I started watching The Middleman when it began airing for two major reasons: 1) it’s based on a comic book and 2) said comic book is written by Javier Grillo-Marxuach, who was also a writer on a little show called Lost. The Middleman bears a superficial resemblance to Men in Black (and—gasp!—a novel I was working on last year): young aspiring artist Wendy Watson is recruited by a mysterious guy known only as—you guessed it—the Middleman to help fight off aliens, zombies, and evil masterminds bent on taking over the earth. Possibly using gun-toting gorillas. While it might seem like strange fare for a “family” channel, what with references to sex and frequent bleeped-out swears for comic effect, the show maintains a wacky fun vibe chiefly because of its enthusiastic leads: Matt Keeslar as the all-American Navy SEAL turned planetary hero and the charming Natalie Morales (whom I failed to resist as my new TV crush) as the sarcastic and plucky Wendy. The plots are often silly (the last episode featured aliens masquerading as a boy band), but enjoyable, and the writing is at times sharp enough that it might slide right past you without your noticing. Having read that the show’s ratings are not performing as well as they should be gives me even more reason to mention it to anyone looking for a fun summertime TV show.

Bonus: two of my favorite PSA promos for the show.

I’m not entirely sure that it’s advisable–much less practical–to write an entire blog post from my iPhone, but given that Automattic has released a WordPress application via the App Store it’s certainly possible.

Of course one of the major problems is that with the iPhone’s lack of copy-and-paste support, it’s really hard to put links in (hence why I didn’t give a URL for the WordPress app). As far as typing goes, the iPhone’s keyboard actually isn’t too bad, especially when you learn to trust the auto-correct. I do find, however, that my writing feels less fluid, because I can’t type as fast as I think and because I often have to go back and fix typos (I will add–only partially as an excuse to try editing a post on the iPhone–that this experience would be unbearable without the ability to use Markdown; it goes with mobile blogging like Lost goes with existential headaches).

That said, I could see this as a good way to post something about an event or a way to capture a live experience. You can even embed (no, iPhone, I did not mean to type “elves”) photos, which is pretty cool.

The interface needs a little work though. I kept finding myself tapping the wrong field by accident, and the category interface could be a little stronger, as could the photo features. But for a first version, not too shabby. As always, the future is almost here.

I’m not as big a Hellboy fan as Jason and Tony are—I’ve read a few of the comics, and I saw the 2004 movie, which I enjoyed. While I did like Hellboy II: The Golden Army, I would say that on many fronts it failed to fully engage me (especially coming on the heels of the complex tapestry of The Dark Knight). But much of it does work: director Guillermo del Toro’s fantastic imagination for the creatures that inhabit this world, for example (which bears a strong resemblance to his 2006 masterpiece Pan’s Labyrinth). The most successful scenes to me are not the action scenes, which still rely a little to heavily on CGI for my tastes, but the ones that focus on the mundane lives of the characters themselves: Hellboy and Abe commiserating about love over a beer and sappy love song or the great slapstick scene of Hellboy butting heads with new BPRD leader Johann Krauss. But del Toro seemed to be tugged between telling a couple different stories in the movie (Hellboy’s relationship with humans and the overt conflict with the elves), and ends up giving short shrift to both. That said, it is worth noting that Selma Blair is hot—in every sense of the word.

It’s long. Let’s get that out of the way right up top. Christopher Nolan’s sequel to his excellent 2005 Batman Begins, The Dark Knight (rejected working titles: Batman in the Middle, Batman Keeps on Keeping On) clocks in at a hefty 2 hour, 32 minute running time that approaches Lord of the Rings level epic. Despite its length, it rarely feels bogged down—though it probably could have benefited from some edits here and there and it veers into territory that Tony and I had both presumed would have been covered in a sequel. Nolan’s The Dark Knight has much in common with Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, which many consider the apogee of that series: free of the shackles of re-imagining the hero’s origin story, Nolan (like Raimi) spends much of the second installment concerned with two main questions—”what does it mean to be a hero?” and “what is a hero’s relationship with the people he protects?” Things go, er, less well for Batman than they do for Spidey, but that’s always been part and parcel of the dark knight’s character. Like in Batman Begins, a fantastic cast of supporting actors (Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Gary Oldman) elevate the movie from mere popcorn flick to dramatic tableau—add to that a solid showing from Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent and a gosh-darned note-perfect performance by the late Heath Ledger as the Joker. Nolan and Ledger have captured the Joker as a character: he’s a wild card, a psychotic force of nature concerned only with sowing chaos.

Some might be concerned with where Nolan’s Batman diverges from its source material (to which, it must be said, the movie is largely if not always faithful)—that, to me, misses the point. The character of Batman has been interpreted by so many different authors and artists over the years that he has become more of a legend, a fairy tale character to be spun for different ages. Nolan has ably captured his Batman—a Batman for the 21st century—in the same way that characters like James Bond or Dr. Who have been constantly re-envisioned for contemporary contexts. What matters (and what makes his films excel) is that Nolan’s vision is internally consistent: his interpretation of characters perfectly fits the story he is telling. At this point, the only worry I have is that Batman 3 (working title: Batman: Batting .1000) might verge into Spider-Man 3, Return of the Jedi territory. History has shown that all we need is Batman taking on a horde of Ewoks to ruin a perfectly good franchise.

In our continuing self-appointed duty to bring you all the news that is fit to electronically print about our favorite cryptotechnological means of conveyance, I just wanted to point out to you that one lucky person will be able to take home the actual hoverboard used in Back to the Future II. Along with a handful of other rare artifacts such as the Holy Fucking Grail, it’s being auctioned off on July 31st. Granted, you’ll need to pony up $30,000—but come on, I mean, a hoverboard pays for itself, amirite?

There’s kind of a cruel bent to this auction. I mean, selling of C-3PO’s feet? And what about Geordi’s visor; how’s the poor guy going to see? Why don’t you auction off Stephen Hawking’s wheelchair while you’re at it?

Oh man, it’s an embarrassment of riches, though: I mean, The Rocketeer’s helmet? Kirk’s phaser? A Tusken Raider costume from…Attack of the Clones? Ew. Lame.

Unfortunately, I suspect I’ll be missing the event, as I’ll be busy helping some jackass unload his moving van. But if anybody is looking for something to commemorate a certain blog’s upcoming fifth anniversary (hiatuses not included), well, I’m just sayin’.

Just to follow up on my earlier Rock Band 2 post, more info about the game has been released now that we’ve hit E3, including the 80+ song track list, which is composed entirely of master tracks. There’s something for everyone on there, but personally I’m looking forward to “Livin’ on a Prayer,” “Any Way You Want It,” “Hungry Like the Wolf,” “The Middle,” “Spirit in the Sky,” “Bad Reputation,” and “American Woman.”

Also, confirming the earlier rumor, you will be able to import “most” of Rock Band’s on-disc tracks into Rock Band 2 for “under $5.”

Finally, if anybody is looking for a present for me, the new premium Rock Band drum kit would not go unappreciated. If, er, you have $300 lying around that you’re willing to blow. On a fake drum kit. For me. Cheers.

Alright, I’m now pretty sure Harmonix has a bug planted in my car. A couple weeks ago, Gen, Jason and I were having a lengthy conversation about what we’d like to see in Rock Band 2. As more and more details become public, it sounds like they basically took every suggestion we made in that discussion and incorporated it into the game. Here are the bullet points:

• Make Downloadable Content backwards compatible. Harmonix has said that all your existing DLC will be compatible with Rock Band 2 (I’m not sure, but that also suggests that anything you buy in Rock Band 2 will be compatible with Rock Band). No need to buy “More than a Feeling” twice. Phew.

• Battle of the Bands: Gen suggested a battle of the bands mode where you could assemble your own band and compete against other bands online. It seems Harmonix will hold regular battle of the band contests, though they don’t spell out how it works.

• Online World Tour: finally, thank god. This was the single biggest missing feature from Rock Band, so it ought to be at the top of the list. Online quickplay was fun, but lacked much of the charm of world tour mode. They’ve also tweaked the mechanics of world tour to allow you to switch instruments and kick players out of your band, which have been sorely needed.

• Import original Rock Band catalog: okay, so this isn’t confirmed, but it’s been rumored in a couple of different places. It would be great if you could somehow play the original songs in Rock Band 2. Some have suggested it will all be available as free DLC, while others say that there may be a way to transfer it from your disc to your hard drive. Either way: that would be killer.

Of course, that’s not all that Rock Band 2 is going to offer. They’ve also redesigned the guitar (hot) and drums, added mini-campaigns, a drum trainer program, and 80 new tracks, all of which are master recordings. This has quickly become my number one anticipated game of the year.

Now comes the tricky part: with redesigned drums and guitar, do I just buy the game, or do I buy an entirely new bundle? I’m still in need of a separate guitar, and the new drums are wireless in addition to being quieter and sturdier—how can I resist? And if I’m going to buy drums, game, and a new guitar, then it should be cheaper to just buy the new bundle.

Calling this a YA book is somewhat deceptive: yes, the protagonist is a teenage boy, but I suspect it’s mainly been targeted at young adults because author Cory Doctorow intends it as a call to arms for the next generation. Teenager Marcus Yallow is in the wrong place at the wrong time after a terrorist attack on San Francisco, and is detained by the Department of Homeland Security in a nightmare scenario that, while at times farfetched, is still scarily possible. Doctorow’s portrayal of DHS veers somewhat into the cartoonish (though, as I pointed out elsewhere, perhaps not that far off), and sometimes his agenda gets in the way of his writing, but overall this is an excellent book with a good point: at the end of the day, the government is meant to serve the people, not itself.

[This was originally posted at my tumblelog where I've started keeping track of all the books that I read, but I though it would be worth posting here too—of course, now I've created a feedback loop, since a link to this post will show up there. I'll try reversing the polarity...]

An absolute gem of a movie, with sterling performances from Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, and Rufus Sewell. Jessica Biel is adequate as Norton’s paramour, but it is truly the gentlemen in this movie who absolute disappear into their roles. Watching Norton afterwards in the “making of” featurette, I was struck once again by what a consummate actor he is—I ceased to think about him as Edward Norton while I watched the movie, which is the highest praise I can offer a performer. The plot revolves around a marvelous magician in 19th century Vienna, his relationship with a duchess (who’s also involved with the crown prince), and the detective who attempts to uncover his secrets—to say any more would be to reveal the secrets of the movie itself. I think there’s much to be said about narrative in this movie, and how storytelling is itself a magic trick—or an illusion. This film occasioned many comparisons to The Prestige, which also dealt with 19th century magicians and came out at the same time. While I haven’t seen it yet (though I have read the book), I intend to in the near future.