromwell) and Jr.'s religious connections really drive the film home.
The movie won't pull any right-wings or left-wings into the middle, but it is an amazingly sympathetic depiction of a man who will never be given the opportunity to catch the ball, despite being in the primary position to get it.

Jay on Bamn

In 2007, Jay Payne, David Dean, and I (Troy Jefferey Allen) decided to fulfill a long-time goal of making a comic book. One year later and we've produced BAMN (www.BamnCan.com)! The following video is Jay working on a splash page for issue #1. I've sped it up so you can follow the process. Enjoy!For more information on Bamn, our Nerds vs. Jocks High School comedy, go to www.bamncan.com!

Nailin' Palin

Don't worry. It's not what you think. You can watch this safely at work.

Below, Thandie Newton (from the overwrought movie CRASH, but not the one about people getting off on car wrecks) and Ricky Gervais (the superior and original THE OFFICE) read the script to the NAILIN PAILIN porno. Hilarious and, surprisingly, Gervais isn't as into as Newton.

My imagination runs wild --- because of Newton --- not Gervais. Guh.

One last bit of business and I will retire the political stranglehold on this blog (talking about George Lucas and comic books inspire so much more negativity), President Obama launched http://change.gov/ late last week. The purpose of this site is to be a responsive and accesible location for the citizens of the United States to voice their opinions on the administration, call attention to comunity issues, and share their stories of change with the world. It is a naive but, much appreciated move on the part of the Obama-Biden administration. Utitlize this site. In this forthcoming era of upheavel...this is your first weapon.

Take care,

Troy

Bamn Updates!

FROM http://www.bamncan.com/:

Jay has made me promise to remain non-political on the Bamn site, so I'll pretend nothing happened this week and assume people were dancing in the streets because we sold 1 copy of Bamn #1 over at Comixpress.com.

Enough! It's time for updates:
- Well, the downside is, due to a faltering economy, I have lost my main source of income. But I'm taking a cue from our title character and pushing forward. Bamn #2 is in the works and I've set a personal goal to complete as much of the series as possible before I have to start working again.

- This additional free time also means that I can start working on a little Bamn video project that I've been concocting for the internet. Expect the video to pop up in the not too distant future (man, that was very non-commital).

- We've gotten the official okay to do printings of Bamn #1 for, both, Third Eye Comics and Alliance Comics and Games. These are our comic shops of choice, as we've been making the two shops our home for quite sometime. If you're in the Metro-area, then be sure to check them out...
In DC or Montgomery County?: http://www.alliancecomicsonline.com/

In Baltimore or Annapolis, MD?: http://thirdeyecomics.com/

- Bamn c0-artist and c0-editor, Dave Dean, is putting together his Deviant Art page, as we speak. Be sure to check him out, see why his costume designs are money:
http://david-dean.deviantart.com/

Other than that, everything is running smooth for book #2. Jay is drawing page 1 as we speak and he already finished up one scene for the issue. Meanwhile, I'm re-writing a few scenes for issue #2, trying to get the voices just right, while David is drawing the first of what will, hopefully, be a free Bamn webcomic (first script already in the can).

See you next Wednesday and keep those spirits high,

Troy

It's Not Easy Being Red.

To 52.4% of Americans, the United States seems like Disneyland write now. But to the rigid Republican right it seems like Euro Disney.

Conservatives are infamous for pointing out how we "need to support our President" in times of war or peace. While I never quite gelled to that notion (I feel we should hold our president accountable for his actions, not unconditionally support him), me thinks the Republicans should follow their advice.

I'm one of those types that watches Fox News because I feel that (if you are as stubborn as me) you should be aware of the opposition at all times. Needless to say, I had to take to the mopey forums of the Letterman-bashing, Palin-loving, McCainSpace.

From a thread called "If you we're sad today... you're not only one":

"I am still a John McCain supporter, even though McCain will never live in the White House. Oh, those last few words make me feel so sad - like the rightful king who is deprived of his castle because of an usurper who really doesn't deserve the throne, but who got it anyway."

Here. Just remember who won and have a laugh:

http://community.mccainspace.com/kickapps/service/displayForum.kickAction?w=136736&as=41158&d-7254205-p=1

Putting it in Perspective.

Power and Responsibility.

In High School, every kid wanted to become a rapper, Scarface, or a player (as if that were an occupation). Thank God, the upcoming generation will have something higher to shoot for.

Voting for Obama wasn't a choice,  it was a responsibility.

Eattin' Lightning and Crapin' Thunder!

The 2008 Election FAQ: http://norvig.com/election-faq.html

Can I Kick It?

The people at Tanosokolow.com have taken Lee Dorsey's 1970s jam called, appropriately enough, "Yes We Can" and placed some of Obama's greatest hits over the instrumentals.

It's gauranteed to NOT make you cringe like that Kraft-ian Will.I.Am video from a few months back.

Now, that I've made you feel positive (in a non-sexually transmitted way): Go. Do. Be. Get your head out your ass and vote!