CAN I KICK IT? YES, YOU CAN

NEW IN THEATRES...

* Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest, a riveting documentary about the legendary hiphop innovators.

* A Little Help, an indie also-ran starring Jenna Fischer that only just begins to touch on its deeper topics.


UPDATED TO CRITERION CONFESSIONS...

* Beauty & the Beast, a gorgeous new edition of Jean Cocteau's definitive telling of the classic fairy tale. (Also at DVD Talk.)

* Raffaelo Matarazzo's Runaway Melodramas, an Eclipse set collecting four movies from the little-known Italian filmmaker. (Also at DVD Talk.)

THIS WEEK IN DVD/BD REVIEWS...

* Phaedra, Jules Dassin takes on Euripides, bringing Melina Mercouri and Anthony Perkins along for the tragedy.

* The Reluctant Saint, Maximilian Schell as the Flying Friar in Edward Dmytryk's religious drama.

Current Soundtrack: Mid-school hip-hop over at the Confessions of a Pop Fan room on Turntable.Fm

e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * Midi-Confessions123 * Criterion Confessions * Live Journal Syndication * ComicSpace * Last FM * GoodReads * The Blog Roll [old version] * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

All text (c) 2011 Jamie S. Rich

IMAGE FANTOME: FRENCH DISCO (Bonus: Post SDCC wrap-up)

Whew. Back from Comic Con. It was a fun show, and Trickster was awesome. Highlights include:

* Thursday's great dinner with the extended Oni Press family.

* The two nights of music by the Gear, especially Saturday when the roof really came off. Also, Laura Allred slapped my ass. Dream come true!

* The Eisners, where Joëlle Jones was really funny doing her awards presenter duties. Our assigned table for the pre-show dinner had us sitting with Phil Lamarr and Lance Henrickson, who were both awesome, and we got to meet Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant from Reno 911.

* Post-Eisners, chatting briefly with Grant Morrison outside the bathroom.

* My delightful signings at Oni and the great people that came to say hello (hi, Erin!). Also, I jumped in on the Yo Gabba Gabba signing and spent an hour signing books for young readers! I even sketched inside them. You know, for kids.

* Chatting during signings with Jarett Williams, Matt Southworth, Dave Crosland, and Meredith McClaren, even if she didn't really know who I was the whole time. Other times chatting with Ray Fawkes, B. Clay Moore, Jim Pascoe, Sam Humphries, Scott Chantler, and Megan Levens. Sitting outside Trickster on Thursday drinking the afternoon away with Jeremy Haun, Mike Norton, Robbie Rodriguez, and Brett Weldele.

* Seeing Chynna Clugston-Flores meet Jon Crier.

* The convincing, low-key Jeff Lebowski cosplayer chatting up Joëlle on the elevator.

* My Saturday Trickster Symposium about collaboration, which was an amazing two-hour chat with Scott Morse, Greg Rucka, Marc Andreyko, Mike Allred, and Larry Marder that some wonderful people actually paid to come see and participate in.

* Likewise, Joëlle's spotlight on Sunday had a marvelous, attentive audience.

Now I am back and trying to catch up, and I want to share some amazing art from Nico that landed in my inbox while I was gone:

A summer drawing of Jesse from Spell Checkers


Thumbnails from a short Britpop-themed comic we are doing together.

Current Soundtrack: Suede, Head Music 2011 remaster




e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * Midi-Confessions123 * Criterion Confessions * Live Journal Syndication * ComicSpace * Last FM * GoodReads * The Blog Roll [old version] * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

All text (c) 2011 Jamie S. Rich

DO YOU KNOW THE WAY TO SAN DIEGO?

And off we go, on our way to San Diego Comic Con International and Tr!ckster.

Check out my full schedule, and come to my Tr!ckster symposium with Greg Rucka, Mike Allred, and Larry Marder.

For updates, follow me on Twitter.

Joëlle Jones is an featured special guest of Comic Con, because she's amazing, and so don't forget to check her schedule at her blog to see where she'll be when she isn't signing with me. Remember, she has a spotlight panel on Sunday, and I'll be there, too. Also, have you seen these prints she'll be selling?

My colleague Mike Allred will also be performing with his band the Gear on Friday and Saturday. Take a look at Mike's schedule at his blog.

Two Generals by Scott Chantler

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Very few comics have made me cry. This is one of them. The last handful of pages are masterful, as Scott Chantler reframes a scene we've visited several times before in the book, giving it new resonance and tying the whole narrative together in a way that packs real power. It's a brilliant example of thoughtful storytelling, emotional without being manipulative. But then, there isn't a pen stroke in this comic that isn't perfectly planned. Two Generals should be given to all prospective cartoonists as a tutorial on how to visually tell tales. Adhering to a strict layout based on a nine-panel grid, Chantler frequently relies on silence and small details to relate change, movement, and outward expression of inner thought and feeling. His pin-point eyes tell more about a character's internal conflict than most other comics artists manage when rendering a complete face. Also, his sparse use of color avoids gimmickry and instead conveys an added layer of meaning. The portentous use of the dark wine color that also adorns the cover of this handsomely designed graphic novel alerts us to deaths to come, like a more serious employment of the Star Trek red shirt. Except here, under the grim specter of war, any man is as expendable as any other.

Two Generals is based in large part on the diaries of the author's grandfather, a lieutenant in the Canadian army in World War II. Chantler's approach is, in some ways, "just the facts, ma'am," avoiding mawkish sentimentality; yet, he is not scared of nostalgia, humor, or genuine human connection. The comic also manages to honor the brave fighters without cheerleading or propaganda, in much the same way another visual medium, television, payed tribute to the soldiers in the miniseries Band of Brothers and The Pacific. I'm considering putting Two Generals on the same shelf as those DVD sets, even if it would fly in the face of my compulsive filing system. Someone get this novel in the hands of Tom Hanks, stat.



View all my reviews

Current Soundtrack: the Confessions of a Pop Fan room on TurntableFM: Erasure, "I Could Fall in Love with You;" Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, "VCR"

F(ile) U(nder): STFU - Harry Potter edition

My mail, sent at 1:00 a.m. PST, opening day:

I read your review of 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (3D)' and... you have to read the books to make an accurate critique. the movie had some good parts but changed things that were already well thought out and were perfect the way they were written. the director clearly did not know what real fans of the books wanted. and the books are the reason the story is even popular in the first place.

OH, BOTHER, AND HERE A STUFFED BEAR WAS MY PETRONUS

That's not a song reference. I made it up myself!

NEW IN THEATRES...

* Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows; Part II, in which the midgets throw the ring into the fire. That's this franchise, right? (Seriously, this movie ruled.)

* Winnie the Pooh, the new animated sequel harshes my Hundred-Acre Wood.


UPDATED TO CRITERION CONFESSIONS...

* The Music Room, a chamber music, chamber room drama from Satyajit Ray. (Also at DVD Talk.)

THIS WEEK IN DVD/BD REVIEWS...

* Rango, the animated chameleon with the voice of Johnny Depp in a movie by Gore Verbinski. Neither as bad as it could be or good as it needs to be, but entertaining.

Current Soundtrack: The Field Mice, "Let's Kiss & Make Up" in the Confessions of a Pop Fan room on Turntable.Fm


e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * Midi-Confessions123 * Criterion Confessions * Live Journal Syndication * ComicSpace * Last FM * GoodReads * The Blog Roll [old version] * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

All text (c) 2011 Jamie S. Rich

THE BIG CARNIVAL: SAN DIEGO COMIC CON 2011 SCHEDULE

I think I have my full schedule for the show worked out. Most of the signings will be with Joëlle, with us appearing close to twice a day at the Oni Press table, which is Booth 1833. Joëlle also has a table in Artist's Alley, she is table HH-13.

For more about getting art from Joëlle, go here, and her schedule is right here.

Thursday

* 1-1:45 - Oni Press Signing
* 5-5:45 - Oni Press Signing

Friday
* 1-1:45 - Oni Press Panel -Room 32AB - I don't think we are officially on this, but we will likely be lurking around. Put Oni on the spot and ask them what I have coming in 2012!

* 3-3:45 - Oni Press Signing
* 5-5:45 - Oni Press Signing

Saturday
* 11-11:45 - Oni Press Signing

* 1-3 pm - Tr!ckster Symposium 5: Building a Creator-Owned Team
http://trickstertrickster.com/events/symposia/

BUILDING A CREATOR-OWNED CREATIVE TEAM
Featuring storytellers MIKE ALLRED, LARRY MARDER, GREG RUCKA, JAMIE S. RICH, and more TBA
Writing a story is hard enough, but finding the visual pairing to help express the story to its fullest can be pivotal in crafting your work. The right combination of exposition and dialogue with the perfect set of sequential images make for excellent, memorable storytelling in comics and children’s books. Join in with acclaimed writers and the artists they’ve worked with as they explore how the creative team, and the creative process, come to fruition.

PERFECT FOR: writers and artists hoping to make comics as a team.

6-6:45 - Oni Press Signing

Sunday
* 11-11:45 - Oni Press signing

* 2-3:00 - Spotlight on Joëlle Jones

Since her debut illustrating 12 Reasons Why I Love Her in 2006, Comic-Con special guest Joëlle Jones has been one of comics' most talked-about new artists. Get in on the conversation as Jones sits down with journalist Erik Henriksen and her long-time collaborator Jamie S. Rich to discuss her various projects from Oni Press, Vertigo, and Dark Horse and what it's like to draw Dr. Horrible, Madman, and Spider-Man. Room 4

There might be a betting pool for how long into this panel it takes for Joëlle to call me a jackass.

* 3:30-4:30 post-panel signing - Autograph Area 7 (AA7)

Current Soundtrack: Confessions of a Pop Fan @ Turntable.FM, playing Gorrillaz covering the XX, John Legend and the Roots on "Wake Up Everybody" and more groovy tunes.

PUSH ME, SHOVE ME

NEW IN THEATRES...

* Horrible Bosses delivers lots of laughs thanks to its great cast.

UPDATED TO CRITERION CONFESSIONS...

A Louis Malle double feature:

* Black Moon, his surreal 1975 take on Alice in Wonderland. (Also at DVD Talk.)

* Zazie dans le metro,a zany kid's picture from 1960. (Also at DVD Talk.)

THIS WEEK IN DVD/BD REVIEWS...

* Miral, Julian Schnabel's intriguing yet imperfect Palestinian drama.

* The Sacrifice, Andrei Tarkovsky's final masterpiece.

Current Soundtrack: Nick Cave & Neko Case, "She's Not There;" Berlin, "Metro;" Luna, "Slide;" and more, spinning at the Confessions of a Pop Fan room on Turntable.Fm


e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * Midi-Confessions123 * Criterion Confessions * Live Journal Syndication * ComicSpace * Last FM * GoodReads * The Blog Roll [old version] * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

All text (c) 2011 Jamie S. Rich

HALF THE WORLD AWAY

2011 is half over. Here are the top 15 bands I've listened to the most so far this year.

1. Nicki Minaj
2. Elbow
3. Asobi Seksu
4. Alex Turner
5. Morrissey
6. Radiohead
7. Beastie Boys
8. The Chemical Brothers
9. Duran Duran
10. Underworld
11. Duffy
12. Christina Perri
13. Beady Eye
14. Mogwai
15. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

You know, because no one asked.

Current Soundtrack: Dean & Britta, "Teenage Lightning & Lonely Highways (Sonic Boom Remix)"