24 Season 8 - 6 PM - 7 PM

...chirp, chirp, chirp...the following takes place between 6 PM and 7 PM.

Continuing in the long line of 24 stereotypes, America meet aggressive ball playin' black ghetto youth.

Dead bodies #10 and #11, Ital cop and wife, was there any doubt? And Sloppy Joe leaves cop right next to the window? Come on...

Those former Wire actors are everywhere on TV these days.

CTU is that easy to approach let alone find?

Another fairly padded episode, despite Jack getting captured and beat by a cop while anothers corps rots upstairs the information that needs to get to where it does gets there in just a nick of time. We can hope that dead body #11 is that of Freddy Prinze Jr but that would be silly and wishful thinking.

Chris Reeves SDCC Superman Mystery Solved

Finally!

Back in July, I posted some mystery images good friend Mar-God took at the SDCC Toynami table of a mystery Superman statue featuring Christopher Reeves. There was no label or price and reps refused to divulge any information. Well today that all changed when Toynami officially released details on the upcoming addition to the Cinemaquette line. No pricing information as of yet, but we have to assume it'll be in the 200+ range...looks pretty nice and makes the DCD stuff look like lead in comparisson.

The world's first and greatest super-hero makes his debut in this newest edition in the Cinemaquette series, capturing the moment as the Man of Steel touches down to Earth. Constructed of polyurethane composite with realistic silicon skin, the SUPERMAN Cinemaquette's head is individually punched with real human hair.

Specifications:

• Approximately 29 inches in height
• Handsome display base inspired by Superman's Fortress of Solitude
• Each certificate bears the endorsement of the Christopher Reeve estate, and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, a charitable foundation dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by funding innovative research, and improving the quality of life for people living with paralysis through grants, information and advocacy.

Open for pre-orders in February / March.
Item expected to ship in April / May.

Limited in production to 1,000 units worldwide.

No pricing information as of yet, but we have to assume it'll be in the 200+ range, so start saving...looks pretty nice and makes the DCD stuff look like lead in comparisson. I think I prefer the look of the SDCC 'prototype' when comparing, but we'll see when we get closer to a release date and final product images are made available.

Pics and info Cinemaquette.com

24 Season 8 - 5 PM - 6 PM

...chirp, chirp, chirp...the following takes place between 5 PM and 6 PM.

Confirmed, dead bodies #8 and #9 Torres and Johnson, the other passengers on the helicopter. The other agent has just sustained injuries.

Man, Katie Sackoff is the mayor of over acting city, her facial expressions and body language...argh. Please kill her off soon, there is no way I could put up with this for 24 episodes. I get that her character is a smug bitch but she's really overdoing it.

This new CTU is pretty crazy, check out the entrance to the interrogation room. Looks like left over sets from the first and third X-Men films.

Horrible reaction to someones wife getting shot in the leg on top of finding out one of your work buddies is a Russian or something.

Man, this hour really let me down pretty boring and not one fresh dead body...next episode better be carnage.

24 Season 8

So, what started out as an interesting, even arguably innovative hour of television has turned into one of the worst shows on TV in my opinion. Bad acting, worse writing and a show that really should not have lived beyond it's (again arguably) ground breaking inaugural season.

Truth be told, I've only seen seasons one and seven in their entirety and watched about half of two and three before just giving up after losing so much interest I could barely stay awake during an episode. What struck me watching three and seven recently (blame unemployment) is how casually and the frequency at which people are killed off and murdered in any given episode. I even considered keeping count during season three, the last one I attempted to watch, however the first episode had an early scene where two truck loads of bodies were dumped, burned and buried on a Mexican hacienda's grounds...I'd never get an accurate count and as I said I was so bored, I think I somehow inspired the great song by Wavves.

So here we are, season fucking eight...how on Earth can this show still be on the air? How does Keiffer Sutherland simply not have better things to do with his time? Does anyone actually watch this crap and actually get into it and enjoy it for it's writing or taut story lines ripped from yesterdays headlines?

As I admitted, I was unemployed this summer and watched season seven in it's entirety, it was tough but I kind of got the whole action movie on one night a week appeal, but forchristsakes it's twenty four episodes long, and it's only 'interesting' for about four to six of those episodes right at the end, but I felt this need to just finish it no matter how bad, I really could not care less about how it ended, I felt obligated to collect the last Pog and then throw them all away just so I could say I did it.

So out of a combined need to discipline myself into posting regularly and having some fun critiquing bad TV minutia, I will attempt to offer some snide commentary as only the internet can provide as well as keep count of the bodies and paranoid CTU looks while we the audience are trying to figure out who the mole is this season.

So lets begin...chirp, chirp, chirp...the following takes place between 4 PM and 5 PM.

Man that former police chief/city councilman David Asaveda from the excellent FX series The Shield certainly must get better offers than this bit part, and he looks a little old for the CI role. Time for a new agent dude.

Can you really show someone smoking heroin or crack at 8PM?

Dead body #1 - Manny?/Maddy? - Shot in the head and found dead in the shower...we are 1:40 into the fucking show.

Dead body #2 - Mauricio, also shot in the head and found dead on the street - 2:04

We see retired grandpa Jack for the first time, babysitting Kim's kid. I'm always amazed at child actors that are this young, can remember lines and pretend strangers are their parents and relatives. She may be the best actor on the show.

Elisha Cuthbert...how were you ever a star? You can barely act and now that you are losing your looks what are you gonna do? This scene between her and her husband is fucking painful.

Hey, it's that crazy game show host guy from Slumdog Millionaire, still hamming it up.

The guy who plays Ethan is terrible.

The set design of the UN is impressive, lotsa nice mid century Scandinavian looking wood furniture. On the other hand, the NY CTU head quarters is just out of control and likely must have been responsible for most of the budget...seriously, when we first see the security entrance, it looked like something from Blade Runner or a Roche Bobois showroom. And whats with all the head sets? Those crazy computer set ups? Lame.

Man this reporter chick who's having the affair with the Pakistani president is weird looking.

I could never really get into BSG because of the bad acting and Starbuck here is still terrible with her pursed lips.

Freddy Prinze Jr. eh?

Oh Chloe...you and your frustrated Peppermint Patty face, why are you in New York anyway?

Someone not knowing who Jack Bauer is, nice touch.

Shameless Sprint promo #1

Dead Body #3 and #4 - a pair of NYC's finest.

Dead Body #5 and #6 - pair of thugs, one by fireman axe(!) and the other goes flying down the center of a winding staircase three to four floors hitting almost everything possible on the way down. Nice stunt and the highlight of this episode so far.

Splosion! Why people watch this show...they blew up a fucking helicopter for real on a roof top in NYC!

Dead body #7 - Victor (the CI). It also looks like the two other passengers of the helicopter and possibly another CTU agent, I'll clarify next episode.

Whew...no way I'll do 24 of these.

Cat Eyed Boy

Cat Eyed Boy Volume One
Story and Art Kazuo Umezu
$24.99 USD/$29.99 CAN
544 pages
Released Jun. 17, 2008

Finally making my way through the first volume of Kazuo Umezu's wonderful Cat Eyed Boy after sitting on my shelf for well over a year. Man, this is really great stuff and although it cannot top the gonzo classic known as The Drifting Classroom it has the same oddness that makes Umezu's brand of horror so enjoyable. The best way to describe it for the uninitiated is if Tezuka had somehow found work at EC in the 1950's and like the best of the EC output, it's hard to imagine this was aimed at children, young children.

Originally released in serialized weekly form in the mid 1960's and Filled with creepy cool monsters and goblins, the 500 plus pages are made up of several short tales hosted a la Rod Serling by the Cat Eyed Boy, an exiled drifter who because of his appearance (and being a monster/goblin himself) is forced to steal food and squat in peoples homes. Because of his own supernatural origins (briefly shown in one tale) his very presence brings about bizarre circumstances to the poor folks whose attics he's shacking up in and what follows are morality stories with the usual twists and tales surely based on Japanese superstitions and folklore.

With an almost American underground style inspired by early manga artists like Tezuka that almost defies categorization, the art and story are uniquely Umezu and have this "I'm making it up as I go along and I really can't draw everything "charm. Definitely not essential reading, still loads of fun none the less. The book is a bit hampered by some bad reproduction work similar to the blurry reprints that often turn up in many of the Marvel Essential phonebooks, and like Buddah, the editors felt the need to contemporize some of the dialogue (maybe for younger readers?). I also would have loved an essay or some historical background on Umezu and this work in context of what was happening in the world of Japanese comics of the time, as even in this age of information overload, substantial writing on Umezu's work is kind of hard to find. Kudos to Viz's design team for some of the most handsome looking volumes the company has released and for not dividing the work into 10 smaller books.

I have to assume based on the friends that I tried in vain to loan this tome to that younger manga fans will likely be turned off by the antiquated art and simplistic stories. Fine with me, you keep reading your 60th volume of Naruto while I happily seek out Volume Two of Cat Eyed Boy. Recommended 4/5

1966 Cap Cap

Just picked this up. Never thought I'd ever own any Captain Action pieces until much later in life due to prices and rarity plus you just never see them. Happened across this lot in a forum from a great seller and now Caps yer uncle. Not an original Captain Action body however, had to use my Tonto (sorry Mal) but as soon as I find another body, Kimosabe is back in the case. What can I say, fantastic piece. Love the thickness of the uniform and the condition it's in after all of these years is stunning. everything fits nicely and snugly. Dig that crazy laser pistol and sniper rifle! And the 'mask' captures that Kirby/Sinnot essence very nicely. One thing I did note is the Playing Mantis Cap bodies must have a slightly thicker waist than the original Ideal models, having some difficulty getting the belt to stay on. But this easily rockets to one of the top pieces in my collection.

Now bring on Superman, Baman and Spidey...kidding


UPDATE: Just realized the bitter irony of Captain America usurping Tonto in my display cabinet. We are working towards a peaceful and amicable solution for all parties involved.

SDCC - A Few of My Favourite Things

Unfortunately for the 40th time in it's history, I again was not able to attend the 2009 San Diego Comic Con (one of these days!). Anyway my very good friend Mar-God was there and gave me permission to post some of my favourite images on this very blog...enjoy!

This first image is a mysterious Christopher Reeves Superman
figure/statue thingy he found sitting on the Toynami table, with a similar in quality and scale Bruce Lee figure (sorry, no photo) with no one at the booth available for comment at the time the pic was snapped and having read nothing elsewhere on any blogs reporting SDCC news, this one remains a real mystery...what is this exactly? Anyone out there know? Looks like it'll be a pricey number if and when it makes it to retail...beautiful, makes the Mattel one look a little silly.


Hot Toys does it again and 2010 may be the year I finally pop my HT cherry. First it was that amazing Thriller Michael Jackson and now these beauts! Wow, what an unexpected license to pick up. Really excited for these, I still have all my original toys from when the film was originally released and never thought I'd see the day when new Mars Attacks! merch would be released.

No, you are not dreaming, this is a Stormtrooper Shogun WarriorBut from what Mar-God gathered from speaking with one of the cool folks working the Super 7 booth, this toy has been a dream piece that has been many years in the making ( I definitely remember seeing images well over a year ago from a HK toy show), they've gone the extra mile to ensure that this Jumbo is as close as possible to the original releases, even going so far as to ensure that the plastic is of that same shampoo bottle quality of the ones we so fondly remember from our youth. The only downside to this is the price, the card on the right reads $280!But from the care involved, it'll be worth every cent.

More later!