Whaddya · want · for · nothin'?

So, over in his LJ my friend Justin raised the question "What comic book(s) do you think would make a good movie? Feel free to assume that it's a competent adaptation, not a hatchet job, but assume that it has to fit into the usual constraints of a movie: about two hours, and has to be able to make enough money to be worth its budget".

In terms of adaptations, novels often make poor source material for films. Even a long movie has trouble fitting in all of the elements that make a novel appealing. Short stories and novellas work pretty well, as do plays, which are already about move-length. Comic books are often serialized novels, taking months or years of issues to complete a story arc. While individual issues (or short collections of issues) might make good films, there are some that just shouldn't be done — either because of reasons of length, or because a good comic book is more than just a storyboard.

Wanted is a prime example of this. It was a fine movie, but it had nothing to do with the comic book. The comic book was a dark, loving, homage to the two great houses in the comic book world, and, if it had been translated to screen accurately, most of America would have said "huh?". Better to have left it on the comic book page — or do what they did, which is the equivalent of never having attempted an adaptation.

There's been a great interest in a Sandman movie or a Watchman movie. I'd happily pass a law declaring these sources off-limits to Hollywood. The adaptation isn't going to to do the inspiration justice.

What comics are simply better as comic books? What comics don't want to be adapted to the big screen? Most of the ones I can think of are comics about comics (Wanted, for example -- but I can think of others). Thoughts?

+ Burn Notice was picked up for a second season
+ Richard Schiff is a recurring character (making him the third West Wing alumni to show up on a USA series)
+ The new season premieres tonight
- I have a gig tonight

C'est la guerre

It occurred to me that not everyone knew this... most of Casa Moomba will not be at Pennsic this year. That includes me, mermaidlady, and lakshmi_amman. The weather at last year's War took a lot out of us and we decided to take a year off. Please have medieval fun without us.

Pass it along -- from the talented folks at The Monkey Box

According to everyone on myf-list, The Big Read thinks the average adult has only read six of the top 100 books they've printed below. I can't find anything about this on their website, but admittedly, I didn't look very hard. The actual Big Read site seems to feature 16 books, not all of which are on the list below.

That being said...

01. Look at the list and bold those you have read.
02. Italicise those you intend to read
03. Underline the books you LOVE.
04. Reprint this list in your own LJ so we can try and track down these people who've only read 6 and force books upon them.

( Baaaaaaah )

...but the one's I've seen on my flist have been amusingly accurate in some cases. This seems to be no exception.

Feel free to pass this along.

The Boston Babydolls are giving away free tickets to their show on Wednesday, June 18 at The Boston Billiard Club (126 Brookline Ave., Boston MA — around the corner from Fenway Park).

The May show was standing room only and the June show promises to be even better — with some special acts for all you baseball fans! We're doing two performances of the same show — one at 8 p.m. and one at 10 p.m. So whether you've got to work late or get up early, there's a show for you.

Get your free tickets here (and if you don't get them in advance, they're $10 the day of the show).

Rumble, bumble, crash, rain... done a few minutes later. World a little grayer, a little cooler, still humid. Maybe more later...?

In other news, what the hell -- ten around lunchtime, too.

(This isn't going to mean a lot to you if you're not in the SCA. Even if you are, it may not mean a lot to you)

A short note came across the wires this morning from Hal Simon (Chairman of the BOD) regarding the invalidation of the reign of the current King and Queen of The Middle because of a 3-day lapse in membership due to some unusual circumstances. At the conclusion of the brief letter, Mr. Simon (as ever) indicates that "Questions, suggestions and comments can be sent to [email address snipped]". This is the note I'm considering sending; do I bother?

( snip )

Saw and enjoyed Iron Man a lot. Very much the best of the Marvel superhero movies. If you read the comic (or Marvel comics at all) you'll get an extra layer of kick out of the movie — lots of nice references. The three people I saw it with vary from moderately comic savvy but not an Iron Man reader to not a comic book reader at all, and all of us enjoyed it.

Oh yeah -- and stay all the way to the end. Especially if you're a comic fan.