Cleaning out the notebook: The Revenge of the Notebook! Article by aviewaskewed, 02:54 AM 23rd Oct Disclaimer: The following column is entirely the opinions of the author (even at that we aren‘t sure), any similarity to the opinions of any other staff or affiliate of theendlesscrew.com is entirely coincidental and unintentional. Unless specifically noted otherwise, all creator comments have been gleaned from other sources and no creators have actually endorsed any aspect of this column. Resident Evil 4 is just that…evil times 4!! Well, considering the video game mentioned above has been consuming my time and kicking my butt, and also considering I have a lot of DVD’s and books to catch up on. Plus the general quietness of the industry lately, it looks like we’re going to get another cleaning out the notebook type column with my random thoughts on some things I’ve been mulling over this week. Let’s hit it. Something Brian Hibbs said was unintentionally funny: Anybody read Brian Hibbs’s Tilting At Windmills column at Newsarama? No? You should if the answer is no, it’s a fun read from the retailer perspective of things. He was doing sort of a cleaning out the notebook column this month as well (it’s contagious or something, I swear) and something he griped about struck me as sort of unintentionally funny and just “is he really this ignorant? Or did I just read this wrong?”. He was ranting about how many “Essentials” and “Showcase” volumes DC and Marvel were putting out yearly, complaining about where he was going to get the extra 8 feet of shelf space from since he refuses to do away with his specialty shelves. I mean, can he really be serious here? Newsflash folks: Marvel and DC don’t care about anyone but Marvel and DC! They do not give a flying crap if they’re pushing each other, or more importantly non-Big Two books off them shelves. They want to make the absolute most money they can, and an industry where they’re the unchallenged masters of the racks is something they’d kill to get. Granted, there might be an argument to be made that when they put out so many of these super thick phone book sized books that they may in fact be pushing some of their OWN product off the shelves, but I just don’t see that being a problem. Some of these things have to sell better then others right? I mean…I just can’t see Essential Iron Fist being something that tears up the sales charts (sorry Iron Fist fans, but he just has never held down a title), so to me it’s not so much a question of retailers complaining about where they’ll find the space to rack stuff, but more about them responsibly ordering books that have a chance to actually sell or not. Ditto to the publishers as well. Easy for me to say sure, but if you don’t want to deal with a deluge of product that may not have any salability for you…just don’t order it and they’ll stop printing it, pretty simple no? Saw two movies this weekend: I usually average about two movies at the theater a week, this week, it was The Grudge 2, and The Prestige. Thought I’d offer up some thoughts on both, I’ll try not to be spoilerish. The Grudge 2 is the disappointing sequel to the disappointing 2004 movie of the same name. Honestly, I think this movie just encapsulates everything wrong with horror today. The plot is trash, the characters don’t really come off as likeable, and just when you begin to get into one of the three stories that all intertwine your hit with, you get jumped over to another. This movie is one of the few I’ve gone to where I couldn’t wait till it ended. Horror has become a sad thing in America these days, constantly idiotic remakes, horrible sequels no one asked for. I remain cautiously optimistic for Saw 3, but it seems like at this point the horror genre (much like the wrestling industry, and the comics industry most times), is just playing to a dwindling audience they know they’ll make a guaranteed buck off of. I went to The Prestige hoping I could wipe the lousy taste of The Grudge out of my mouth, and luckily, I was in for a treat. Wonderfully acted by Christian Bale, Michael Cain, and Hugh Jackman, the movie tells the story of a bitter rivalry between two magicians. Tricking the audience, and each other, it’s also neat to see how illusionists pulled off their tricks at the turn of the century. The ending is a nice little twist, if a bit predictable, but the experience on the whole is highly enjoyable, and wonderfully engrossing. Go out and see it, and remember to watch closely, or you may just miss the trick. Some cool stuff I’m reading: I’ve been thoroughly enjoying Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys. It’s Neil’s signature brand of fantasy, with some laugh out loud funny bits. I think most people reading this site are already fans of Gaiman like I am, and don’t necessarily need a recommendation to go out and read his books, but you’re getting one anyway. Also got a whole bunch of collected Miracleman here to get to within the next week or so, that will be a column in and of itself I think, as it seems to me like the mainstream has sort of forgotten about this one since the books are long out of print, the rights are a mess, and it’s impossible to find outside of ebay and ridiculous amounts of money spent (though I did make it good on one or two of them). Also got some more Hellblazer to get through. Quick Plug that on Tuesday Warner/DC will be popping out Batman Beyond Season 2, and JLU Season 1. I plan on buying them both up that day, if you’re a fan of Bruce Timm animation, it’s a no brainer your picking these up. That will do it for me this week I think. Sorry it’s not a longer column, but like I said, I’ve gotten a bit buried of late, and I’m behind on just about everything. Thanks as ever for your time and indulgence. Back to Rants