February 2005

The power of a big link

by Suw on February 28, 2005

One of the blogs that I contribute to, HeardSaid, got happily pummelled yesterday when Jason Kottke linked to it. That's kinda cool. Usually we don't get so many visitors over there, despite once having been mentioned on the Guardian blog. It's a silly, fun blog, but a frustrating one as I usually remember stupid bits of trivia that would be just perfect when I am anywhere except near a computer. By the time I can post them, I've forgotten them. Bah.

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Bagpuss

by Suw on February 25, 2005

Bagpuss, dear Bagpuss
Old fat furry catpuss
Wake up and look at this thing that I bring
Wake up, be bright, be golden and light
Bagpuss, oh hear what I sing

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Constantine. A lesson in devious bastardry

by Suw on February 25, 2005

John Constantine: Hellblazer. Tall, blond Brit with an attitude you could strike matches off. My first comicbook antihero crush.
Keanu Reeves: Actor. Not so tall, not so blond American with an attitude that confuses people. My secret, shameful crush.
On the face of it, the latter is not a good match to portray the former, so I was pretty much expecting Constantine to suck. Suck arse, in fact. But, you know, I do think Keanu is frequently unfairly maligned, so when I got the chance to go see Constantine in Vancouver I thought I'd give it a go. I mean, you never know, right? And maybe it was going in with such low expectations, but I really enjoyed it.
Now, before I go any further, I want to say that I am a fan of Hellblazer – Jamie Delano and Garth Ellis created one of my favourite characters in JC. I also hate seeing comic books murdered – I would rather Neil Gaiman's Sandman never see the light of day as a movie than be mangled by studios who don't get it. But, unlike Hellboy last year which slipped over to the wrong side of the getting it line with a weak plot, overly protracted fight scenes and characters in whom it was hard to invest, Constantine manages to stay roughly true to the JC mythos, create a compelling plot and characters you feel for, and doesn't get swamped by excessive fight scenes or too much CGI.
As a surly, sarcastic occultist with a sick sense of humour and no respect for anyone, Keanu does really well. I even managed to gloss over the fact that it was him for a while, although I never really quite got to the point of seeing him as JC, but that's because I'm so used to JC being tall, blond and, as I may have mentioned already, British. Yet I don't think that people new to Hellblazer will have any trouble in seeing Keanu as JC, nor in translating the screen version into the comic version – it's easier to do it that way round after all. (And I'm guessing that the majority of people who go to see Constantine will not, in fact, be Hellblazer fanboys.)
Tilda Swinton is brilliant as the androgynous angel Gabriel, matching the similarly androgynous Gavin Rossdale as the demon Balthazar, each attempting to twist reality to their own ends. And Rachel Weisz does a great job as twins Angela and Isabel. Although other reviews have faulted the casting, I personally can't. But then, I had no expectations of who would play whom in the first place, so maybe I'm that bit more open to suggestion.
Actually, on this point… I would just like to ask who could have played JC instead of Keanu? Tall blond Brits aren't ten a penny in Hollywood and I'm not sure that either Paul Bettany or Rhys Ifans could pull off the lead in a film like this. And Sting is too old. Mind you, this observation means nothing cos I'm crap at the casting game.
*** Warning: Potential Spoilers ***
The basic plot of Constantine is based on the graphic novel Dangerous Habits, in which JC discovers that he's going to die of lung cancer. Screenwriters Kevin Brodbin and Frank A. Cappello have taken various plot strands and scenes from Dangerous Habits and have then woven a different story around them. They may have taken aspects of other Hellblazer books, but I've not got all of them, so I'm not sure. However, having read Dangerous Habits last night, I have to admit that there's no way you could do a straight adaptation – it just wouldn't work on the big screen as it is. There's too much backstory required, too much exposition. I mean, JC hardly speaks at all, even in the comic – it's all exposition.
So instead of a clunky Hellblazer film, Brodbin and Cappello took Constantine, took his character, his universe, his mythos and they created something slightly new which, dare I say it, works better on film than Dangerous Habits would have. The ending, in particular, works better because it is clearer and requires less explanation, but even more devious bastardry than JC usually musters.
Of course, even if they can get past the dark-eyed mesmeric look of Keanu, the fanboys will find stuff to gripe about. JC uses a cruciform silver (elephant?) gun, for example, despite the fact that he never uses weaponry in the comics. There's a shoot-out, despite the fact that I don't recollect seeing JC in that sort of action clinch in the comics. But one key thing for me is that the weaponry and shoot-outs don't win the battles – it's JC's cunning and guile that ultimately save the day and that is exactly what happens in the comics.
My only criticism, after a first viewing, is that one doesn't isn't really shown the nature of JC's personality. He is someone who has been responsible for friends' deaths, but who remains unrepentant because he did what needed to be done. As Johnny says in the intro to Dangerous Habits:

I'm the one who steps from the shadows, all trenchcoat and cigarette and arrogance, ready to deal with the madness. Oh, I've got it all sewn up. I can save you, if it takes the last drop of your blood, I'll drive your demons away. I'll kick them in the bollocks and spit on them when they're down, and then I'll be gone back into the darkness, leaving only a nod and a wink and a wisecrack.
I walk my path alone.
Who would want to walk with me?

But that darkness, that loneliness, that guilt doesn't come across in the film as well as I would have liked. I understand, however, why they changed his backstory. The one they've created is far easier to explain, and it fits in perfectly with the rest of the plot, creating a nice synergy between JC and Angela, an depth of understanding that's required in order for his actions to be believable.
Maybe one of the reasons that I liked Constantine so much was because it reminded me so much of what I want my screenplay, Tag, to be. The atmosphere, the great CGI, the beautiful set design, the feeling that JC is really struggling to figure out what's going on. But mainly I think I love it because it took me away to a place I wanted to go, to somewhere on the boundaries of worlds where things exist that we weren't meant to see.
And the fact that as John Constantine, Keanu Reeves managed to be a crush of mine playing a crush of mine? Well, it didn't hurt.

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Upcoming blog outage

by Suw on February 24, 2005

Just fyi, CnV won't be available on Thurs 3rd March from 16.00 to 17.00 UTC (11.00 to 12.00 noon EST, 8.00 to 9.00 PST) due to planned maintenance by Blogware.

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How awake am I?

by Suw on February 23, 2005

Very awake.
Very, very awake.
But that's ok, cos then I get to watch the latest A-ha video, er, I mean, the trailer for A Scanner Darkly, and way cool it is too. It uses the rotoscope technique to turn live action into animation, so what you see is an uncomfortable cross between reality and unreality – exactly what a Philip K Dick adaptation needs, if you ask me. The animation also allows things to happen that otherwise couldn't without having to create realistic CGI effects, but I think that's just icing. The reason it was used was to create discord and surrealistic feelings. You really want to see beneath the animation to the live action that you know is below it, but you can't, and at every turn you think that maybe it's going to turn live-action in a second, but it doesn't, and that makes you feel sort of itchy and frustrated. Or maybe that's the caffeine I've been ingesting all day. Either way, it's a great trailer and I can't wait to see the film.

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The joy of airports

by Suw on February 23, 2005

(Written Monday)
One of the things I really hate about airports is that you don't know where things are until it's all too late to change your meeting up arrangements to something more sensible than the ones you made which were based on assumptions that don't hold because the people who design airports are idiots.
I'm waiting in Terminal 1 at San Francisco for my friend Maciej to arrive. I specified Terminal 1 because that's where my documentation said my plane would be landing. Having followed the signs to the 'Arrivals Lobby', however, I ended up at the International Terminal. We'd landed 15 mins early, and I had arranged to meet Maciej at 10.45, on the uninformed assumption that it would take me an hour or so to get through customs, but all that customs malarkey was done in Canada so it actually took me no time at all to leave the terminal but a good half hour to find what could loosely be described as the 'arrivals hall' at Terminal 1. (In fact, it is a bunch of baggage carousels, six seats and one unmanned Information area.)
Later… Met up fine with Maciej. Spotted him a mile off, actually, despite having never met him before. I don't know what it was, but I could just tell it was him even from a distance.
Anyway, as you probably spotted from the last post from Danny's laptop, lunch was great. It was so much fun to meet up with Dave, Danny and Maciej and to be able to talk geek. Again. I just don't get enough face-to-face geekery in my life at home.
I got my fix of edemame too – and they were really nice edemame as well. Then went for miso soup and then tuna sushi and some rolls. I could really get into this Japanese food thing.
Still, all good things come to an end, but it was rather hard to prise myself away and go check in at the airport. Got one of those swanky new planes with the entertainment-on-demand systems so I will be watching a variety of things* that I've been wanting to see for a while on the way home before attempting to sleep.
Amused to see that, after the success of Shaun of the Dead (note to the Virgin Atlantic magazine editor, it's 'Shaun' not 'Sean'), Virgin are now showing selected episodes of Spaced. Excellent! The more people who experience Spaced, the more chance of a repeat on Channel 4 and the bigger the chance that maybe, just maybe, they'll do a third series.
See, my logic is unassailable.
* Ended up only watching Super Size Me, whilst I tried to choke down the most disgusting dinner I have ever been served on a plane. Luckily, dinner came after I'd seen the bit where he spews up out of the car window.
Back now, obviously, and trying to catch up on unposted blog posts, not to mention unFlickred photos and unanswered emails. Eep.

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Back!

by Suw on February 22, 2005

Returned safely home to find Mother Carey plucking her chickens, although in a very half-arsed way. Expect more from me when I've dealt with one major outstanding agenda item.
Need. More. Sleep.

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Just sitting in a Starbucks in San Francisco with Dave NTK Green, Danny NTK O'Brien and Maciej Stachowiak, using Danny's PowerBook which used to be Cory Doctorow's. It has a whitish-yellowish line just like mine. Suddenly I feel in such good company.
Had a great lunch with some great conversation and stuff I'd blog if Danny hadn't promised me to silence.
Just felt that it was important to let you know that.
Fly back this afternoon, so don't expect coherance for a while.

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Damn jetlag

by Suw on February 19, 2005

Why is it that the one night I really need a full night's sleep, I get only four hours because my stoopid brain thinks it's time to wake up at 2.40am and refuses to go back to sleep again.
I'm gonna be mincemeat by lunchtime. I hate to think how incoherent I am going to be by the time I have to do my panel discussion.

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Number three is green

by Suw on February 19, 2005

Third line appeared today, in the middle of the Open Space session this morning. It is green.
Day was great – will blog more about it soon.

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Vancouver, the Shiny City

February 17, 2005

Arrived in Vancouver last night, tired and dying for sleep, yet I managed to say awake long enough to meet up with Jon and his partner Raman, with whom I am staying. Theirs is a lovely flat close into the centre of Vancouver. Jon took me on a whistlestop tour of the city this morning, […]

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Wuwzy Suwzy in The City

February 17, 2005

Whooa, I feel so woozy right now. I'm sitting in a bar at SFO airport and I'm so tired that I feel totally light-headed and all spinny-roundy, despite having not touched a drop of anything more interesting than Sprite. Waiting for my flight up to Vancouver, which starts to board in about and hour and […]

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Off to Vancouver

February 15, 2005

I'm leaving this afternoon to go up to London, and will be flying out to Vancouver via San Francisco tomorrow. It's going to be a long journey, but I have books, copies of the New Scientist, my iPod and my laptop, so no real excuse for getting bored. If you're going to be at Northern […]

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Lunch in San Francisco, 21 Feb

February 14, 2005

I am going to have a few hours to kill in San Francisco on 21 Feb, so I thought it would be nice to have lunch with whomever's around. My good friend Maciej is going to pick me up from the airport and we'll be meeting up with Kevin as well, so if anyone else […]

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4-0!

February 14, 2005

Went to see AFC Bournemouth play Oldham Athletic yesterday and, as you may have sensed already, we won 4-0. My brother works for one of the club sponsors so we were in an executive suite this time round, which made a nice change from the last match I saw from the terraces when it was […]

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