Stack Smashing

Don't get me wrong, I really like the comics that Image, Dark Horse etc. put out. And most of the time D&Q & Co. are exactly what I'm looking for. But I wish there was kind of a middle ground as well. Ongoing series that get by without fantastical or extreme premises. That said, recently I was really impressed with Zero and how much I enjoyed it. After being disappointed by the first two issues following all the hype, somehow it really got me plowing trough it around issue five. Then it got really heady all of a sudden, but still totally fascinating mainly because it was so unexpected and not at all clear where it was going. I even started Kots' Winter Soldier run after reading in an interview that this, Zero and his Secret Avengers run all deal with the same topics and themes from different angles. Even though many of the things he says are not necessarily my cup of tea, it's nice to have such a unique voice doing comics for the likes of Marvel while still pushing his vision.

So the first film I (re)watched in 2016 was Tron: Legacy. Five years later it's still disappointing how tame and unimaginative its physical rendering of the insides of a computer is, and don't get me started on how bad young Jeff Bridges looks. Its representation of women or people of color didn't improve either. But all in all I actually liked it more this time around. Its pacing and feel are really quite unique among modern fantasy/sci-fi blockbusters, which I think largely stems from the fact that the producers decided to dial back the big action soundscapes in favor of the brooding Daft Punk soundtrack and cut the film to better fit their pieces as well. It's an impressivly coherent movie, considering the subject matter, that does a lot of world building in a really efficient way. (Kind of like The Force Awakens, but in a more relaxed manner.) Not a great film by any means, but nice enough for a lazy new years afternoon.

Y - The Last Man is easily one of my favorite comics of all time, so I'm pleased with the current deluge of Vaughan projects. But I think it would be nice to see him do a more grounded story. Paper Girls is really good, the pacing is great and it looks amazing, but I was pretty bummed to realize just how out there it is once again. It kind of feels like he's not confident enough to just write a story about the four girls without also having an epic battle across time and space going on. This is actually a problem I have with comics in general. Even in the exciting creator owned space everything has this weird, supernatural hook to it or is really over the top genre fiction, like Southern Bastards. Some more restrained and subtle series would be nice.

Watched Mary and Max (http://letterboxd.com/film/mary-and-max/) with my parents today, as a post-christmas breakfast movie, and it had my mom and me in tears. (My dad as well I think, but him more for the many hilarious parts than for the bittersweet ending.) This film is impressive. It is very well animated and written with so much heart and wit. It's the kind of story that leaves you with this feeling that you really should appreciate the good relationships you have more. Highly recommended.

I never heard of Bergdahl before I started episode one and was a bit sceptical in the beginning because the whole thing sounded so very america specific on paper. Boy was I wrong. The production is so tight this season that you really don't have to have any connection to the topic beforehand to get sucked in, fast. After just two episodes I think that this cultural specificity is really the season's greatest asset, especially since there are really two subcultures that the listener gets to know more: the American military and the Taliban. (I'm with Dragonfliet on this one, islamic culture is little more than background noise here.) And you even get a nice little mystery on top. (The mystery is actually the weakest part of the season so far in my opinion, which makes it all the more impressive how compelling the whole thing is despite this.)