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November 14, 2004
Happy Things
Item one: Work on Friday was pretty good. Spent all morning on an instant collection for a DC Direct product, details to follow. Then spent 2.5 hours in the afternoon reviewing the big project with our designer, Robbin, and Georg and Dale. We went through it page by page, essentially a first draft of the overall design and tweaked accordingly. It’s looking great and we’ll be announcing it soon so I can speak more freely about it.
Item two: We saw The Incredibles on Saturday and loved it. Brad Bird certainly knows and respects the genre. Pixar showed some growth, not just in technical savvy but in crafting a story that had humor but was a more straight-forward adventure. We went to a matinee, filled with wee ones and they remained transfixed and relatively quiet throughout the entire, longer-than-usual story. And the story worked. It had foreshadowing, sub-plotting, and some genuine emotion. My favorite character has to be Elasti-Girl (voiced by Holly Hunter). She was the heart and soul of the family and did what was necessary be it supportive wife, doting mother or kickass adventuress. When she returns to action late in the story, you can see she’s suppressed the joy she had as a costumed hero and comes back to life. The kids, while a little less well-developed, also are fun, especially Violet.
(And yes, seeing the Star Wars on the big screen is worth it. It’s everything a teaser trailer should be.)
Item three: Finally saw the first three episodes of Desperate Housewives last night, as we slowly catch up to the rest of the world. Certainly a guilty pleasure since it’s an over-the-top soap with just enough of an edge to it to keep it from being total camp. It hooked me and Deb for now.
Item four: Happily downloaded and switched from IE to Firefox. My pals were buzzing about it during the Beta test period and after the terrific write up in Tuesday's USA Today, I figured now was the time to switch. This had to have been one of the most painless downloads and switchovers that I've ever encountered. It even moved my bookmarks and cookies from IE. The entire process took only a few minutes.
Posted by Bob Greenberger at November 14, 2004 10:32 AM
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Comments
I've been told that Brad Bird isn't a comics reader, so he might know and respect the genre of superhero stories but he doesn't know it from comics...
Posted by: Elayne Riggs at November 15, 2004 12:30 PM
My understanding is that Bird is not a current comics reader but he is a fan of the medium, as evinced by his frequent praise of Will Eisner in interviews (this was also the reason that the Spirit was mentioned and shown in THE IRON GIANT).
Posted by: Julio Diaz at November 15, 2004 01:48 PM
Isn't the STAR WARS franchise dead yet? Aside from the original flick, released in 1977, none of the followups have been worth watching, and each is more and more UNwatchable.
As for THE INCREDIBLES, have to agree it was terrific (started, but never finished, a review for my site). Of course, I'll be waiting to see whether Marvel decides to sue in order to pump up the box office for its upcoming FANTASTIC FOUR flick, since there's very little difference between the Marvel characters and the Pixar group.
M
Posted by: Mike Flynn at November 15, 2004 07:28 PM
Saw THE INCREDIBLES for the second time Saturday, Bob. I agree about Holly Hunter's character and performance. I loved Craig T. Nelson and Jason Lee, but Helen's parting words of warning to the kids in the cave made her a real mom for me.
And the musical score? A John Barry/Bond movie/Flint movie fan's dream! Hope it gets an Oscar nod.
And incidentally, I, too, downloaded Firefox this very night (we use it at work now) -- and yours was the first bookmark I tested. Hey, if I can't use my oldest friends as cyber-guinea pigs, who can I use? If I ever warrant a blog or site of my own (bwah-ha-ha), feel free to do the same.
Posted by: Lance Woods ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://bgb.malibulist.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at November 15, 2004 09:20 PM
Whoops. Clarification: Jerry Goldsmith scored the Flint movies. Didn't mean to imply Barry did both series.
Just wanted to keep the record straight, Bob. Credit where credit's due, and all that. Carry on.
Posted by: Lance Woods at November 16, 2004 08:11 AM