tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55663792009-11-04T08:29:00.629ZThe sometimes daily thoughts of Englishman-no-longer-in-a-strange-land Kelvin Green.kelvingreenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.comBlogger555125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566379.post-37044282178298571642009-11-01T22:35:00.002Z2009-11-01T22:42:08.025Z

There's a film out soon, the trailer claiming that it is based on one of the greatest "holiday" stories of all time, "holiday" in this case, of course, being the American word for "we don't want to offend anyone by saying 'Christmas'". The film? Robert Zemeckis' Uncanny Valley version A Christmas Carol.

kelvingreenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566379.post-27476271642730313272009-10-31T10:55:00.001Z2009-10-31T11:01:00.786Z

kelvingreenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566379.post-3434449960187718912009-10-12T18:46:00.004+01:002009-10-12T18:58:34.400+01:00

Two months? Two ruddy months? Egad.Part of that is down to August and September being the busiest time of the year when one happens to work in the enrolment department of a college; early mornings, manic days and late nights all combine to make me pretty much useless by the end of the day. That's all done with now, so I can start to think about having some kind of non-work-related existence.Also

kelvingreenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566379.post-65913339569025736342009-08-17T20:11:00.004+01:002009-08-17T20:33:35.936+01:00

Draw the World Together is an organisation which, among other things, brings comics artists together to raise money for underprivileged children around the world. They've got a print up on Ebay right now, of some characters from Heroes, signed by the actors, and also by the artist, Mike Collins. It's well worth a look!

kelvingreenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566379.post-15875834488131309082009-08-12T18:17:00.000+01:002009-08-12T18:21:06.728+01:00

We've been playing a lot of Mario Kart Wii of late at Brainsplurge Towers; we've had it about a year now, and it's still great fun. In fact, it's pretty much the only video game Meg actively enjoys playing, and she rattled through a bunch of the time trials the other night, unlocking stuff I couldn't even get near in all the time we've had it. I'm astounded at how much play this thing has still

kelvingreenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566379.post-12946078486471936192009-08-06T22:07:00.004+01:002009-08-07T08:31:15.829+01:00

(This review was written for Comics Bulletin's Wednesday graphic novel reviews, but due to the editor being away, they haven't been uploaded this week, and since the book was released this week, I've chosen to gazump my bosses just for once. The review will still be posted at Comics Bulletin, probably next week.)Writer/artist: Garen EwingPublisher: Egmont Books LtdISBN-10: 140524853XWhen I was

kelvingreenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566379.post-15790936457874909682009-07-19T19:53:00.004+01:002009-07-19T19:59:35.669+01:00

Right, so how come the new version of The Secret of Monkey Island, which after all only has some tarted-up graphics and a voice track, requires a 3ghz processor and 3gb of disk space? What the heck?

kelvingreenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566379.post-68781029372895390762009-07-11T13:26:00.006+01:002009-07-11T18:07:52.886+01:00

Wednesday Comics then. It's a pretty clear attempt by DC Comics to reach out to a wider market by presenting their product in a more widely-recognisable format, that of the Sunday newspaper comics section. It's also the first weekly adventure anthology ever, if you believe DC's absurd hype. Certainly the first weekly adventure anthology released every Wednesday, anyway. Now, the accepted wisdom

kelvingreenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566379.post-25468510694066759742009-06-05T17:34:00.004+01:002009-06-05T17:45:33.157+01:00

Harrison Ford, even after Star Wars, was not the first choice for Indiana Jones. Instead, Tom Selleck was picked, and you can see his screen test on the fourth DVD in the Indiana Jones boxed set. I mean the special features disc, not that pap Lucas and Spielberg attempted to foist upon us last year. Anyway, Selleck dropped out in order to appear in Magnum, P.I., Ford was Indy, and all was right

kelvingreenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566379.post-23179053513481103272009-06-04T12:36:00.002+01:002009-06-04T15:35:06.296+01:00

I think I first encountered The Rainbow Orchid about ten years ago (!), at a time when I was exploring the British small press comics scene. I'm not sure how I first heard of the title, or what attracted me to it; although the T word was chucked about a lot back then, I don't think that did it, as I was always more of an Asterix fan. Anyway, what I discovered was a globe-trotting adventure story

kelvingreenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566379.post-34289798800983407102009-05-25T12:28:00.002+01:002009-05-25T12:32:42.464+01:00

Here in Blighty, our public monuments tend to be statues of dead white guys. In Japan, as always, things are different:

kelvingreenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566379.post-17053495719050932822009-05-24T23:18:00.005+01:002009-05-25T12:33:15.353+01:00

So Terminator 2 has that Guns 'n' Roses soundtrack. It also has that scene in the shopping centre corridor, all slow-motion, where we finally discover which of the Terminators is the good one, as Arnie pulls a gun from a box of roses.You've all probably known this since 1991, but I've seen that film a hundred times and never noticed it before.

kelvingreenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566379.post-6406567359549011712009-05-13T23:35:00.005+01:002009-05-14T00:06:51.920+01:00

The only thing I liked about Cloverfield was the credits music, so it was nice to hear it again. For two hours. Apparently, Trek is the future of Alias. He's not Shatner, but he'll do. Murdering a bunch of helpless men is not a heroic finale. It was much better than I thought it would be.

kelvingreenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566379.post-5951277322887542102009-05-08T08:05:00.003+01:002009-05-08T08:26:20.811+01:00

Peter Bradshaw, film critic for The Guardian, who hates everything unless it's a European black and white four-hour epic about economics and sexuality, really likes the new Star Trek. I'm not sure what's going on.

kelvingreenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566379.post-30170551793954133012009-05-02T23:44:00.006+01:002009-05-03T13:10:55.412+01:00

The idea is simple and largely self-explanatory. The publishers put out some free stuff, which the local comic shops distribute in their community, with the end goal that some of the punters who pick up those free books will come back later and buy stuff. Now, as with many aspects of this shrivelled medium, the big US publishers tend to try to ruin the whole noble endeavour by shovelling out some

kelvingreenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566379.post-73305160117699063822009-04-17T20:24:00.003+01:002009-04-17T20:28:37.196+01:00

I have a new article up at Comics Bulletin this week, this time focusing on Marvel's half-arsed Superman clone, the Sentry. I really can't figure out what this character is for, so writing a snarky article about how useless he is came very easily indeed.

kelvingreenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566379.post-46707287834963553682009-04-01T19:17:00.003+01:002009-04-01T19:22:30.771+01:00

It may come as a surprise to some of those who know me, but I'm not a big fan of April Fool's Day. I did enjoy Lovefilm's effort, however. Click to see the whole thing.

kelvingreenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566379.post-72069748912375334632009-03-15T11:35:00.001Z2009-03-15T11:38:47.660Z

kelvingreenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566379.post-13459365349301915642009-03-13T18:05:00.007Z2009-03-13T18:54:44.990Z

Well, everyone else is talking about it...I should start by saying that Watchmen has never been my favourite of Alan Moore's works; I much prefer League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, V for Vendetta, and The Annoyingly Unfinished Ballad of Halo Jones, although I do think it is a strong piece of work, and probably the best English-language superhero graphic novel ever produced.The film is a

kelvingreenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566379.post-13045196867490808592009-03-06T16:38:00.004Z2009-03-09T10:33:38.983Z

Well, I played my first game of Blood Bowl in about ten years, and I lost. Two-one, although I was two men down for three-quarters of the game, I was playing an unskilled all-lineman team against a more rounded squad, and the opposing coach has been playing in a regular league for the past three years, so I'm not too displeased with that result. Not least because I think my touchdown caught him

kelvingreenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566379.post-78916254570784806042009-03-05T13:17:00.006Z2009-03-05T17:49:41.578Z

I celebrated my promotion by buying myself a copy of Blood Bowl, since it's perhaps my favourite board game ever. I was never any good at the painting of miniatures, but I'm going to give it another go as I assemble a dark elf team for the game. If the painting isn't too incompetent, I'll post the results here. I might post the results anyway, just for a laugh.In other news, I've completed

kelvingreenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566379.post-1783369222936833592009-02-23T09:54:00.002Z2009-02-23T10:01:34.035Z

Right, now that Heath Ledger has won everything, can the ridiculous hype stop? Or are we angling for a posthumous knighthood too?

kelvingreenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566379.post-87622912970800217872009-02-21T12:29:00.005Z2009-02-21T12:45:02.728Z

What would your own album look like if you were in a band? Follow the directions below and find out...Here are the rules:1 - Go to Wikipedia. Hit “random”or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:RandomThe first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.2 - Go to Quotations Page and select "random quotations"or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3The last four or

kelvingreenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566379.post-65243748401275986012009-02-20T21:28:00.003Z2009-02-20T21:32:08.276Z

Did it occur to anyone that the reason that so much fuss is being made over the new opening credits for The Simpsons is because the twentyish minutes immediately after haven't been worth talking about for, ooh, about five years?

kelvingreenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566379.post-75134021835939859742009-02-17T12:21:00.013Z2009-02-17T18:59:32.168Z

A few years ago, I'd almost given up on video games. The whole industry seemed to have devolved into an absurd graphics arms race, and gameplay didn't so much take a back seat, but got forced to the back of the bus to that manky seat with all the dried chewing gum and bogeys stuck to it. Every game seemed to be a World War II first person shooter, a Japanese-style role-playing game, or a sports

kelvingreenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.com1