Talking about comic books, TV shows, movies, sports, and the numerous other pastimes that make us Gentlemen of Leisure.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Retro Review: Blood Feud

Or the One Where: Homer is angry after Mr. Burns fails to shower Bart with riches following a blood transfusion.

The Setup: Mr. Burns is suffering from a disease that requires a blood transfusion, and Bart has the same rare blood type.

A Work in Progress: Two Homerisms debut in this episode: Homer's back-and-forth conversations with his brain, and his use of a mocking, high-pitched voice.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Blog Pimpin'

My good buddy Palindrome is hosting a contest in honor of her birth, over on her blog Musings of a Palindrome. And because pimping this blog is a key element of that contest, it's only fair that I return the favor. One good pimpin' deserves another, after all.

So check it out, for a chance to win some cool books, but more importantly, for the undoubtedly cool and interesting posts she has planned for the duration of the contest featuring notable pop culture moments in her life.

And to all our new followers, driven here under the contestorial whip of Palindrome, welcome! Hopefully, you'll find something you like here.

X-amining X-Men #40

"The Mark of the Monster"
January 1968

In a Nutshell
The X-Men fight Frankenstein's Monster. But not really.

Editor: Stan Lee
Writer: Roy Thomas
Penciller: Don Heck, Werner Roth (Backup Story)
Inker: George Tuska, John Verpoorten (Backup Story) 
Lettering: Art Simek, Al Kurzrok (Backup Story)

Plot
(Main Story) Professor X reveals to the team that scientists have recently located Frankenstein's Monster, encased in ice at the Arctic Circle. He believes that Mary Shelley's book is based on fact, and that the Monster is an android built by an advanced mutant. The X-Men and Professor X travel to the City Museum to investigate, arriving just as the unfrozen creature goes on a rampage. Fighting off the X-Men, it heads for the docks and boards a freight ship bound for warmer climates. The X-Men follow and confront the Monster. Professor X, believing the creature to be vulnerable to cold, has Iceman freeze it, causing the Monster to explode. He then reveals that he probed the Monster's mind before it exploded and learned it was an android sent by an alien race from a tropical world to Earth 150 years ago. Meant to be an emissary to Earth, it malfunctioned and was fleeing from its alien masters when it was frozen in the Arctic Circle.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Lost 6x13: The Last Recruit

Like the threads of Jacob's tapestry, the stories of the sideways characters are being woven together, as fate, ably aided by Desmond, brings the characters within proximity of each other. On the island, everyone similarly came together only to quickly split up. Sawyer led the Losties to Hydra Island, only to find themselves captured, and not welcomed, by Widmore, but not before the long teased Jin/Sun reunion. Jack, believing the island isn't done with him yet, remains reluctant to leave the island, putting him, in one way or another, in conflict with both Sawyer and FLocke, and making him appear, on the surface at least, to be the most likely candidate to replace Jacob. Though he started the episode with Sawyer and the other Losties and ended it carried to safety by FLocke, Jack is very much on his own.

Friday, April 16, 2010

X-amining X-Men #39

"The Fateful Finale!"
December 1967

In a nutshell: The X-Men foil Factor Three's plot to take over the world.  

Editor: Stan Lee
Writer: Roy Thomas
Penciller: Don Heck, Werner Roth (backup)
Inker: Vince Colletta, John Verpoorten (backup)
Letterer: Artie Simek, Al Kurzrock (backup)

Plot (Main Story)
At the missile base, Cyclops and Iceman battle the newly-arrived Mastermind and Unus, ultimately destroying the base's air filtration system so that Factor Three can't use it to disperse sleep gas. Behind the Iron Curtain, Marvel Girl, Angel and Beast manage to escape from their cell and locate the suitcase bomb intended to kill the communist officials. Blob tries to stop them, but Angel manages to get the bomb high into the air just as it explodes.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Lost 6x12: Everybody Loves Hugo

Aw, Hurley and Libby finally got their picnic. And this time, he remembered the blanket.

Libby's return didn't exactly tie up the lingering loose threads from her island story, but thanks to Desmond's new course of action, triggered by the events of the last episode, her appearance in the flash sideways was more significant than previous sideways returns. Add Hurley to the list of sideways characters whose eyes have been opened to the existence of the other reality. Where that's ultimately leading, what Desmond's ultimate goal is, remains unknown.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

X-amining X-Men #38

"The Sinister Shadow of...Doomsday!"
November 1967

In a nutshell: The X-Men fight Factor Three in an attempt to stave off World War III. 

Editor: Stan Lee
Writer: Roy Thomas
Penciller: Don Heck, Werner Roth (backup story)
Inker: George Bell, John Verpoorten (backup story)
Lettering: LP Gregory, Sam Rosen (backup story)

Plot
(Main Story) The X-Men manage to escape from Factor Three's base by absconded in two Magno Disk, only moments before the entire facility explodes. The X-Men head back to the mansion to try and find a way to intercept Factor Three. Elsewhere, Mutant Master orders Changeling to contact the other members of Factor Three for an update. At the mansion, the Cerebro picks up that transmission and the X-Men split up in order to foil both plots.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Blogger's Block

I was planning on writing a post that reviewed the movie Clash of the Titans. But when I sat down to do it I realized it just wasn’t in me. Here’s an impromptu one sentence review: If you go to see Clash of the Titans, you’ll get exactly what you expect.

Anyway, this is all a long way of saying that I have writer’s block…er…blogger’s block, as the case may be. So I’m going to unveil one of my on-going passions in life, creating a list of terrible wedding songs. So, in no particular order or ranking, here are five terrible (or hilarious, depending on how you look at it) songs to play at a wedding reception:

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Lost 6x11: Happily Ever After

Well, it was bound to happen eventually: an episode centered more on the flash sideways world than anything else. Thankfully, it was a Desmond episode to help it go down easier. And if the nature and ultimate point of the flash sideways device wasn't spelled out once and for all, and least it's true nature is closer to the surface than ever before, and events are placed in motion towards a resolution.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Lost 6x10: The Package

The first episode of the second half of Lost's final season brings Sun, largely dormant since learning Jin was alive last season, roaring back to life. Spurning Smokey, yelling at Richard, stripteasing Jin in the flash sideways; Sun hasn't had this much to do since her intriguing but seemingly forgotten alliance with Widmore. Her bonk-on-the-head-induced inability to speak English runs the risk of becoming gimmicky, but in a season that's all about going back to the beginning and is littered with callbacks to the show's first episodes, it's interesting to note that, for the time being, there is once again one Kwon who can speak English and another who can't.