Category: Books

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Spend Some Time With King Boogie!

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I was presently surprised a few months ago when a friend of mine N.D. Byma started a Kickstarter for a children’s book he was writing King Boogie.  I of course backed the project, and I now have the final book in hand and get to give my impressions of the effort.

The book is about a day in the life of a young boy King Boogie who views himself as king of the household, and his parents as his caretakers.  It is fun to see he how he views his day to day activities compared to what we know the reality would be.

The story is short and sweet, but well written so it is a good length for young readers or listeners.  The art done by L.A. Harper is great, and it is sure to keep little-ones entertained.

The book itself is well made, and it seems like it can handle the day to day wear and tear that young kids will put it through.  I like the seamless binding.  It is a very cool look.

Byma and Harper did a good job on this book, and I am glad that I backed it.  Good on them for getting the book out in a reasonable time frame as well.  I think N.D. has a few copies left, so if this is something you are interested in head on over to the book’s Facebook page.

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Shmee Enters The Dark World With Thor!

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Thor: The Dark World is the sequel to 2011’s Thor, but it follows the events of The Avengers.  All the major stars return, but this time it is directed by Alan Taylor who is most well known for directing several Game Thrones episodes, so fantasy is well within his wheelhouse.  This movie is not perfect, but it is very good.

The Dark Elves who ruled the universe before time began, have returned because Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) has found their ancient weapon the Aether.  Thor (Chris Hemsworth), who was busy bringing peace to the galaxy, must reunite with Jane to stop the threat.  In other words, it is very similar to the plot of the first Thor movie, but don’t worry the story really doesn’t matter.

I say the story doesn’t matter because they infused this movie with both a darker theme and lighter and wittier dialog, so it really makes this movie feel more important while making sure you know that the characters still have a sense of humor, and it might actually be fun to be super hero.  Joss Whedon’s fingerprints are all over this movie, and while he may not have written it or in been charge of it, everyone is doing their best follow the model he made with The Avengers.

Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston (Loki) are pitch perfect in this movie.  This is their third time around as the gods of Asgard, and they know their parts inside and out.  They really make us all believe that all the craziness going on around them is reality.  The rest of the cast is fine and do their parts well, but this movie is all about the brothers, and they are fantastic!

Yes the story is unfortunately bland, but everything else about this movie is great.  I have no problems recommending this movie, and I am sure that you will have good time in theater.  Also just an FYI, be sure to stick around after the credits because there are two scenes not just one, and they are not to be missed. Let’s see if they can keep up the good work in Captain America: The Winter Soldier!

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Shmee Watches Arrow!

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After being frustrated with DC a couple of days ago, I thought I would give their hit show Arrow a shot since the first season is now on Netflix.  I am glad I did.  The guys and gals over at CW have done a great job with character, and I can’t wait to see what they do next.

The show follows billionaire playboy Oliver Queen as he comes home from being stranded on an uncharted island that took the lives of one of his friends and his father.  He did not come home just to return to his family, but to clean up the city his father helped destroy.

If you think that sounds a little like Batman, you would be right, and that has not been lost on comic book fans for years now.  The big difference is that Green Arrow has always been a little more left leaning and will kill people from time to time.  There are some differences between the TV Green Arrow and the comic book Green Arrow.  For one thing they changed the name of the city to Starling from Star, and Speedy is his hard partying little sister not his side kick though that my be coming.  They also don’t call him the Green Arrow a lot, and if they do it is in jest.  Probably due to the awful Green Lantern movie, and they don’t want to confuse people.

Stephen Amell is a little stiff as the Arrow but being interesting as a brooding super hero is hard, but he is getting better as time goes on.  The rest of the cast is very good, and the middle aged cast is full of great industry genre vets like, John Barrowman (Jack Harkness), Paul Blackthorne (Harry Desden), and Colin Salmon (All sorts of stuff but Dr. Moon from Dr. Who).

There is a little of the CW random teenage drama thrown in here and there, but overall it is a great super hero TV show, so it is no wonder that they found success.  Plus they have been working in all sorts of cool DC villains and heroes, so it has been fun to see who shows up.  If these are people in charge of the new Flash and Hourman TV shows than we are in for a treat.

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Oh DC!

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The guys over at DC/Warner Bros crack me up.  Things have been going so well with the new Arrow show on the CW that they have decided to add a few more shows to their comic book line up:  The Flash, A Gotham cop show that may or may not have James Gordon in it, and saving the best for last an Hourman TV show.

Yes you know Hourman … oh you don’t.  Well I guess you weren’t buying comic books in the 40s, or paying real close attention to the Justice League of America comics.  He is always in the background somewhere.  He takes drugs to be super strong and fast for one hour, and in later comics he can see an hour in to the future.  As a crime fighter you could see how that could come in handy.  He has never really been a fan favorite, but I guess one hour precognition and general super awesomeness are easy powers to show on TV, and good on them for digging through their catalog and finding something interesting.

What is intriguing about this that there is the potential for at least four DC Comics TV shows, but that there is only going to be one movie so far, and that may not come out until 2016.  The TV people are finding all sorts of fun things to do, but they can’t get more than one creative movie group.  That is astounding.

I almost want to drive down to DC studios and shake somebody.  It can’t be that hard to write a good superhero movie.  As we all know freaking Marvel has like six of them on the docket, so I am sure that they could at least poach one of their writing teams to make something happen.

Now you may have heard that Jaime Alexander (my number 2 choice) is in talks to possibly play Wonder Woman in the new Batman Vs. Superman movie, but that is putting a lot of eggs in one basket.  I just hope that it is successful so Warner Bros can be as creative with their movies as they are with their TV shows.

Just for fun I am going to leave you with what looks like the best Justice League movie we are going to get: The Lego Movie.