Jan. 26, 2009: The Day That I Spouted Out Nonsense, Again.

Greetings and Salutations one and all. Welcome to the greatest show on Earth--or something like that. Okay, okay, honestly, I'm certain that everyone involved has loads of more interesting things that they could be doing, with the possible exception of myself. I am here in the wee hours of a Monday morning, bringing forth my recollections of the past week of SF news in the hopes of keeping myself entertained.

Regardless, as you may have surmised by the existence of Speed Racer there, I have a funny story regarding Speed and one or the other of my two children.

If you had surmised that then you'd be WRONG!

I do have a story, but said story is about my Beloved Wife. See, she's been watching Speed Racer, a lot. After all, my youngest insists upon seeing it at least thrice daily. And it has gotten to the point where my wife has started picking up on Details; and yes, that capitalized 'D' is there on purpose.

See, these are the types of details that the true, hard-core fans of something notice. It's the type of things that folks will spend days or even weeks hashing out over on the Star Wars message boards (and that movie has been out since 1977!).

So, as my wife asked me what the year in Speed Racer was supposed to be, in regards to when the 49 Grand Prix takes place related to the one in the movie which was 90 something, coupled with the fact that Ben Burns only appears about 60ish.

I of course, pulled out that special smile which I reserve for my Beloved Wife on those occasions which she steps whole heartedly into my world of fangasms, and stated: "That's a fangirl question, you know."

Ah, the joys of converting any and all into the world of Otaku.

Speaking of the World of Otaku, Chuck Dixon, a veritable giant of the Comics industry--well at least I love his work--has written an article pounding the new "grim and gritty" take on characters. It's a great read, and I highly suggest one takes a gander at it by going here. Especially this two quotes which were like a smack across the forehead:

There’s a cynical disregard for what makes these icons work but it only serves to mask their own inabilities to create within guidelines and restrictions.

And:

Then there’s getting the character outright, pure-D wrong. This warping and wafting of long established heroes so that they can play a certain role in a story that can only work if you violate that character’s whole reason for being, as well as his coolness factor, are the mark of an ungifted mind.

I mean ouch. The thing is that this doesn't apply just to comics, but to all genre fiction, especially of the serialized kind. And not just genre, but murder mysteries which span multiple books with the same detective or even James Bond stories. I have a feeling that that was part of the reason that Quantum of Solace just failed to work as a Bond movie.

Additionally, I have to wonder about how it applies to the Star Wars franchise and their new-fangled gore and bore status since the start of the NJO. I think Chuck Dixon just went up a notch in my geek-out ladder of writers--which of course is the level at which I would Geek Out upon meeting said writer. He know ranks a bit below John Scalzi and Robert Heinlein--one of whom is dead.

Over in movie news, those boring award statute shows have released additional nominees or something. Batman, Heath Ledger, Benjamin Button; that's really all that one needs to know for that. In much more important news, the Razzies nominations were also released. Unfortunately, genre was well represented there, with Speed Racer, and Indiana Jones, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and The Day The Earth Stood Still all getting nods.

Anyways, the 2009 Razzie Nominations are:

• WORST PICTURE
  
  • “Disaster Movie” and “Meet The Spartans
  • “The Happening”
  • “The Hottie and The Nottie”
  • “In The Name of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale”
  • “The Love Guru”
• WORST ACTOR
  
  • Larry the Cable Guy, “Witless Protection”
  • Eddie Murphy, “Meet Dave”
  • Mike Myers, “The Love Guru”
  • Al Pacino, “88 Minutes” and “Righteous Kill”
  • Mark Wahlberg, “The Happening” and “Max Payne”
• WORST ACTRESS
  
  • Jessica Alba, “The Eye” and “The Love Guru”
  • Cameron Diaz, “What Happens in Vegas”
  • Paris Hilton, “The Hottie and the Nottie”
  • Kate Hudson, “Fool’s Gold” and “My Best Friend’s Girl”
  • The entire cast of “The Women” (Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett Smith and Meg Ryan)
• WORST DIRECTOR
  
  • Uwe Boll, “1968 Tunnel Rats”, “In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale” and “Postal”
  • Jason Friedberg, “Aaron Seltzer for Disaster Movie and “Meet the Spartans”
  • Tom Putnam, “The Hottie and the Nottie”
  • Marco Schnabel, “The Love Guru”
  • M. Night Shyamalan, “The Happening”
• WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR
  
  • Uwe Boll (as himself), “Postal”
  • Pierce Brosnan, “Mamma Mia!”
  • Ben Kingsley, “The Love Guru,” “War, Inc.” and “The Wackness”
  • Burt Reynolds, “Deal” and “In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale”
  • Verne Troyer, “The Love Guru” and “Postal”
• WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
  
  • Carmen Electra, “Disaster Movie and Meet the Spartans”
  • Paris Hilton, “Repo! The Genetic Opera”
  • Kim Kardashian, “Disaster Movie”
  • Jenny McCarthy, “Witless Protection”
  • Leelee Sobieski, “88 Minutes and In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale”
• WORST SCREENPLAY
  
  • “Disaster Movie” and “Meet the Spartans” (jointly) - written by Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer
  • “The Happening” - written by M. Night Shyamalan
  • “The Hottie and the Nottie” - written by Heidi Ferrer
  • “In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale” - screenplay by Doug Taylor
  • “The Love Guru”- written by Mike Myers & Graham Gordy
• WORST SCREEN COUPLE
  
  • Uwe Boll & any actor, camera or screenplay, “1968 Tunnel Rats, “In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale” and “Postal”
  • Cameron Diaz & Ashton Kutcher, “What Happens in Vegas”
  • Paris Hilton & either Christine Lakin or Joel David Moore, “The Hottie and the Nottie”
  • Larry the Cable Guy & Jenny McCarthy, “Witless Protection”
  • Eddie Murphy & Eddie Murphy, “Meet Dave”
• WORST RIP-OFF, PREQUEL OR REMAKE
  
  • “The Day the Earth Stood Still”
  • “Disaster Movie” and “Meet The Spartans” (jointly)
  • “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”
  • “Speed Racer”
  • “Star Wars: The Clone Wars”
• CAREER ACHIEVEMENT
  
  • Uwe Boll

Now, I do believe that that would have to be an award show I would enjoy watching. And speaking of watching, I managed to finally catch Wanted this past week, and was just thrilled by it. I loved that whole concept of a brotherhood of assassins trying to save the world, 1 killing at a time. I also purchased City of Ember and promptly lost any concept of time in which to be able to actually view this movie.

Soon, I say... soon...