Ben Week 31

Teething is coming. Any minute now.

New figures.com review!

Renee wasn't too crazy about having these in the house but they were free and showed up right when I was reading a lot of X-Men.

Read my review of Marvel Select Emma Frost and Phoenix.

New Raging Face article!

Here's the first piece I wrote after Ben was born. Raging Face was backed up but it's finally up. And I still really like it.

Read "Brainiac Responds To His Emails".

Questions Asked By the Guitar Hero III Champion When He Is Invited to Join Pantera

Do you guys play all five buttons?

Who wants to be Judy Nails?

What’s ”chlamydia”?

Tour bus? Why can’t we play online?

Anyone want to watch “High School Musical”?

Can’t we play some Franz Ferdinand?

You guys know any girls?

Will you stop hitting me?

Ben Week 30

This happens every time I play for him.

Writer's Room :The Anti-Bowl!

Maybe you hate football. Maybe you can't think of a reason to say no to another boring Super Bowl party where people eat chili and judge commercials.

Then we've got a show for you.

Writer's Room appears at Rififi's on the first Sunday of every month. The NFL arbitrarily picked the same night and they will suffer for it. Cause we've got a hell of a lineup, with:

Kristen Schaal (Flight of the Conchords)
John F. O'Donnell (Live at Gotham)
Liam MacEneaney (Best Week Ever)
Ed Murray (NY Laff Off)
Jon Clarke (McSweeney's)
Mike Drucker (Black20.com)
Adrienne

hosted by Zach Sims

Sunday, February 3, 8:00 p.m.
Rififi / Cinema Classics
332 E 11th St
(Between 1st and 2nd Ave)
$5, No Drink Minimum

We just saved your weekend.

Iron Man Trailer

This one I'm really excited about. I've watched this at least once a week since it premiered. I love Iron Man and the casting of Robert Downey Jr. as the brilliant, alcoholic and questionable moral Tony Stark is inspired. It's so perfect he'll reprise the role in The Hulk a month later.




And here's the 2nd trailer. Little more action, little less story. Still looks great.

The Dark Knight Trailer

Speaking of big summer movies, here's the trailer for The Dark Knight. Batman Begins was so good I have every confidence in this film. In fact, I'm so confident I'm not as excited as I am for Iron Man or Indiana Jones. This movie will be great, it will come out in the summer and I will see it.



UPDATE: Heath Ledger was just found dead. So you're going to want to see his final performance.

They're Shooting X Files 2!!!!!

Here's undeniable proof:



I don't care if you don't care. The first X Files movie got me into the series after five years of recommendations. That summer I watched rerun after rerun and fell in love. I stayed with it until the unfortunate final season which came two years too late and still watch the complete series on dvd. I count it as the third greatest sci fi series to ever air (after the Twilight Zone and Star Trek) and I need another story bad. That last season was so awful the franchise needs a great movie just to remind us why we liked it. After six years in limbo, now feels like the right time.

And I just read this:

The X-Files 2 opens July 25th, 2008.

Add this to the teetering pile for Summer 2008. We've already got Iron Man, the Dark Knight, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. With another X Files movie planned I'm gonna need a babysitter.

So I Decided...

...to quit buying Marvel action figures. I've got everyone I need, my old ones keep breaking and the new Hasbro stuff is substandard. Ben has his own collection by now so I'm stopping. And it feels good. Then I went and bought this:



There's no way out.

Ben Week 28 and 29

Ben's still sick but here he is in happier times.

Maraka

We're all sick and watching Nick Jr. And apart from Yo Gabba Gabba it sucks. Especially Dora. That's why I love this clip from TV Funhouse Monica showed me long ago. You can hear Louis CK pitching in on this.

Things I Won't Do When I Meet an Alien

Rub it in Scully's face.

Misinterpret his cookbook.

Say "Welcome to Earth", then punch him in the face.

Crush him with my power loader.

Go on and on about the Prime Directive.

Fire indiscriminately into the jungle.

Surf with him.

Pee my pants.

Cathedral Prep

Man did we hate high school. We hated high school so much last night we had our 18 year reunion in a bar a borough away from the school.

As much as none of us wanted to revisit our alma mater (which is slowly being devoured by a mall) it was important that we saw each other. The four years you spend in high school are the worst you'll ever experience. The amount of hormones coursing through your body will see to that. Everyone you know is crazy.

That's why it's good to find out they didn't stay that way. Most of them are married. Half of them have kids. One guy married and divorced a girl I stole from him junior year. But they're all fine. And we got along as well as we ever did. In a class odf only 24 graduates, you get to know everyone pretty well. The priests always instilled in us a sense of class unity. Then they got mad when we filed into the bathroom after a fire drill. Or distracted the principal with Planned Parenthood sound bites. Or performed a class pageant that got them cancelled forever. They probably wouldn't be happy to see us over drinks either. So why tell them?

New Play Cole Podcast!

Jon Clarke, Mike Drucker, and Bill Monroe watch the film "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and try to understand how such a terrible movie spawned such an awesome TV series. Then they give up and talk about Robocop.

Listen and subscribe here!

Sick

Whatever's going around it got to me. I'm trying not to give it to the baby but he won't let me put him down.

A question to parents; what should I do?

Ben Week 27

Just before New Year's, we had Ben christened. He didn't even complain when they poured water over his head. But now that he's Catholic, he's sure to feel bad about everything.

More Indiana Jones

Here's the Vanity Fair article.

Writer's Room Sunday!

The first of the year. The third in the strike.

with:

Jesse Popp
Dan St. Germain
Pat Dixon (Comedy Central)
Mike Drucker (PIXAR Ratatouille Contest)
Jon Clarke (McSweeneys)
Ed Murray (2006 Laff Off)

hosted by Jason Quarles

Sunday, January 6, 8:00 p.m.
Rififi / Cinema Classics
332 E 11th St
(Between 1st and 2nd Ave)
$5, No Drink Minimum

Yo Gabba Gabba

When Renee and I were staying at her friend Jill's, the kids left Nick Jr. on all day. Most of it didn't impress me but then "Yo Gabba Gabba" came on. It didn't impress them but it's the first show Ben and I fell in love with at the same time. It's unique and weird and full of enthusiasm. Take a look at the show's signature piece, "There's a Party in My Tummy."



"We wanna go to the party."
"The party in your tummy."

Makes me laugh every time.

Ben Week 26

All Hail Pat Dixon!

I haven't seen Pat in a while but I just got two pieces of good news from him. First, he'll be on Writer's Room this Sunday. Second, he just started doing his rambling movie reviews on video after years of print. Seeing how good the first one is, I'll be watching these every time he posts.