I've just realised I've been neglecting this...

Yeah... Been distracted by many things, work, real-life, twitter, porn... So many fascinating things on the internet dedicated to wasting time, it's amazing! Let's see what's been happening?...

Oh, I've finally uploaded some new youtube videos! Starring my brother and I, we basically parody games. Might do some more when we have the ideas and money for props. Also, may start this whole internet reviewing thing we've been kicking plans around for. And the parody songs, oh the parody songs! Credit where credit is due, Weird Al is amazingly talented. I've been struggling for the past month or so since coming up with the main bulk of the song, but a Mario parody is bloody hard to write when you're not a gamer. Also the webcomic is still sort of going strong.

I will get back to writing and updating properly tomorrow, hopefully. I'll be sober then.

Upgrade or Suffer

Currently I am listening to Two-Tone Army by The Toasters. A band not commercially available in the UK. If I wanted to listen to it offline, I would have to first order it off either an online store such as Amazon or Play.com or put in an order in one of my local record stores in town. No, at the moment I am listening to it on a lovely streaming web-service called Spotify. I'd link to it, but at the rate it's going there's no point. As I write this, I've got a free account which means that I can listen to as many tracks as I like from any number of different artists and I only have to suffer the odd advert which pops up after every four or so songs. Nothing too strenuous there then. But, from today,in about 14 days time, I probably won't be listening to the Toasters, or the Porkers, or any of the artists I've discovered since joining it. Why? Well, I'll tell you.

Spotify have pretty much done the business decision equivalent of shooting themselves in the foot. Today, I received a notice when I opened the program concerning 'Upcoming Changes to Spotify'. Clicking the link I was informed that Spotify would be changing their free/open account policy. Fair enough, I thought, nowt stays the same forever. I was right, sort of. These changes primarily concerned how the accounts would operate. Before I go any further here's a quick description of the differences between the four accounts that exist:

FREE: Unlimited playtime, adverts every so often.

OPEN: Limited to 20 hours a month, adverts every so often.

PREMIUM: Costs around a tenner a month, unlimited playtime, no ads.

UNLIMITED: Costs a bit more a month, unlimited playtime, no ads, other features not sure off the top of my head.

So I have the first one, and I'm happy with it. I can stand the ads for Lucozade, Jessie J and other stuff I am never going to buy, it's worth it for the free music, sort of. Basically, the way Spotify get their revenue is through the paid accounts and the advertisers. So in a way, I am still paying the people behind it. Now, here's what they're proposing to do. Firstly, all new users can enjoy Spotify as it it today for the first six months. This does not affect me. 'Okay, nothing concerning me so far' I thought while reading.

"As of May 1st, any user who signed up to the free service on or before November 1st 2010 will be able to play each track for free up to a total of 5 times. Users who signed up after the beginning of November will see these changes applied 6 months after the time they set up their Spotify account." So, I signed up at some point last year, I'm not sure when although I'm pretty sure it was before November... 5 times? That has to be the stupidest idea ever. By all means limit my playtime per month, but really? 5 plays per song? Does that mean I'll only be able to listen to The Mountie Song by the Arrogant Worms 5 times after May the first? What happens after that? It's barred from my account? It's very hard to buy obscure Canadian Comedy music in my local HMV and I'm not sure I like the idea of paying £10 per month for essentially renting it. It'd be easier for me to buy it online! At least then I don't have to check my bank balance before pressing play. Actually, this reminds of a similar experience with my computer and a Region 1 DVD I own. Popping it in my comp, it happily said "I'll play it, but if you play this one three more times, I'll stick to only play region 1 DVDs and you'll be buggered." In the end, I bought a portable DVD Player for my computer area (nowhere near a tv), and a Multi Region player. Problem solved!

"Additionally, total listening time for free users will be limited to 10 hours per month after the first 6 months. That’s equivalent to around 200 tracks or 20 albums.
" Remember me mentioning that thing about limiting my playtime? This is that. So Spotify, you're taking away my unlimited playtime and giving me ten whole hours? Probably still with adverts? That's an interesting play, but I somehow don't think it'll pan out with the 5 times limit on top of that. Again, it'll probably be easier in the long run to buy a physical copy of the album than simply rent it. But I suspect that's not the outcome Spotify want.

In fact I think this is a 'controlled' attempt to coerce/persuade/trick me into upgrading to a paid account. And according to the feedback on the news page concerning it, it's not working. Seriously, 84 pages of feedback in two days almost 90% are against the idea! Now I can understand some of the reasons why they're doing this. Spotify currently is only available in the UK and Europe, they've been trying to make a move in America, however it seems to have been blocked by most likely the Record Labels. Yes, them greedy rich bastards. Not liking the idea of Spotify allowing people to listen to music for free, they've decided to start pulling their content from it. So, this may be some sort of compromise between the two. More content available for Spotify as long as they up the rent and hound the free users. Probably. But really, there are better ways to change your entire operation without alientating your users. Personally, I wouldn't have done the 5 times thing, I'd be happy with the limited playtime and ads, just as long as the option of playing Riot on Broad St. over and over and over during that time. I'd not do that anyway, but you get the idea.

I'm not happy about this upgrade or suffer ultimatum. I love music and have little time for greed and I have issues with giving out bank details over the 'net, so I'm in something of a predicament. Do I upgrade and enjoy basically the same benefits as I do now? Or do I stay where I am and get into the habit of switching off after an hour or half and play more different songs? Or of course there is the option of simply slogging through Youtube and seeing what I can find on there.

In the end, I don't want to upgrade because I don't think I can justify a tenner a month for something I'm only going to use when I'm on a computer (With my life, it's changes daily). However, I'll probably still stick with what I've got just to see if there is any improvement to content. That said, after May the first I will be awaiting the inevitable email saying Spotify has closed due to lack of interest, business and poor interest figures.
Currently I am listening to Shatner's Bassoon by Lightyear

Frankenstein in Leeds and Wonder Woman's return to the Telly Box

So, two things today.

Caught the last hour of the BBC's Frankenstein's Wedding Live In Leeds tonight. Now admittedly, it's a bit daft to try and review something I haven't seen the entirety of. But I don't care, I can't be arsed watching the thing on iPlayer. So anyway, if you're not familiar with the original story basically, Victor Frankenstein makes a monster out of dead bodies and brings it to life. The Monster ends up accidentally killing some people and runs away. Not before demanding Frankenstein make him a companion, or he'll kill Victor's bride on their Wedding Day. Things go tits up, obviously, and Frankenstein ends up dying in his creation's arms. It's a wonderful story and I do recommend you check it out. Anyway! The Live show was shot at Kirkstall Abbey which is a lovely place by the way, and starred Lacey Turner (from Eastenders)as Victor's bride. I can't remember anyone else in it and the only reason I know who she is is because of Being Human.

So, on with the show! When I came into it, Victor was already about to marry Elizabeth and the creature was on his way to the Abbey and his (hopeful) new bride. The acting was impressive and very well done for a live performance, I don't know how long they'd rehearsed but it showed they had. And despite a few little niggles with sound it worked quite well technically. Wasn't sure about some of the song choices and the creature's make-up was quite good for budget and a fair bit conservative. Overall it was a good hour and a half and nice to see something shot in my hometown.

Now, Wonder Woman's new duds...

Linky
Looks like a Halloween costume, doesn't it? Not sure what the idea behind it was, but it looks terrible. I'll start at the beginning, they're making a new Wonder Woman telly show. In which she's got two secret ids, which make three in total. Diana Prince, ambassador to Themyscria Island, Wonder Woman obviously and a CEO of some big company. What we know so far about the pilot, she goes on about the size of her breasts... THE SIZE OF HER BREASTS! I'll give you a moment to register that. An Amazon Warrior who has God-like powers who wants to better the world is concerned about her cleavage.... Not sure, but I think they've missed the mark a little bit. Now the problems with her costume. It looks like something out of a 90's comic book film, the plastic-y looking tiara, belt-thingy and eagle and the PVC don't really work. It's looks cheap and like something you'd buy from a sex shop. During a Sale. For a BOGOF. I saw a photoshopped fan design for a costume which looked like someone had tweaked Xena's costume a while ago, it looked better than this! Muted colours, traditional Romanesque aesthetic, it worked. This... doesn't.

I foresee fail for this TV Series....

Clothes maketh the Spider-man...

What's the hardest thing about making a superhero film? Is it casting the right actors for the role? Is it getting the villains and the story both accurate and logical (alright to a point)? How about the special effects, both practical and computer-generated. Can you get them looking realistic and amazing? It could be all these things and more, but what I'm curious about is the costume. Yes, there's a small part of me that's always been fascinated with what superheroes would look like in real life. Obviously spandex and skin-tight colourful costumes works in the comics, but there's something odd about it in real-life.

With the upcoming reboot of Spider-Man in the works, this picture was released:

Now, let's compare it to this one:

While there is nothing wrong with the one from the Sam Raimi films, I like it. It's got everything in the right place, the webs, the mask the red and blue colour scheme., There was always something which bothered me a lot about it. It was too clean. Too factory-ready, if you will. While it looked good, and accurate (a rarity in superhero film adaptations), it didn't look true to the comics. The origin of the costume is that Peter made it shortly after he got his powers for a wrestling match. Not wanting to be recognised, he designed and made the garish costume so that no-one would think it was him under there. So, what have learned from that little tale? What was the keyword? Home-Made. Now again, while I have nothing against the Raimi costume, it didn't feel home-made. And that kind of spoiled it a bit for me.

This new one feels a lot more real. Whilst still having the sleekness of both the Raimi costume and the comic, it feels like it could have been hobbled together by Peter in his spare time! Yes, there's a couple of little differences in the design and the spider-emblem's a bit lopsided but it looks like it was made by hand rather than cut of with a laser. And that I like a lot! It shows it's more than just something the producer's thought looked cool. From this picture alone, I've got a bit of faith in the final product. Of course, that could all go south if the mask doesn't match up...

The Heimdall Identity Crisis

So, there's this new film out next May called Thor, right? And it's all about the Marvel Comics character. I won't bore you with plot details and such, but it's safe to say the guy playing Thor looks spot on:


That's all well and good, as is the looks of Thor's daddy, Odin and his step-brother Loki. In fact, all the cast of the Asgardians look about right to me. Mind you, my calm, collected hippyish world view isn't shared by everyone. Now, bear with me 'cause this is going to get silly...

There's this guy in Norse Mythology called Heimdall, who's the guardian of the Bifrost (sp) bridge between Asgard and Midgard. And he's also in the film. Would make sense, right? I mean he is part of the Norse Pantheon so it makes sense he's in a film starring one or two of the primary gods. Only in the film, he's played by Idris Elba. Who is a pretty decent actor! Admittedly I've only seen him in one or two programmes and one of them was The Losers, which isn't renown for it's Oscar potential, but still a lot more fun that a lot of that nonsense! For some bizarre reason all I can say to his casting as Heimdall is... So what?

For those who haven't been following movie news, white supremacists have decided to boycott the film because of Mr. Elba being cast as a Norse god... Because... that's wrong apparently... Now, I can sort of see where they're coming from yes, Heimdall is a Norse god so therefore he would traditionally be white and most likely blonde. But, this Thor's inspired and based on the comic rather than the original mythology... So I'm struggling to see what the problem is. I will admit at first I was a bit surprised, again for the reasons of "aren't the Norse gods usually white?", but in the long run, it didn't fuss me. If it makes the end product better because they chose the right actor for the job, I couldn't care less for the actor's skin-colour. The best comparison I can think of is Angel Coulby, that's right, the lass who plays Gwen in the BBC tv series. Once more, and I'm probably not the only one, I thought "Hang on, isn't Guinevere usually white?" But again, it didn't bother me beyond that initial reaction. She is pretty good in a series in which they've taken many liberties with the source material.

Now, I am aware that it primarily boils down to hate. Which is one of many things in the human race I will never understand. I don't see the point of hate, dislike yes I can see the point of that, you can't like everyone in the world that's just weird. But hate? Really, what is the point? Intolerance never solved anything and just ends up causing more friction. I'll admit I have said I hate something like, for example, Justin Bieber, I may not like his music, and some of his comments I found ill-informed and slightly offensive, (I have huge issues with idiocy in all it's forms.) but I can't really say I hate him. If any of his crap shows up on tv, I'll simply groan or grunt or make some sort of disapproving noise and change the channel. And that's really all there is to it. I don't see the point of people going out and assaulting someone just because their skin is a different colour or they have a different sexual orientation, or a different belief. I just don't understand it! And really the only thing I can think of about these white-power idiots angry and upset over something as minor and trivial as a guy's skin colour, all I can say is if you don;t like the decisions concerning the film, don't watch it! It's one film, it's not going to shake the world's foundations or fundamentally alter people's beliefs about Norse mythology, the most it'll do is raise awareness of it and I see nowt wrong with that.

Oh and before I go here's some more food for thought, you know Jesus? Well odds are, because of where he was born, he was an Israeli and therefore not as white as the paintings make him look...

"It's got a guy dressed as a beaver on the cover and I think he's riding a stuffed pig..." Or: Thought Bubble 2010, My Review.

I'll explain that sentence in a moment, but first here's what Thought Bubble is.

For the people who don't know, Thought Bubble is the Leeds Sequential Art Festival! A celebration of art and in particular, comics. It's an annual thing and is part of the Leeds Film Festival, spinning off thanks in part to it's partnership with the comic book chain Travelling Man, and it is brilliant!

Now, partly my reason for raving about it, since most comic conventions take place over a weekend and are usually in some place I have little way of travelling to, Thought Bubble is ace because of it's location! For me at least, Leeds is pretty easy to get to, to and from. Also, being a small convention, there's lots of people there advertising their own small press ventures. Some of them are amazing and all of them love the medium. Which improves everything! The atmosphere was vibrant, kind of like going to a gig! Savile Hall was full of life and cosplayers. Amongst all the various manga characters who I've never seen nor heard of, there was a Manga -looking Robin, Wally, 2 Spider-men, 2 Deadpools, 2 Judges (One Dredd, one McMahon), Darth Vader, Lady Vader and a baby Vader, some Harley's, some Jokers and a single lonely Storm Trooper among others. It was fun.

Of the small press stuff, I saw some great comics on offer, with tables and exhibitions from Reet comic, Orang-utan Comics, John Allison (the man responsible for Scary Go Round), Futurequake Press and many others. A full list can be found here: Thought Bubble Exhibitors
As well, I also picked up some great new reads including a printed version of one my favourite webcomics, Necessary Monsters. Basically concerning a secret agency called The Chain, comprised of a variety of monsters who keep an eye on the others...I recommend this one, if you like your horror films and always end up rooting for the monsters, you'll love Necessary Monsters.

There wasn't just small press people there, oh no. There were also industry professionals attending! Among the many present, there was Adi Granov, Bryan Talbot, Andy Diggle, D'Israeli, Ian Edgington, Al Ewing, Rob Williams, Paul Cornell and Tony Harris! And not forgetting the Guest of Honour this year, Mr. John Romita JR. That's right, we had the man who illustrated Daredevil, X-Men, Spider-Man, Kick-Ass and Starbrand present and signing and sketching and attending panels! And he was one of the funniest men I've ever been in the presence of. And again, many others were there, but I can't remember them all of the top of my head. Still, it was an amazing experience and I had a whale of a time.

One of the only things I do regret about this year was the fact I didn't get to see any of the panels. Now, in part that's my own fault, since they're usually allocated a corner of the hall, I'd poke my head in and have a nosy at who's on and maybe grab a seat as opposed to organising my day around some panels. But then, where's the fun in that?, No, unfortunately this year all the panels had to be relocated to a hall in the Royal Armouries opposite the main con room. This is mainly because the con and the festival on a whole has increased in size since last year. All of the main hall now, was taken up with tables for pros and amateurs alike. In fact, if I recall, there were even tables outside in the entrance! I do hope that the con gets bigger in the coming years (hell, I'd even like a table there at some point...), but I also hope they can contain it as well.

Now about that sentence in the title.... As much as I'd love to keep that out of content, ambiguous and therefore hilarious, I feel I should explain myself. After the main con had finished and it was busy closing up. A friend and I decided to wander along to the Alea Casino to see what was happening after hours at Thought Bubble. Last year, we happened upon a bizarre hybrid of pictionary and instant character creation. This time there was an auction going on... Before I do go any further, I would like to know who was the auctioneer? I reckon normal ones would be a lot more entertaining with someone like him banging the hammer. And having Catwoman and the Silk Spectre being in charge of the items and money collection was also nice. Anyway, as the night went on and things started to venture into daft items, our auctioneer began to talk about a book, which I ended up buying. It does indeed have "A guy dressed a beaver on the cover, I think he's riding a stuffed pig or something..." It was worth the opening bid of a tenner, and I made him laugh which I think only sealed me getting it! I won't tell you what the book was, that'd ruin it but suffice to say I'm still undecided whether it was worth it. Then came the Gorilla Quiz!

Basically, it was a quiz all about Gorillas in comics from the fifties. As well as entertaining the crowd with some witty outbursts, I scored an amazing 3 out of 10! I was impressed despite never reading any of them... And after that more drinking at the after party! In which I noticed I was sat a few feet away from Paul Cornell. Briefly.

Sunday's Masterclass with John Romita Jr was fantastic, he has a lot of stories about working for Marvel and his experiences with other creators (good) and editors (mostly bad...) and he dropped a hint about another upcoming creator-owned project after Kick-Ass and The Avengers! Andy Diggle's Breaking Into Comics talk was also very informative and has helped clarify a lot for me. So, who knows maybe I'll get lucky and be writing comics for a job at some point!

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend and I had an amazing time. The only downside is it's over now and I have to go back to the real world and work. Bugger.

I Believe I Have A Newfound Respect For Comic Artists...

Now, I already had a lot of respect for them. But since I started doing my own web comic (www.mousels.com/tangent), I have a LOT more...

Sequential Story-telling is such a hard thing to master! Personally, I don't think I've quite got the hang of it yet. But it is incredible what some artists out there have accomplished! I'd say personally my stuff's basic by comparison, or just below I don't know. And the speed! It's amazing how fast some of these guys can work. Me and Mike have taken a brief hiatus so I can catch up with myself, if you get me. Because as I've said previously on this mess of a blog, it takes a lot of attention does this baby. I was, for a while rushing a page, so it'd be ready for the next week! And I had work and other commitments on top of that! I'm surprised I haven't abandoned it yet! So, for the next couple of weeks Mike'll be sorting out some sort of filler material for the sole purpose of giving me (and him suppose, what with the colouring and all...) the opportunity to make like tomato sauce! And by that I mean catch up...

That said, keep checking Tangent for updates!