Thanks to everyone who took the time to support guest reviewer Cookie Monster by subjecting themselves to watching Superman III as part of this blog’s Supermovie of the Week Club. Lots of great commentary from some of you and Cookie Monster truly appreciates the input. I know, I know. You’re no doubt thinking: “Well, at least it can’t get any worse.” No? Feast your eyes on this trailer for next week’s supermovie club selection: Supergirl!
Console yourselves in Helen Slater’s cuteness and press on.
Picking up (and concluding) our sneak peek at Dark Matter #3…(Spoiler abound!):
More previews here: http://www.comicbookresources.com/previews. Swamp Thing #7! Hulk #50! Fatale #3! Ragemoor #1!
Today’s entry is dedicated to Woody.
Mailbag:
jys writes: “going to E by jose andres on wednesday”
Answer: As Akemi would say: “Luckeeeeeeeeeeeee!”. Take pics and report back. Let me know if they serve the uni sandwich!
Randomness writes: “I think the worst thing about having a pet put to sleep, besides the grief that follows is no doubt the helplessness that you can’t do anything to make someone you regard as part of the family well again. The realisation of that if anything is the most heartbreaking though.”
Answer: So true. Even though the doctors said the radiation therapy had helped extend Maximus’s life (another six months after the initial diagnosis which was three months more than the mid-treatment prognosis), there was much sadness and frustration at the end. There’s no worse feeling than the hopelessness that comes when you’ve run out of options.
gforce writes: “How does taking a screw out of the super computer shut it down? It just doesn’t make sense! Also, where did that canister of acid come from?”
Answer: All very good points. Clearly there was too much atrociousness in this movie to cover in a single review.
DP writes: “40 minutes in and rich people recognize that pilfering money through computers makes Gus ideal material to help them drown people with weather and be okay morally with it.”
Answer: Yeah, I wonder how many people Gus killed or seriously injured with his manufactured storm? Yet the dizzy blond goes to prison while he gets to walk!
DP also writes: “100 minutes in and it’s so completely pointless that the tourist couple berates the editor for not predicting an aberration of all known weather science.”
Answer: Yes, this sequence was hilarious for all the wrong reasons.
Thornyrose writes: “A picnic where Lana’s cooking is brought into question(Clark eats dog food, yuk yuk) and a picnic where there is a thunderstorm in the distance.”
Answer: At first I wondered why the hell would these idiots choose to picnic with a storm approaching. I assumed it was just laziness on the part of the writers and that the storm would figure into some sort of action sequence. And then, when it didn’t, I was left wondering why the hell introduce the looming storm in the first place?
woody writes: “We had to put our cat to sleep. She was a part of our family for almost 20 years. My oldest son of 30 is taking it the hardest. He’s mentally handicapped and Garfield slept on his bed almost every night. We’re gonna miss her. Thank you for just taking the time to read this.”
Answer: Condolences, Woody. I truly do empathize having gone through it in January with my boy Max. Reflect back on the happy memories.
glowyzoey writes: “Can’t comment on Top Chef or Top Chef Canada, but I must get my Drive-ins, Diners and Dives fix every day and Eat St. whenever possible. Maybe my tastes are a little low brow, but you gotta love the creativity of the cooks. Still not sure how to take Iron Chef America. Is it serious or goofy or something in between? Have you watched Triple D and what do you think of it?”
Answer: Love all three of the shows you mentioned. Just last week, I did my version of a Vietnamese sandwich recipe I saw on Triple D. Eat St. is great, but it always leaves me frustrated because it’s unlikely I’ll get the opportunity to sample most of the amazing food trucks profiled. As for Iron Chef America – it takes its cue from the original Iron Chef, a Japanese production that was part culinary samurai duel, part over-the-top showmanship, and part spectacular culinary creations. The American version is produced along the same lines with the added bonus of being hosted by the terrific (Stargate alum) Mark Dacascos.
Sue Rann writes: “BTW, I see you’re currently reading about Renaissance Italy – have you read Niccolo Macchiavelli? “Before all else, be armed.” My youngest daughter has been enjoying herself lately working for him as a cold-blooded killer while playing ‘Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood’.”
Answer: Machiavelli is a character in a video game? Interesting.
Nate writes: “Have you been to Siena on 12th and Granville yet? It’s owned by the same person who owns CRU. My wife and I went last Saturday evening and it was very good and priced well.”
Answer: Hadn’t even heard of it. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
Mike from Victoria writes: “Should I start watching SGA now as well, or just run through all of SG1 then watch Atlantis?”
Answer: I’d finish with SG-1 and the movies first before proceeding onto Atlantis.
Deni writes: “I’m in for The Fifth Element, as well. You in, Joecito?”
Answer: Alas, no. Not a superhero movie.
kathode writes: “I think the difference between this one and Superman II is that I was expecting so much more from #2 and didn’t get it: no interesting or sufficiently motivated villains; no heart-wrenching drama; no sensible plot. And with #3, I wasn’t expecting any of that…”
Answer: In other words, you accepted the fact that these people who produced the first two were incapable of making a good movie, so you were expecting atrocious and were pleasantly surprised by something that was just awful? Skiing off a building in a pink tablecloth? If actually liked the original 1966 Batman because it was silly and over-the-top. Superman III just felt sad and tired.
Kathode also writes: “But aside from that misstep, a lot of the humor bits in Superman III worked for me.”
Answer: I have to admit, I did laugh at the line: “I ask you to kill the Superman and you’re telling me you couldn’t do that one simple thing?”.
Kathode also writes: “Of course the worst things Superman can think of to do are all about playing pranks and impressing a hot girl!”
Answer: Uh, I think he did more than “impress” her.
“Alas, no. Not a superhero movie.” Yeah, we’ll see. You’ll be begging for Fifth Element after Supergirl. 🙂 Have a good night, Joe!
Answer: In other words, you accepted the fact that these people who produced the first two were incapable of making a good movie, so you were expecting atrocious and were pleasantly surprised by something that was just awful?
Yes! That’s it exactly! Amazing what lowered expectations can do for a film.
“Superman III just felt sad and tired.” I would add cynical to that list. It felt like they were just cranking it out to take advantage of the popularity of the initial two installments. I was just reading some of Wikipedia’s entry on Superman III and it indicated, justifiably, that it was panned by critics and somewhat of a flop. An interesting quote from the article:
“On Richard Lester’s direction of Superman III, Christopher Reeve stated:
[He] was always looking for a gag – sometimes to the point where the gags involving Richard Pryor went over the top. I mean, I didn’t think that his going off the top of a building, on skis with a pink tablecloth around his shoulders, was particularly funny.”
Christopher was being very diplomatic.
Anyway, it does seem that Supergirl is kinda hot, so that should at least make the next entry a little more bearable. Besides, I’m kind of getting inured to the awfulness of some of these movies, so I guess there’s that.
I guess I have failed you as a blog follower by not watching the superhero movies. 🙁 Sorry, Joe.
das
Deep down I think Maximus understood you did everything you possibly could to make him well again, and to try and take the pain away. In situations like that you can take solace in the knowledge from start to finish you gave him a good life, a good home and lots of love and I’m sure he knows that.
I think knowing when it’s the end is also the hardest part of losing a pet, but I think that ties into the helplessness part of knowing despite trying to move heaven and earth, it just didn’t change the outcome.
Anyway that talk is depressing but hey.
Speaking of Dark Matter.
I love that forest/garden in the ship like effect you did with Dark Matter(As per the pics) deep down I was hoping you were going to do something like that with SGU with Destiny. Granted that would open up a huge plot hole as to how such a place could come into existance when the ship was never boarded lol
Just honestly, every ship needs a tranquil place like that, if anything it’d be good for crew morale and would look good on TV too.
It’ll be interesting to see how the new Superman movie will play out against the old ones. They seem to be aiming for a more Batman Begins ‘esque feel…time will tell I guess. They can’t get any sillier or campy obviously…well…until Cookie Monster reviews Superman IV.
Was thinking the other day over a rerun of SGU on Space channel. Was any thought given to a scene with Eli comprehending that he knew about the Stargate program already? (by way of Wormhole X-treme, putting random facts together etc..) or was a concious decision made not to do this so that new viewers wouldn’t feel they needed to watch the other series as background in order to understand the new show? Just seems to me with Eli’s love of sci-fi..that he would have recognized it.
Oh, I get it, Gus walked in the end. He walked to the bus stop. He WALKED. I’m going to stop analyzing about Superman III now.
Das – Fascinating, but view at your own risk.
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/weather/web-wonders-spiders-spin-for-their-lives-as-floodwaters-rise-20120307-1ujov.html
I’m so behind. And your preview of Dark Matter 3 reminds me that I need to reserve my copies so I’m not even FURTHER behind. Hope everyone is well (other than Woody to whom I send my deepest sympathies).
Amazing, there’s a story going around about a Penguin that escaped from Tokyo Sea Life Park, apparently people have been put on alert in the Tokyo area to spot the thing lol
Must be weird huh? Imagine walking around Tokyo seeing a penguin just casually stroll by. It’s still not found yet anyhow.
Thought as you’ve been to Tokyo Joe this story might amuse you.
As much as I love Triple D, there are times that I simply can’t watch it. Like before lunch or dinner. I get so hungry watching it and all of the places look so amazing that anything less feels like a huge letdown.
That being said, I have actually been to a couple places that have been featured on the show. They did not disappoint.
-Mike A.
Narelle: Creepy but cool. Thanks for sharing it.
Randomness: Yes, it would be “interesting” to see a penguin walk by. Definitely a YouTube moment.
Woody: I’m so sorry for your loss. I hope your son is doing ok.
Mr. M.: I may watch Superman 3 this weekend. It’s just been very busy here for the last two weeks. I’ve still been swimming in the mornings but karate has been neglected somewhat. Next week, we can get back to a normal schedule.
Thanks for the spoilers! Dark Matter’s release date is March something? I’ll look it up.
@ Narelle – I viewed, at my own risk…and… AAAARRRRGGGHHH!! GET ‘EM OFF!! GET ‘EM OFF!!
And if you think I’m just saying that for funsies, I’m not. Right after I looked at the pictures I saw a dark leggy thing moving out of the corner of my eye, and ended up slapping to death a curl of hair that was resting on my shoulder. 😛 I’m gonna have the willies all day now.
das
PS @ Narelle – The pictures are amazing, btw…I just wasn’t expecting to see SO many spiders. It doesn’t help that I saw my first real life wolf spider this past autumn – sitting on my husband’s hand while we were gardening! Scared us both! Kinda funny to see hubby do the heebee jeebee dance. 😀 (No worries, we didn’t kill it.) They are big suckers, even here, but probably not nearly as big as they are in Australia. Anyway, thank you – really – for sharing. I love learning stuff, even about spiders. 🙂
(Hope you’re high and dry, btw.)
das
the town I grew up in as a kid once had a Peacock Alert!
Apparently someone owned a peacock as a pet and it escaped.
There were traffic accidents in our small town’s Main Street as the peacock crossed the road.
Patrons of the restaurants were startled as they reported a peacock starring at them through the street level glass windows.
The owner of the beauty shop was so scared when she saw it peeking through her window that she slammed the hair dryer top on a lady’s head as the lady was trying to stand up.
The peacock was never found, but for a month later people would find peacock feathers in the strangest places in town. To this day I still think it was an advertising stunt by NBC.
http://www.tmz.com/2012/03/07/billy-zane-toilet-briefcase-tmz-on-tv/
And we didn’t hear about this during your recent Tokyo trip because?……
I was telling my wife recently that strangely I was seeing more and more parallels in our society to the conflict between the Ori and the Alterans (imposing religious values vs. logic and science) and I was wondering if when you were writing the Ori story arc that there was any intent to draw comparisons to real-world circumstances in today’s society?
I thought this might interest you. This was posted on my Facebook wall by Tourism Vancouver. http://www.insidevancouver.ca/2012/03/06/vancouver-food-carts-12-new-vendors-to-arrive-in-march/. Since you like to try out the food vendors, here are some potential new ones for you to consider. Enjoy!!
Awful as they are I cannot resist anything with a big red S on it. But my fave Helen Slater movie is still Legend of Billie Jean. Jean vests! Headbands! Wet suits! Binx! Yardlee Smith! Fun fun fun. Not Solar Babies fun mind you; lets not get crazy here. But still lots of 80’s fun.
Oops, poor Yeardley, totally mangled her name. Billie Jean would weep into her headband.
We knew it was coming, but today Peyton Manning took one for the team.
As he and owner Jim Irsay took the podium at noon, it was clear that they were both pretty choked up. Peyton wanted to end his NFL career with the Colts, Irsay wanted him to stay, but in the end “Circumstances,” with a capital C, dictated otherwise.
Though Manning’s worked very hard, including throwing one long, downfield pass in a recent clip, he still hasn’t completely rehabbed his arm. The Colts have a rebuilding year or two ahead of them, a solid #1 draft pick to contemplate, and a salary cap they couldn’t get around. Nevertheless, “it was never about money,” Irsay said. He was saying good-bye to a “close friend,” and often had to pause for composure.
Manning said although he’s leaving the Colts, he’s not leaving Indianapolis. “I love it here… It’s been about the relationships, with the organization, with my teammates, and the equipment crew, behind the scenes… I love the fans.” His voice was breaking.
Our hearts were breaking here in Indy. There was probably not a dry eye anywhere. How can you keep it together while two grown men cry?
He helped resurrect the team and bring the Super Bowl to town. He meant the world to us and will always be a part of us. A class act, a caring benefactor… And the ultimate quarterback, who with great grace and emotion, made one last sacrifice for his team.
🙁
Thank you so much for the dedication. My wife and I suffered with you when you were going through your troubles with Max. We do have our memories. Some not so good. Like when she pee’d on my fresh laundry that I had forgotten to put away. lol. Have a great day. Waiting for issue 3 of Dark Matter so I avoided that part. Sorry. 😀
Joe, next time you see Mark Dacascos, can you please ask him about any iron chef america interesting bits that he sees off camera? I keep wondering if Morimoto and Bobby Fray really dislike each other or whether it is for show.
An interesting article about Michael Chabon and the institutional bias against sci-fi writers:
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/03/michael-chabon-geeks-guide-galaxy/all/1
An FYI for you, Mr. Screenwriter. http://hollywoodandswine.com/starbucks-bans-screenwriters-from-all-19435-locations-worldwide-wga-vows-fight-decision/
More mailbag considerations:
1) Speaking of Stargate Alums on foodie shows like Iron Chef America, did you catch any of Stargate Universe star Lou Diamond Phillips competing on the “Rachael Vs. Guy celebrity Cook Off”? (Spoiler: He won, complete with an outstanding Zagat rating!)
2) And on a similar note, now that everyone knows how apparently FANTASTIC LDP can cook and hearing about your incredible talkgating weekends with fellow Stargate crewmembers, did LDP ever come to you tailgates or cook for you? And if so, how was his food?
I’d disagree. I’d say watch SG-1 and Atlantis as they aired. While they were both on together, there was a bit of head nodding to one another that would probably get lost if you split them up. Nice touches, I thought, on the part of the producers, in keeping the feel that both shows were indeed part of the same universe, there seperate adventures occasionally toucing upon each other.