Culture Blogging again

Um, this is bad news. I'm starting to lose track of the culture I'm ingesting. Wow, that sounds really snobby when I actually put it into words that way. But it's easier than listing everything that I'm looking at. I mean, it just started as "I'm gonna make a list of all the books I read for a year. And also the movies I see. And also the comics I read. And I guess I might as well throw in concerts too. And TV shows... is that even reasonable?" And, well, here we are. Let's see what I can remember.

MOVIES:

I finally saw one! Woo!
-Ocean's Thirteen. While not at all life-changing, this was exactly what I wanted it to be. Fun, funny, pretty.. but I'm sure you know all that. What I'd like to mention is the music. David Holmes has been providing music for the Ocean's movies since the first one--wait, lemme check and make sure he did this one too... okay, he did. So yeah, I think he's one of the poster children for composers that really add a lot to movies without anyone knowing. I bought a copy of the Ocean's Twelve soundtrack and still listen to it a lot. His music is a really brilliant combination of effortless cool and complicated rhythms. He blends jazz and electronic into a music that feels simultaneously retro and futuristic. My point is, he really captures the feel of the films. I think a more traditional score would really ruin the whole thing.
Conclusion: If you haven't seen the movie or are planning on seeing it again, pay a little attention to the music. Trust me, it's worth.

COMICS:

Wow, let me see what I can remember...
-Ed Brubaker's complete run of Captain America up to and past the infamous death issue. It's really fantastic. Brubaker eschews the superhero feel for something a bit grittier, but not in a Punisher sort of way. Brubaker reimagines the Captain America comic as more akin to a supr-hero version of 24. It's less "There's a robot rampaging through Manhattan!" and more "A mysterious bad guy has gotten a hold of the Cosmic Cube. We have to get it back before he levels Manhattan!" There are twists within twists, super cliffhangers, and they manage to break one of the cardinal rules of the Marvel Universe without really offending any of the die-hard fans. Not that it means much to most of my readers, presumably, but that's a pretty big deal. Good stuff.

-The New Avengers. There's a reason Brian Michael Bendis is the most famous comic book writer who isn't Joss Whedon or Stephen King: His dialogue and characterization is just brilliant. His New Avengers really revitalizes the whole idea of the Avengers. The team, which some people have seen as absurd (What? Luke Cage?), works so much better than you'd expect it to and the interactions between the teammates really drive the series. Plus, he writes perfect Spider-man dialogue. They just took a radical direction, in which any of the heroes could be a shape-shifting alien spy. It's like The Thing only with super-heroes!
(Full Disclosure: I <3 The Thing, as a concept even more than the actual movie, even though the movie is excellent. In high school I really wanted to play a full-immersion game based on The Thing where people just carried on with their normal lives. You know... I have a lot of time on my hands today so I think I'll post about it later.)

-Thor: Blood Oath. This was cool, don't have much to say though.

-The Thing: Idol of Millions. Ditto.

-Iron Man: Hypervelocity. Get this: Iron Man builds a new suit capable of uploading his personality in case he should die. He promptly gets attacked and winds up in a coma. The newly sentient Iron Man suit freaks out, goes on the run, and starts upgrading itself to process things at computer speed rather than human speed, while simultaneously fighting off an entire SHIELD helicarrier and a sexy virus that's implanted herself in his consciousness. Its six issues are absolutely crazy, fast-paced (thus the title), and bizarre. Cyberpunk is most certainly not dead.

-Bullet Points. In an alternate universe, an assassin kills the scientist behind Captain America's super-serum a day earlier, as well as his body guard, a certain Ben Parker. This results in a totally backwards Marvel Universe in which Steve Rogers is Iron Man, Reed Richards is the grizzled head of SHIELD, and Peter Parker turns into the Hulk and saves the world from Galactus through sheer anger (and of course, his love of Aunt May). Pretty cool stuff, and I really enjoyed the art by Tommy Lee Edwards (I say that like I know who he is, other than that he did the art to Bullet Points).

Um, I think that might be it, besides random new issues of series I've been following and stuff. I'll add anything else I can think of.

(real) BOOKS:

I finally finished The Children of Hurin, the new Tolkien book. It definitely isn't as good The Lord of the Rings, or The Hobbit, but it has a elegant simplicity to it. That's not to say it isn't simple, but it's not epic and complex in the same way that Lord of the Rings is. It's more character-centric. I do think it would make an excellent movie though. Hmm, now who would play Turin?

TV:

-Last week's episode of Entourage was simply amazing. That's all.

Okay, that's it for now. I didn't do music, cause I'm going to do a seperate Bonnaroo post... well, with any luck I'll do a Bonnaroo post, especially since the New York Times did a blog about it that I Found thoroughly underwhelming despite the nice pictures of the bands that are far better than most of mine.

Adieu for now!