The Web Haunt of Ryan K Lindsay

Going to start with a real cracker, and one that will surely be contentious. I love the films of the Coen Brothers and own many/nearly all of them on DVD. They’re just good film and I love that they aren’t defined by any genre, they’re just defined by redefining genres, which is a pretty masterful reputation to have. Their generally perceived at being pretty awesome at whatever they want to do and mostly I agree. They’ve had a few misses, in my opinion, but when they get it right they do it better than anyone else has ever done it.

To be fair, The Big Lebowski is my favourite film by the Coen Brothers. It’s hilarious and yet spectacularly scripted when you break it down. It’s a masterclass on how to bend a genre and create some very cool characters. I love this movie but I don’t think it is their best. It could just as easily be their calling card as the film they have chosen but in the end I don’t feel that Big Lebowski would completely win over a new viewer to the idea that these brothers know how to craft perfect cinema. No instead my choice is;

Miller’s Crossing

This movie is absolutely everything it sets out to be and once you’ve watched it you’ll never look back. They based the story around the works of Dashiell Hammett, not so much an adaptation as it is a Valentine to the writer and the pulp genre his name is synonymous with. They took the feel, the grit, the concepts, the tropes and mixed it through their own thoughts and loves and this was the result. Miller’s Crossing is the perfect noir movie. The characters are all dark in their hearts, the situations only continue to twist and turn, and the ending feels inevitable in its desperation. It’s a bleak movie and no character manages to provide any light, not even the lovely lady presented to us as the centre of the love triangle.

Each and every actor nails their performance and has never bettered what they show here. They’re steady and measured and the movie could have actually come from the 40’s if you didn’t recognise the names of the actors. The direction is applied and definite and the Coen’s ditched their previous zaniness for a more serious tone. The script is more about the story and set pieces than it is the actual dialogue. Here the brothers show their ability to let the story tell itself, especially when violence is meted out, which is often.

This is the sort of movie you actually become immersed in. You almost need to hide under a fedora to watch it and I’d love to assemble my brother and a few Manhattan’s to make the experience authentic. This movie is a movie that is made perfectly, each scene is a part of the recipe and the overall experience is sublime. Here you can see that the Coen Brothers really know how to dissect and understand a genre and then can easily put their own spin on it. I believe that any new convert to the Coens would see this flick and have a great idea of exactly what these filmmaking masterminds are all about.

It’s also interesting to note that while the brothers suffered from writer’s block on this script they then went and wrote a script about a scriptwriter with writers block. Sure, there’s more to Barton Fink than just that but it’s pretty interesting that even problems for these brothers become their own solutions. They came back, finished this script and nailed it. I even love that they never even got a title for it and that there’s no actual Miller’s Crossing in the film, it was just a stand in title. Their other choice was ‘The Hat’, and I’d still love it with that title too.

I can remember seeing the trailer back in the day and loving it. It just feels like a product of its time now and listening to that voice over reminds me of getting to see this flick for the first time. There’s just something about the composition of it all and the Carter Burwell score that has gone on to become a classic, even if people don’t know what it’s from. Check the trailer here:

Also, check this scene where Leo is attacked in his home and he turns the tables quickly, and bloodily. It’s a great sequence where the music and the action carry it all, and it helps that Albert Finney is pretty staunch here. I don’t want to hear about reload limits or any of that garbage, this is the Hammett that we all had in our heads when we read him but never managed to make it onto film before this. Just watching that guy get lit up and do his dance is almost funny if it weren’t played so brutally and seriously. This isn’t cartoon violence, this is the real world these characters reside in, and everything is absolutely for keeps.

Enjoy, and share.

Posted on July 28th, 2010 by ryan
Filed under: movies | 1 Comment »

Inception is going to get mixed reactions because people don’t know what to expect when they go in. They want a film that’s better than Christopher Nolan’s last effort, The Dark Knight; but they secretly don’t want that. They want something different yet drastically the same, and they probably want something more when they’re maybe not getting all that is already there. Not to sound too pretentious about it all but hopefully people know what they want and know that they got it tenfold in this flick. It is downright amazing in so many ways.

Inception is about thieves who go into the dreams, and minds, of their marks and steal ideas (it’s called extraction). They’re good at what they do but then someone hires them to do the opposite, they want the crew to plant an idea, an inception instead. It’s a tough gig but DiCaprio’s Cobb thinks he can do it so off they trot to put the team together.

The first 50 minutes of the flick is just the band getting back together and it’s damn well done. It has an Ocean’s Eleven vibe to it but with a more Heat feel behind it all. It’s astounding that pretty much every actor nails their role and is likable. DiCaprio really solidifies his leading man ability in this role and he’s ably supported all around. Ellen Page plays the female lead and it’s nice that she’s not a romantic lead for anyone. She’s not eye candy (though she kind of is) but rather her Ariadne is there for her brains and her ability. She’s a part of the team because she can hold her own. Tom Hardy does a solid turns as Eames, the charming con man, and Ken Watanabe is very convincing as Saito, the funder of the whole project and a man who wants his finger firmly in the pie.

The final piece of the team is Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Arthur. He’s the intel and point man and I just love that he continues to offer up these fantastic roles and nailing them. For those who only think of him as the kid from 3rd Rock he’s shown over the years through Brick, The Lookout, 500 Days of Summer and now Inception that he’s slowly becoming a powerhouse of the young acting world.

The guy has range and though he’s a little guy you believe he’s a man of some violence in this flick. He’s got the tailored suits and vests and he’s absolutely sure of himself. He gets into a few scraps and you completely see him in this role. It was poriginally offered to James Franco but he couldn’t do it and I’m kind of glad about that, though Franco I could easily see being great here too.

Everyone gels well together and as an ensemble are one of the best that have been put on the screen for a long time. The fact that they’re assembled for a heist and not just laughs works perfectly, even if a few laughs do sneak their way in. Everyone feels like they have a purpose and that’s nice to see instead of just actors being there for the sake of a varied ethnic profile or pretty face.

The script is damn tight. That’s all you need to know. As I was watching the film, I sat back at one point and tried to map it all out as there were so many levels that I was astounded. Never lost but always in awe. Nolan has crafted something truly genius here and he reveals what he needs to but leaves off the superfluous. Those machines that get them into the dreams, who cares what they are. I don’t want a scene of exposition to explain them I just want them to work and not be the focus, and Nolan delivers on both. There are plenty of sub-plots but they flow and basically nothing gets in the way of the heist. It’s a smart script that races you through plot with the pace that this sort of story deserves.

I was intereted by the icons each character takes with them. To ensure they know they’re out of the dream they have an icon that only means anything to them and that signifies reality. Cobb has a spinning top and I found that fitting because it’s something that is completely consistent until it starts to wobble and then it eventually falls over and that’s kind of a good analysis of his character, to a degree. Arthur has a loaded die and that’s how he sees the world and what he expects, the same result every time and something he can control. Ariadne has a chess piece and she is there for her strategic intellect; and it looked like the piece was thr queen, so that’d be pretty fitting. I like that she engraved something on the bottom but we never saw what it was. That wasn’t important, the fact that she engraved it was and so that’s all Nolan shows us.

Hans Zimmer does the score and it’s pretty well exceptional. Just like he managed to revolutionise emotion with his earthy Gladiator score I think this one might just turn a new leaf in the heist flick for the new millennium. In many places it reminded me of the work John Murray did in 28 Days Later… This is one score I really wouldn’t mind popping out to buy and it’s been some time since I felt that way after seeing a flick.

It’s impressive to see Nolan create a flick that spreads itself across such a wide scope of locales. It starts with a Japanese building, and soon moves into European cities, cities that fold over on themselves in an idea that is as impressive as its delivery, then we get a snowbound citidel and even the crumbling sandy ruins of the inner depths of our mind. Nolan isn’t happy to just have people talk in rooms instead they need to deal with their issues in zero gravity in hotels. It’s a wild and crazy ride that shows how you really set out a flick for mazimum impact.

To launch a Hollywood blockbuster that’s smart and has depth is a bold move. This thing could potentially go over a few heads and you really need to spend your time to think about what’s happening and why to keep up. It’s not based on a novel or any other established franchise, this thing just hangs out in the wild and it works almost because of it. All you need is presented within this one framework and that’s a testament to how well Nolan builds this world from the very first scene.

Inception is like James Bond, if he was even more awesome, meets The Matrix, if it really knew how to get existential and create well rounded characters. This flick is easily the best thing I’ve seen this year and something I am going to race out to watch and own on DVD because it needs to be studied. It’s either going to make me write more, or just give up but at least enjoy a little slice of how it should be done.

Posted on July 27th, 2010 by ryan
Filed under: movies | 2 Comments »

I am going to start a little feature set here called Creator Calling Cards, just as I have over at The Weekly Crisis. In it I’ll showcase a favourite creator of mine, be they a film maker, a writer, an actor, an artist, whatever, and I’ll then pick one piece from them that should be used as their calling card.

Imagine you are sitting and talking to someone and they’re all like “Man, films are so awesome.” And you’re all like, “Yeah, films are the greatest, aren’t they?” And they’re like, “Yeah, they are.” And then after a pause you’re all like, “I love Cronenberg flicks especially.” And then your friend whips around to face you and he’s all like, “Who’s Cronenberg?” And after you’re all like “I can’t believe you don’t know who Cronenberg is, how are we friends, I’m hungry!” then you get the opportunity to give that friend one movie. It’s Cronenberg’s calling card. You obviously can’t give the guy half a dozen movies, no matter how much you’d love to, so instead you take the essence of Cronenberg, you boil it down, you sieve it, and you put it in the fridge for a few hours, then you pull it out and scrape the top layer off and offer it as the pure Cronenberg experience in just one flick. What flick would you choose?

Now imagine having that conversation with lots of different friends and it’s always about a different creator. I don’t know how many mates I’ve got who have no idea of the names of Landis, Dante, Coen, Giger, Dick, Barker, or Swierczynski. I try to school them but I have to make sure I get in with the best first impression. No one wants to have to take a course in this person they just want to sample, so you have to pull out the best flavour. You have to think about what’s their best, but also what’s going to be easy on your friend, and what’s going to really sum up that creator and make the friend want more.

So, I’ll be looking at the usual genre fiends I love so don’t expect me to pick the best Marilyn Monroe flick or Jodi Piccoult novel. It’s just not in my wheelhouse, so expect horror flicks and some seriously subversive sci-fi.

Hope you enjoy.

Posted on July 22nd, 2010 by ryan
Filed under: calling cards | 1 Comment »

I’m still having a blast on thoughtballoons. We’re in over two months, onto our 9th character, The Penguin, and everything is peachy.

But a few days ago it wasn’t, not for me at least. The Penguin was about to launch and I had been thinking for about a week and I had completely nothing. It was days, maybe even hours, until the launch for the new week of Penguin stories and I had nothing to contribute. It was a worry as that rarely happens, if ever.

Then, finally, inspiration struck. I woke up at about 6am and the entire story came into my mind and rather than write it down on my trusty bedside notepad, which I would normally do, I felt sure I’d remember it later. So I slept for another golden two and a half hours, and when I woke up my first thought was going to be that I would have forgotten the idea. Inside my brain I scampered around and, wouldn’t you know it…

There the idea was, lying exactly where I had left it, just chilling out, waiting to have some fun with me. relieved is just one word to use.

I went straight to the laptop before breakfast and wrote my 5 panels down.

Now, I don’t dig on DC, I don’t read any current DCU titles, but I have read a fair bit of back catalogue stuff, mostly Batman, but not a lot of Penguin has appeared in there. I don’t rate the character of the Penguin, he’s kind of goonie, but it’s thoughtballoons so I have to give it a go. Last week we did Aquaman, a guy who never interests me and once inspiration finally struck there I posted a script that surprisingly everyone seemed to love. Simon even called it the best thoughtballoons script so far, in his opinion, which baffled me. I wasn’t sure how it would go down, so I guess sometimes you just never know.

So, here’s my Penguin script, it’s also got a guy from the awesome Brubaker/Rucka/Lark Gotham Central and another guy I just made up. I actually kind of like this script and it was easy and fun to write, once I got the inspirado for it.

Check it out here and maybe even provide some feedback.

Posted on July 18th, 2010 by ryan
Filed under: thoughtballoons | 1 Comment »

I finally gave myself two hours aside to watch George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead. This is the 6th Dead movie that Romero has made, and though the original trilogy only kept getting better it certainly feels like this second second trilogy just keeps getting more unmemorable. Land was actually quite terrible but at least Romero was swinging for the bleachers. Diary was just completely amateur and bad for anyone, but so sad knowing the master of the zombie genre had sunk so low. Now we have Survival, which is just completely averagely lame.

The basic premise is the soldier who raids the Winnebago in Diary (yeah, he WAS the best thing about the movie - not saying much) is now the main player and we follow him as he manages to find out about an island and decides to head there hoping to find safety, maybe a little isolation and peace. Instead, he finds two warring family/clans that are just unbelievably stupid and ignorant in the face of the end of the world. I kind of think that was Romero’s point, that humans are the problem, their petty problems would carry over. I don’t know about that but I know what I thought of this movie, so here are those thoughts:

Alright, I’m now going to heat up some lasagne and watch Survival of the Dead #zombiesonhorses Giddy. Up.

Pretty sure an exploding head doesn’t work like that-and these soldiers should care more. #zombiesonhorses

Oh damn, it’s the soldier from Diary of the Dead-he was easily the best actor in that hot shaft. #zombiesonhorses

There’s the horse-hey, lady, get off the zombie’s horse! #zombiesonhorses

First real scare of the movie-the audio of the door opening is dialed up to 11. #zombiesonhorses

The old man is fine with killing a human lady but draws the line at zombie kids-priorities man. #zombiesonhorses

Is that chick rubbing one out-around a bunch of sex crazed soldiers-and they don’t care-PLOT HOLE. #zombiesonhorses

Moaning zombie heads on pikes-that’s actually pretty damn cool. #zombiesonhorses

How’d DJ Squalls-a-like ever survive the zombie apocalypse? #zombiesonhorses

I like Romero is obv keen to use new tech but it never feels organic-where’s the electricity coming from to charge things? #zombiesonhorses

Fishing for zombies, on a slanted roof, at night. That guy deserves to die. #zombiesonhorses

I’ll never call my beloved zombies ‘dead heads’ ever. You hear me? Never. #zombiesonhorses

How is that zombie changing gears? #zombiesonhorses

Ooh, Ghost Rider zombie, seriously http://twitpic.com/25dqrw #zombiesonhorses

If you light your smoke off a flaming zombie head can you get infected? #zombiesonhorses

Zombie just delivered mail-they can do menial tasks-quick, get them to collaborate with Mark Millar-ha. #zombiesonhorses

Oh yeah. That zombie. Is riding-wait for it…A horse. Boom. #zombiesonhorses

“I’m going to go the stealth route, alone.” *starts unloading his gun, stealth style* #zombiesonhorses

Pig’s a filthy animal, zombies don’t eat filthy animals. #zombiesonhorses

Hey look, it’s the love child of Michael Biehn and Joe Pantoliano, if you can dig it? #zombiesonhorses

Cheap Shot #2: That bird noise was well amplified, and completely superfluous. #zombiesonhorses

Ah, the twin reveal late in the game. But to no real avail. #zombiesonhorses

Why is this hard ass suddenly soft-not consistent nor a true character progression. #zombiesonhorses

This zombie better eat this horse now, c’mon. #zombiesonhorses

Protip: Never walk up to your zombie twin. Ever. #zombiesonhorses

Zombie just peeled old mate’s hair bad like a hood-nasty scalping. #zombiesonhorses

Hanging upside-down next to a zombie-it’s like a game show, or an exercise-it’ll really work your core. #zombiesonhorses

YES! That zombie is now eating that horse. Golden. #zombiesonhorses

Old man hick zombie shoot out. Seriously. http://twitpic.com/25e3k3 Lame. #zombiesonhorses

I give Survival of the Dead 2 steaming hot shafts, it’s just not worth the effort for more. #zombiesonhorses

————————————————————————————————–

And that’s all I got to say about that.

I was always going to see it, it’s the master, but man, I won’t be watching it again any time soon.

Feel free to check the preview below, though, and get a live action feel of whether this is for you or not.

Posted on July 15th, 2010 by ryan
Filed under: movies | No Comments »

I hack on about Justin Greenwood because he’s a great artist, he truly is. Nearly everything I see him do I like and I can only hope that his star will continue to rise.

Recently, he’s been working on some commissions for paying fans and the results have been pretty awesome. His style works really well for these superhero images and I love him on Resurrection but once it ends I hope he gets straight on another series with a bit more scope to the tale. Click each of the images below to go to Justin’s site and then look at larger versions. You can also hit up The Interior Pages to get a commission from him yourself. It’d be worth it, trust me. I’m saving up for my Iron Fist and Steel Serpent commission right now.

And now, let’s make with the awesome.

Justin Greenwood’s Avengers pieces

Justin’s pencils work really well for this group. I dig this as a bit of a poster. I think Cap’s chin is too big and it’s like Loki’s face ended up on Thor’s body but the Black Panther is absolutely perfect.

And.

I love the composition of this sketch as well. Justin knows exactly how to get a bunch of characters to frame together and still make the piece work cohesively. I think his Hulk looks the best here but I also love the movement of Hawkeye.

Thanos and Cosmic ‘Friends’

I think Justin has knocked this one out of the park. Thanos is dominating but the other guys all find their places. Nice. Very nice.

Green Lanterns

I am not a DC fan, and still certainly don’t see the appeal of the Green Lantern, but I have to admit that this page is so spectacularly laid out that I am in awe. I’ve always liked Justin’s covers and this sort of thing is exactly why. He should be doing more covers, why isn’t he doing more covers?

Yep, he’s doing some good work and I’m certainly saving up for my commission, Steel Serpent V Iron Fist with some HYDRA stuff in the background perhaps. Money in the bank because I know I won’t regret it. Now the only decision is to work out if my wife wants to get it for me for our anniversary or Xmas…

Posted on July 13th, 2010 by ryan
Filed under: art | No Comments »

Alright, I love this show, it’s true. I love it and I think it’s nigh on perfect but I’ll try not to be swayed by my bias when writing this review, I need to take the show on its merits, and there will be some suggestions for improvements made here.

For those who don’t know, Rescue Me is a show with Denis Leary playing a firefighter, Tommy Gavin, in post-9/11 New York. It’s got its fair share of gung ho, pro-US sentiment but I don’t feel it’s ever over the top. It’s strong, sure, but this is a show about people who were at ground zero and who lost colleague, friends, family, it needs to have the spectre of that terrible event looming over it to some degree. Denis Leary writes the show, as well as created it, so it’s his baby in the end, but this doesn’t stop him painting himself in a pretty crummy way at times.

I haven’t watching this show in about 2 years, as I had to wait that long for the DVD set at JB Hi-Fi to get any sort of discount to it and be damned it I was paying full price. I waited them out and sure enough, I won. So I finally got to sit down for a weekend, while the wife was away, and just immerse myself.

In the last season (*SPOILERS BEGIN*), Tommy’s son had been killed in a hit-and-run and his family had broken down because of it. We pick up the new season and Tommy’s seeing his son, just as he sees the ghosts of many of his dead firefighter buddies. It’s just something he has to deal with, and the ghosts are more emotional manifestations rather than real ghosts, though I don’t think they ever truly explain it so overtly. Tommy’s life is a mess, as always. His wife hates him, his dead cousin’s wife is still loitering around after their affair the previous season, and any other females he ends up sleeping with seem to be more on the unhinged side of life.

I could recount all of the events of the season in this review but that would only spoil the fun of seeing it all unravel for yourself. I will say though, there’s plenty of sex. Absolutely stacks of it. Tommy manages to sleep with about 5 different chicks, not to mention the other characters all kind of evenly sleeping around as well, and they’re all interesting situations but ones I know I’ve been exposed to as well, to some degree, whether through a friend or whatever.

Denis Leary does such an amazing job of constantly making Tommy a volatile and yet lovable character. He can snap but we understand why and in the end we care for him. He toes that line perfectly and deserves far more accolades and buzz than I hear him getting. The scripts are also very well crafted in that a lot of the scenes come full circle, things are circular. It’s funny, and yet the times where it sets out to get real the business is very serious. I’d love to be in the writing room as they work these things out. They capture that flavour of just men talking exceptionally well.

The rogue’s gallery around Leary are in fine form this season with Steven Pasquale’s Garrity still remains my favourite character, besides Tommy, as he’s absolutely hilarious and extremely watchable. This guy is a good actor, in this role, and I want to see him continue to go on to do some things after the show ends in 2011. The episode where Garrity accidentally takes sleeping pills and sleep walks through the town is hilarious. Pasquale nails it all and I don’t think there was a scene that he didn’t nail. I didn’t love his story with Tommy’s sister, Maggie, but it still worked pretty well for me.

The wife of the dead cousin, Shiela, as played by Callie Thorne must be a hard role to play. She’s a bit unhinged, but rightfully so when her husband was lost in the terrorist attacks and she’s basically left with no centre after that. All she wants is happiness but there don’t seem to be any viable options for her to get it. Thorne does an almost perfect job with her by really showing the terrible reality behind this existence and putting on the happy face when necessary. It’s harsh and as much as you feel for her at times you just shy away from her because she’s, in a word, crazy.

The greatest character arc of the season is undeniably John Scurti’s journey as Kenny Shea. He goes from depressed to stumbling stewbum to finally having an epiphany and getting his life back on track after such a long time down in the gutter. You almost want to cheer for him as he starts to get things right. Scurti is believable and likable in this role and this season he got to show some extreme range.

I wasn’t completely won over by the subplot for Uncle Teddy as he takes a wife from gaol. As it doesn’t really impact on everything else it seemed to feel tacked on at time, even though it was pretty damn hilarious at times as well. I also would have liked more build up for the story around Tommy’s brother, Johnny. I thought Dean Winters did a great job in the role and could have been explored more instead of Uncle Teddy. There are plenty of other subplots but mostly this show is about Tommy trying to keep his world just the way he likes it. He doesn’t want the boys to leave the station house and he just wants to be happy with a woman, but because he’s constantly got more than one on the rotation he ends up nearly always blowing it for himself.

The ending to this season is extremely strong, and felt completely organic in build up. It’s all Tommy’s fault but you can’t hate him for it because, if you’re honest with yourself, we’ve all been in these kinds of positions before and made these sorts of decisions. Or maybe it’s just me, maybe I’m a bad person, but I can feel for Tommy in so many ways. Life gets like that sometimes and I swear it isn’t your fault.

I’m rating this show just behind LOST in the stakes for greatest show ever, and I think this might just have more watchability that LOST. Maybe. I certainly realised how strong the writing is in this season and I can only wait until the Aussie version of S4 is released, and then comes on sale, or else someone sponsors me a season, so it sucks to know it might be a while before I get back into this world but I guarantee I will wait. This show is absolutely too good to not continue on with.

If you haven’t seen Rescue Me yet then you probably need to, especially if you read this site. It’s a fantastic portrayal of what I would call real life for amoral people. The lines are always grey, and still managed to be blurred too.

Do it, you’ll laugh your ass off and thank me later.

Posted on July 12th, 2010 by ryan
Filed under: television | 1 Comment »

Sometimes you just don’t have time to say I love you, but you can still show it.

Iron Fist by Declan Shalvey

I am quickly growing to love the work of Declan Shalvey and anyone who wants to draw Iron Fist this well is always going to be great in my books. This pic is a win all round.

Ryan Cody’s Daredevil and Black Widow

Ryan Cody is also someone who’s site continually gives me something cool to look at. I like the composition of this pic, the concentric circles work for me and the pairing is perfect.

Posted on July 8th, 2010 by ryan
Filed under: bathroom stall quickies | No Comments »

I’m not always a massive one for blog meme’s or anything. I find some of them interesting but usually they just hash out the usual stuff. I created a comic book meme and watched a few run with it, and I’m still waiting for a XXX meme to rear its ugly lubricated head (and I know I’d fill it out, laugh, but never post it) but usually I let it all pass me by.

However, this isn’t your usual sort of meme. This is a list, and I love me some lists. I created a set of top ten way back when I started this site, and the permalink is on the right, you can see my top ten favourite movies, books, comics, songs, and teev shows. A list can truly define someone, I feel, and I love me a good list, and still have plenty more lists in me, but this one list is in honour of a fantastic comic writer who is about to turn 40, and might just be freaking about that a little bit.

Kelly Sue DeConnick has penned tales that involve the 30 Days of Night franchise, adaptations of manga, all the way up to doing a kick ass one-shot for Sif that I loved, partly due to its inclusion of Ryan Stegman and Beta Ray Bill, in that order. She’s also just one of those cool creators who is actually available for the fans and always seems to be really happy with her place in the business. So, on her site she asks for people to send her lists of 40 for her 40th birthday and I thought, creepy overly-personal boundaries already being stomped on, I would do up one of those lists. Why not, I love a good list anyway and this is one I want to work on. It is:

40 Things I Want To Do Before I’m 40

1. Learn to be a father (as my first will be born in about 3 months, or possibly less…) – and I admit that I don’t know everything about this task as I’ve never done it before
2. Keep my wife happy for every day leading up to my 40th birthday (which is only 12 years away, so I think this one is doable)
3. Spend as much time as possible making my son happy, when he comes – and I mean extremely happy
4. See one of my novels published, and I don’t even care by whom – I put in so much time, and have 4 finished already, that I have to eventually follow one to a published completion
5. Get some work published in a Marvel comic (and I know I got that essay in the back of the brilliance that is Brubaker/Phillips’ Criminal but that was an essay, prose only, I want to see my work up in lights, man!) – I’d also like to be published by Image but I don’t want this list to be a pipe dream full of every publisher and artist I wish to collaborate with
6. Have lunch with a writing agent – sounds lame but I’d just love to do it
7. Watch all of LOST in a row over one of my holiday breaks - maybe even have my wife join me
8. Interview a comic creator face-to-face instead of via email
9. Visit Venice again – completely want to visit that café under the Rialto Bridge where I proposed to my lady
10. Go to New York – and actually stay for a while, and get some writing done there, eat a hot dog, that sort of thing
11. Stay in a European country for 2-3 months, in a small house, and definitely do some writing there
12. Own at least 5 more pieces of comic art – people like Steven Sanders, Alex Maleev, Ryan Stegman, those sorts of guys, and nearly always an Iron Fist/Steel Serpent sketch would be the business
13. Watch something I wrote appear on a cinema screen. This is kind of asking a lot but possibly not as much as you would think
14. Own my own home
15. Have a library/office in my owned home – I have one now but I want to own one, and make it even bigger and cooler
16. Receive an iPad for free – one can hope, can’t one?
17. Visit Antarctica – I just think it would be cool, and I always loved John Carpenter’s The Thing
18. Holiday with my brothers – really just sit around and shoot the shit while drinking beers and relaxing completely
19. Visit New Zealand at least one more time – my uncle still lives there and my father was born there
20. Take my family around Australia on a big road trip – I’m a teacher so I know the kids won’t be missing too much education wise
21. Be interviewed about my writing – I’d love it to be by Playboy, their interviews are just absolutely, hands down, the best, seriously
22. Sit on a panel at a comic convention – sure, I should worry about getting to one of these first (only been to Supanova in Australia) but I’d love to be on a panel
23. Learn to draw – I don’t care what style, I just wish what I wrote, and what I felt, could come out of me in pictures as well
24. See an Iron Fist movie made well – I’ll even write it, for free
25. Have a second child – preferably a few years after the first one, and I think I want it to be a girl to make a matching set
26. Deliver another speech at a wedding – I love that drunken line between a roast and an emotional call to arms
27. Write a story for each of my children (if we do end up having two)
28. Own every Hard Case Crime publication – and have the time to read them all
29. Have my comic work published, at all – I have no pretence over which publisher, and most of my ideas are creator owned, so I’m open to whichever house wants to bring me eternal happiness
30. Run a marathon – I did a half-marathon before and it was as hard as it was awesome
31. Promote in my job – I’ve spent plenty of time as an acting or relieving Assistant Principal, I’d like to make it official one day
32. Have a shelf of journals that are completely full – I have neglected this writing for a while but generally keep it up and love going back through them every once a decade or so
33. Have another wedding – sure, it’d be with my current wife, and it wouldn’t cost anywhere near as much as what the first one cost, but it’d be fun to gather all our friends and family once more, why can’t we do that once a decade?
34. See my thoughtballoons writing website become something larger – is a movement too much to ask for?
35. Have one more Festivus – it was a drinking club I started at college and I really want to see all those boys one more time, at least
36. Show my kids everything that I love, let them get to know me, but then let them choose what they want to love
37. Call me crazy but I’d kind of like to try my hand at podcasting – sure, who cares what I have to say, but doing one with my brother would be pretty cool, and we’re a solid Venn diagram of interests and I think we’re pretty funny
38. Learn to play a musical instrument – I don’t expect to get any good but our kids will be doing it so if I could help that would be awesome
39. Eat a few animals I have yet to try – I mean, c’mon, you haven’t lived until you’ve eaten crocodile, ostrich, or maybe even just a decent pheasant. No spiders, though, I would refuse, with violence if necessary, to imbibe on of those devil creatures
40. Read constantly – I don’t ever want to stop reading because I love it, it teaches you new things, and it is a great example to set for the next generation

There’s probably a few more things I could aim for but I think this is pretty good as is. Thank you Kelly Sue for the idea to do this, makes me really think about some things. I need to save more money, ha.

Hope you enjoy.

Posted on July 6th, 2010 by ryan
Filed under: life | 1 Comment »

The genius known as Francesco Francavilla has decided to honour the end of LOST by having LOST week, which is now spilling out a bit longer than the week he had planned.

Francavilla is a master at giving a character a pulp/noir definition in his work and he plots the image around them so that it’s almost like a mini biography in the one pic. These gorgeous images are each some of my favourite works for these characters, and it helps that he’s picked 3 of my favourite characters from the show, those being the last 3. I feel like I want all 3 as massive posters on my wall, but for now I’ll probably just print them off and have them in A4 in my office.

I don’t even think these need any more introduction, just click on them to be taken to his site. There’s plenty more awesome stuff that he’s done in the past.

John Locke

Benjamin Linus

Desmond Hume

Daniel Faraday

Posted on July 4th, 2010 by ryan
Filed under: art | No Comments »