1. Kate Beaton
There is no doubt in my mind that this girl is a genius. Her clever wit takes often bland historical figures and transforms them into some of the best comics around. Not knowing some of the obscure historical references, a lot of the time I feel that the jokes go over my head. But there are also aspects to them that make them universally funny. Being a Canadian, the artist often pokes fun at the American Revolution and makes references to Canadian historical figures that I have never heard of. She has a brand new site here. Below is my favorite and maybe her most well known comic, Tesla the Celibate Scientist.
There is no doubt in my mind that this girl is a genius. Her clever wit takes often bland historical figures and transforms them into some of the best comics around. Not knowing some of the obscure historical references, a lot of the time I feel that the jokes go over my head. But there are also aspects to them that make them universally funny. Being a Canadian, the artist often pokes fun at the American Revolution and makes references to Canadian historical figures that I have never heard of. She has a brand new site here. Below is my favorite and maybe her most well known comic, Tesla the Celibate Scientist.
2. WatchmenFirst off, trying to make a movie from the graphic novel, Watchmen, is nearly impossible. The novel is several books seamlessly intertwined into one, which is one of the many reasons that Watchmen is incredibly dense. That being said, a 3 hour movie cannot come close to telling every back story and every detail of this alternate 1985 universe. But the movie does have an incredible attention to detail and tries to live up to the book. The casting is perfect. The fact that there are no major stars helps to focus on the characters who deserve your attention. The music is amazing. At some points the songs fit the scene perfectly. In other scenes, the songs seem strangely out of place which makes them even better. The idea of fitting the movie into 1985 was also very well done. Scenes often felt like they were borrowed from a movie made twenty years ago. Although at times the historical aspect of the novel seemed overdone, i.e. Nixon’s nose and the ridiculous amount of celebrity look a likes. One of the things I was looking forward to the most was the ending, but it was altered. But I was strangely surprised as the new ending was just as good, becoming a commentary on the dangers of science. One thing that bothered me is that Alan Moore’s writing isn’t done justice. Some key lines from the book make it to the movie and the scenes often keep the same spirit as the novel. But a lot of the lines that I was looking forward to are missing. It might be not be the greatest movie ever made but I definitely enjoyed it.
3. I’M BRIAN FELLOW!
Tracy Morgan may be crazy, but these SNL skits prove how well he can act too. Brian Fellow is the host of the effeminate host of a talk show about animals. He often hallucinates that the animals on the show are schemeing against him. And his answer to most anything that confuses him is I’m Brian Fellow! Tracy reprised this role this past Saturday when he hosted SNL. His performance was missing something but was still worth seeing. Below is what may be the best Brian Fellow segment. The ‘fix this in editing’ part is priceless.
March 14:
