Back to Sunnydale

Here's an image I turned in as part of a photo class assignment on portraits, it's my nephew Joe playing the harmonica.

The final version I turned in was desaturated and black and white. It came out way darker than I wanted, so I had to correct the contrast on photoshop somewhat. There are many flaws in this photo. First off, I should have tilted the camera vertically so as to eliminate the extra space on both sides. I guess that can be fixed with some judicious cropping, but this is what the original image's dimensions were, only optimized for the web.

I compare this once again with some of the portraits or even mugshots that our staff photogs turn in and I am again amazed at how good they are and how far I have to go to improve. I am seriously considering taking the black and white photo lab over the summer as I feel that my other duties have prevented me from giving 100 percent to this class, plus it will be nice to have access to the digital and film labs.

I feel like everything's going to be downhill from now on, the semester is coming to a close and I have to work on my final project and portfolio this week in adition to preparing for my other finals. Also, I feel a sort of sadness knowing that I'm going to be making my final website updates and contributions to the paper this week. One chapter closes and another one opens as I prepare to leave Mt. SAC, it's not like I'm going to stop writing since I am going to return to my freelance gig at the Walnut Weekly when summer rolls around, but I know that I am really going to miss Mt. SAC in the fall.

New comics come out on thursday this week, delayed by the Memorial day holiday so I will be catching up with them by the end of the week (hopefully.)

Someday, I'll get caught up on these. The third installment of Joss Whedon's Buffy comic book based on his hit TV show is another entertaining read. "The Long Way Home Part 3" resumes by revealing the identity of the mystery man who called Buffy "my love" last issue and it's not who you might expect.

It's none other than Ethan Rayne. So in 3 short issues, Whedon has managed to bring back three villians from the show. Amy was first seen in the third episode of Buffy "The Witch" and it's amazing how much mileage Whedon has been able to get out of her, considering she was transformed into a rat and spent the next three seasons in Willow's room and out of action, except for the occasional rat joke.

Yet, it is Ethan who provides the first chuckle inducing moment of this comic when he leads Buffy through the dreamspace dimension she's trapped in and discovers one of her "secret" dreams, an erotic episode involving both Angel and Spike.

It's interesting that Buffy's love spell can only be broken by a kiss given by someone who is in love with her which allows for Xander to be given that opportunity. Both characters have grown up quite a lot, especially Xander who has adopted a "Sgt. Fury" persona and leadership role, so the transition from friends to lovers is no longer a stretch. However, it isn't made clear that it was Xander who kissed her, leaving it open for a nifty, if not typical, fakeout.

The real treat this issue is of course, the magical smackdown between Amy and Willow, especially when the latter resorts to her dark powers for a brief time which prompts Dawn to ask, "Are you evil again?" Artist Georges Jeanty is due a lot of credit for his ability to bring these characters to life, looking so much as they do like the real life counterparts which inspired them.

There are other humorous and reveleaing scenes in the book: Andrew's exploits in Italy with his band of Slayers and an update on Willow and Kennedy's relationship. The latter isn't forced, it comes out of natural dialogue between Buffy and her best friend. Buffy asks if they are still together and Whedon teases "Kennedy haters" by having her say she's dead, but it isn't a permanent death like Tara's. Reading this comic feels like watching an extension of season seven of the show, which of course is its entire raison d'etre. The issue ends with the expected cliffhanger, but wait 'till you see who comes back from the grave on that very last page. It will be interesting to see where we go from here. The next installment comes our way on June 6. Can't hardly wait. If you can't either, click here for a preview.

I really didn't want to get up. I was dead tired, but I knew I had to get to school an hour earlier than usual so that I could go visit the animals before my photo class started. The other day I drove to a nearby college campus in the hopes that something interesting would be going on and to get a different environment than Mt. SAC, but alas, the place was dead and no interesting visuals to photograph presented themselves.

Instead, I visited the horses on the Mt. SAC stables. Here's my first print (ever) from the wet lab featuring my classmate feeding a horse. I took it with my film camera which is a reliable Minolta using Ilford FP4 Plus film. This print had so many flaws, starting with the fact it was so soft (which I think means blurry) and I don't know why. Did I use the wrong shutter and exposure combinations? was it something I did making the print or processing the film? At 72 dpi, you can barely discern some of the spots and other errors which can be easier to correct on a digital photo than on film, but at print resolutions which are usually greater than web, you can definately tell they are there and it's obvious that it could be a whole lot sharper. Maybe I forgot to focus in my haste to get the shot!

The more I learn about photography the more respect I have for my friends Jack, Raul, Watchara and everybody who takes such great photos at the newspaper. Of course, they have been doing this a lot longer than I have, but their photos are so flawless and professional and they truly make it look so easy. I tip my hat off to them. I was seriously thinking of joining the Mt. SAC photo club, but seeing as I am going to CSU Pomona soon, I wasn't sure if it would be worth it.

Not since 1989 had a comic book in a weekly format been last attempted in North America (when Action Comics Went weekly for a short while) Then DC's 52 came out last year and everything changed, it seems as though they might have perfected a weekly comic book format.

The Multiverse is back, which is no surprise to anyone who read the last few issues of 52, but what's great about that is the fact we get to see DC's colorful array of lesser known characters in an entertaining and solid story. Duela, Mary Marvel, the Red Hood and some of the Rouges from The Flash make an appearance including Trickster and Pied Piper.

Despite the fact Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are featured prominently on the cover, they are nowhere to be found in issue #51 (this comic countsdown for 52 weeks) which is pretty enjoyable even without these heavy hitters. Paul Dini is put in charge of this new series, the man behind some of the most interesting scripts on Batman's "Animated Series" in the 90s and one of the most accomplished writers under DC's employ and he delivers in spades.He starts off with a bang with some cool dialogue involving Deesad and Darkseid. Darkseid is my absolute favorite DC villain so I was really glad he will be playing a role in this series. There's also the big shocker at the end of the issue involving a character who's been missing since the end of "Identity crisis." This is going to be a fun read on a weekly basis and I can't wait to read issue #50 later this week.

OK life has gotten in the way, so last week's Buffy review comes late, but better late than never as they say. Continuing with my recaps of season 3, I present my thoughts on "Dead Man's party" Episode 2.

Plot: Buffy returns, but not everything's back to normal. Principal Snyder is hellbent on keeping her out of school, while Joyce and the gang are having a tough time dealing with the emotional scars from Buffy running away. Joyce brings home a Nigerian mask from the gallery, unbeknownst to her it has the power to raise the dead.

Comments: This was another rocking ep of TV's best episodic series. Assuming I'm not spoiling much for you, or you would not be reading this blog if you weren't a bit curious, the best line in the entire show belongs to Xander when admonishing Buffy for her going AWOL and putting her family and friends through hell he says, "Buffy you can't just bury stuff, it'll come back to get you"

cut to a group of zombies raising from their graves. In yet another masterful intertwining of comedy, drama and B-movie style horror, the writers sublimely balance Buffy's pals having to deal with the pain of her self imposed exile, following the events of the second season cliffhanger, with the bizarre supernatural goings on of the Hellmouth which have become common place for regular viewers of the show by this point.

Clearly, Buffy hasn't come to terms with all that's gone on, but her friends don't give her a chance as they throw her a rocking party which soon resembles a George Romero flick. The scene between Willow and Buffy is fantastic as Willow reveals how hurt she is that her best friend wasn't around to help her deal with "scary life stuff" This had always been one of the show's strengths, zombies are scary enough, but dealing with day to day issues can be equally horrific and this show always used metaphor with cinematic zeal to pack an emotional whalop.

Great stuff. Get the DVD!!

It’s kind of annoying that as a lover of comic books people just assumed that I was dying to go see Spider-Man 3. Actually, I wasn’t (more on that later) but one of my co-workers told another, “Ariel is going to see it, he’s a nerd.” While I am flattered for my inclusion into nerdom, I am not one of these people who will die if they don’t go to a Thursday night midnight showing of a popular film, especially at current movie prices.

Nevertheless, Wendy and I took in a matinee this weekend to watch the third installment of the Spider-Man saga. Before I go into a brief review of sorts of the film, I will mention why I wasn’t exactly dying to see it, even though I’ve covered some of that territory in my latest podcast. First, I never fully bought Tobey Maguire as Spidey. He’s got the pathos and hard luck of Peter Parker down, but his Spiderman is devoid of the spirit, charm and light heartedness presented by the character in the comics.

I suppose it’s difficult to translate from one medium to another, especially Spidey since most of his narratives include his internal musings about life and his predicaments. All we get from the movie Spiderman when he dons the webs is the occasional observation, but no puns, and God forbid a one liner or two. Making things worse, this blue eyed Spiderman goes from no fun to downright mean when he dons the black suit. Venturing into a hero’s flirtation with the dark side is nothing new, it’s been done before with better results. For example, in the old Superman movies from the 70s, Chris Reeves does a superb job of it in Superman 3. Tom Welling also does an amazing job of it in the Smallville TV show whenever he comes in contact with red Kryptonite.

Another problem with these movies is the lack of serious characterization for some of the members of the supporting cast. Mary Jane, for example, is the character which suffers the most from being transplanted from the comic page to the pages of a screenplay. While she is an assertive, confident party girl during her teen years and a good friend to Peter (they don’t become involved until much later in life when they are both adult aged) the movie version is less assertive, her life is almost destroyed when her singing/acting career is in the dumps. The comic book version would shake off rejection by going to a club or something, while her Hollywood counterpart needs this validation to go on. Anachronism and change in continuity from the comics also dilutes a lot of the more interesting details of the Peter/Harry/Mary Jane triangle created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko so long ago. Actually, in the comics it was a 4 way thing, where all the characters were friends including Gwen Stacy. A scene in which MJ visits Harry in this movie seems difficult to watch, but in the comics, it would have been no big deal as Harry and MJ were high school and later college friends. Also in this movie, instead of being Peter’s other love of his life, Gwen Stacy is a classmate and not a true rival for Peter’s affections like she is in the comics. I see her used here as a plot device to introduce some conflict into Peter and Mary Jane’s relationship. They could have called the character Debbie Reynolds for all her resemblance to Gwen. This is not to say that some things didn’t translate well from the comics into the big screen.

Harry’s complicated relationship with his dad, the Green Goblin, and his delusional mental state as a result of his dad’s influence is one of the better things about the series, even if this new goblin’s identity is left undefined. I suppose the treatment of the Sandman within the context of the plot is also handled well by the film makers, even if the origin story featuring uncle Ben is muddled up by the changes necessitated by Hollywood. The villain which translates the best is Venom, as played by Topher Grace, though his name is never uttered in the film. The film makers borrow from the template set by the excellent Spiderman cartoon show from the mid-90s and once again show the influence the “black suit” has on Spidey. Curiously, in the comics Spidey ditches the suit when he is troubled by its codependence on him. The cartoon went one step further and made that influence more pronounced.

This is one part of the film which may bore long time fans of the characters, we’ve all read Amazing Spiderman #300 and Web of Spider-Man #1 and while seeing this story translated to film is kind of cool, it’s also like watching re-runs on the big screen without the benefit of cliffhangers. Don’t you just wish Venom would have pronounced an appetite for Spidey’s brain at least once? Devoid of deep character development, the Spider man movies rely on CGI effects, non stop action and visual effects to enhance its narratives. Some elements are dead on, (J.K. Simmons as J.J. Jameson for example) while others suffer from underdevelopment. People aren’t stupid, do we really need to see an “emo” Parker and an ominous tone to the film’s score to tell the difference between the “good” Spidey and the alien influenced one? With plot developments from previous movies and all these characters and foes, this new movie has to balance all of this elements to succeed, I think it accomplishes this, I just wish we could have more fun doing so, because as they say, getting there is half the fun.